Free Sessions (no CLE)

A professional speaking coach will start this session with general comments on speaking, then provide specific critiques on two teams that will make a mock pitch for a new creditor group representation (ad hoc group or committee).

Join our leading iPad and Android experts in this returning fan favorite. Learn how to maximize the value of your tablet for your practice, and hear about the latest apps that are being used by other bankruptcy professionals.

Courts and commentators have long agreed that the Trust Indenture Act (TIA) provides protection against majority amendment to certain core terms. Given recent aggressive maneuvers in mega-cases, the TIA has become a weapon of choice for bondholders to fight back. More pressing questions, however, concern the breadth of this protection in nonconsensual debt restructurings. Should the TIA protect the ability, and not merely the formal right, to receive payment in some circumstances? Is it limited to conduct that disenfranchises the minority, or does it have broader uses as a weapon against unilateral conduct by the issuer that hurts bondholders’ recovery?

Well over a dozen Catholic dioceses and religious orders have filed chapter 11, from Tucson to the Arctic and from Portland to Milwaukee. A panel of attorneys involved in nearly all of these unique proceedings will provide updates on the cases and analyze the paths that have proved successful — and those that have not.

This panel will present a roundtable discussion.

Ten years ago, the consumer bankruptcy bar was facing an unknown world with the passage of BAPCPA. Areas of concern included the means test, the determination of “presumptions of abuse,” the definitions of “excess disposable income” and how it varied from “disposable income,” and the stringent limitations on the claims of exemptions by debtors. This panel will examine the case law that has evolved and will review how consumer bankruptcy cases are being administered in light of BAPCPA. Has the outcome been what the drafters intended it to be, or is consumer bankruptcy practice essentially the same 10 years later?

Resolved: A chapter 11 plan can grant a third-party release. Resolved: A bankruptcy judge can disband a creditors’ committee. Resolved: Filing a proof of claim on a time-barred debt violates the FDCPA

This is the second of three webinars stemming from ABI's recently published book Fraud and Forensics: Piercing Through the Deception in a Commercial Fraud Case. Each webinar takes an in-depth look at areas of specialty, challenge and reward for forensic accountants and the professionals who work with them in commercial fraud cases. The third webinar will be: FRAUD AND FORENSICS: THE LAWYER AND FORENSIC ACCOUNTANT WORKING TOGETHER - JANUARY TBD This webinar will focus on the role of the forensic accountant as an expert in a commercial fraud case. Featuring two authors of the recently published book Fraud and Forensics: Piercing Through the Deception in a Commercial Fraud Case, the presentation will offer tips for both the forensic accountant and the lawyer for writing an effective expert report. Listen also to a retired bankruptcy judge explain what the trier of fact wants to hear in expert testimony and how to deliver persuasive testimony.

From issues of consent and matters of constitutional authority, to the all-important topic of professionals’ fees, the Supreme Court considered a number of issues critical to restructuring attorneys and advisors in 2015. Our panel of Supreme Court advocates and bankruptcy scholars will weigh in on the Court’s most recent term and provide expert analysis of the Court’s opinions and their applicability to everyday practice.