No CLE

Join this session for an update on Puerto Rico and to discuss recent developments and ramifications beyond Puerto Rico; equitable mootness (JeffCo); and reviewing pension issues in prior and existing municipal bankruptcies, as well as prospective municipal bankruptcies (e.g., Illinois, New Jersey, Connecticut).

Please also see Part 1 at https://cle.abi.org/product/consumer-workshop-i-my-cousin-vinny-evidence-and-trial-skills

Social media platforms are everywhere. It has grown into an essential marketing tool for lawyers, who unlike many other working professionals, are bound by strict ethical codes of conduct when it comes to marketing and communicating with non-lawyers. This panel will focus on how attorneys can successfully navigate the minefields of social networking to grow their business while still adhering to the new California Rules of Professional Conduct.

Two of the most currently challenged industries — higher education and health care — are also the two industries most likely to use the nonprofit form of organization. Recent high-profile cases have demonstrated the pull and tug on officers and directors of those entities. Tasked with both the practical realities imposed by the need to make payroll and the mission-based obligation to pursue the organization’s charitable purposes, the officers and directors are forced to weigh financial discipline against the obligation to heal or to educate. This panel will explore the seemingly conflicting fiduciary duties of the officers and directors of nonprofit companies, identifying those duties and the statutory protections afforded those who are faced with making real-time decisions. The discussion will also explore challenges to the actions taken, including additional hurdles to asset sales under § 363(d)(1), government agency investigations and oversight, and class action litigation.

Two of the most currently challenged industries — higher education and health care — are also the two industries most likely to use the nonprofit form of organization. Recent high-profile cases have demonstrated the pull and tug on officers and directors of those entities. Tasked with both the practical realities imposed by the need to make payroll and the mission-based obligation to pursue the organization’s charitable purposes, the officers and directors are forced to weigh financial discipline against the obligation to heal or to educate. This panel explores the seemingly conflicting fiduciary duties of the officers and directors of nonprofit companies, identifying those duties and the statutory protections afforded those who are faced with making real-time decisions. The discussion will also explore challenges to the actions taken, including additional hurdles to asset sales under § 363(d)(1), government agency investigations and oversight, and class action litigation.

This panel uses hypotheticals to discuss the ethical problems facing counsel and their clients in § 363 sales including collusion, abuses during due diligence, and successor liability.

Practitioners are constantly looking for ways to expand, or limit, the ability of estate fiduciaries and creditors to avoid transfers. This panel will explore several cutting-edge issues with respect to fraudulent-transfer actions currently playing out in bankruptcy courts, including whether trustees may recover tuition payments by debtor-parents for the benefit of their adult children and the meaning of “reasonably equivalent value” under Section 548(A)(1)(b). The panel will explore opportunities to expand a trustee’s avoidance powers, including a trustee’s ability to stand in the shoes of the IRS and benefit from the 10-year look-back period, Ponzi scheme issues, and applying avoidance powers to foreign defendants. The speakers will also discuss whether silence is still golden in light of Husky International v. Ritz.

Practitioners are constantly looking for ways to expand, or limit, the ability of estate fiduciaries and creditors to avoid transfers. This panel will explore several cutting-edge issues with respect to fraudulent-transfer actions currently playing out in bankruptcy courts, including whether trustees may recover tuition payments by debtor-parents for the benefit of their adult children and the meaning of “reasonably equivalent value” under Section 548(A)(1)(b). The panel will explore opportunities to expand a trustee’s avoidance powers, including a trustee’s ability to stand in the shoes of the IRS and benefit from the 10-year look-back period, Ponzi scheme issues, and applying avoidance powers to foreign defendants. The speakers will also discuss whether silence is still golden in light of Husky International v. Ritz.

Bankruptcy lawyers are often times called upon to provide third-party opinion letters in financing and real estate transactions. This session covers opinion letters that are commonly requested of bankruptcy lawyers including non-consolidation and “authority to file” opinions. This session also covers best practices and potential pitfalls and liabilities when providing such opinions.