No CLE

Even before the first discussion in Newport at the 2011 ABI Consumer Forum, practitioners have experienced the difficulties inherent with managing a client with a mental illness or impairment. There can be even more challenges to managing any client matter when an opposing party suffers from a mental illness, especially when that party is self-represented. This panel of experienced practitioners and mental health professionals will discuss the evolving legal and practical issues surrounding mental illness and its impact on the bankruptcy system, as well as discuss methods of remaining calm in what can be an unpredictable and increasingly unavoidable storm.

Severance issues, integration issues, defining an executory contract, licenses, trademarks, service marks, immaterial defaults, etc.

Rejection of perpetual licenses (Lewis v. Interstate Brands); use, sale and assignability (Sunbeam; Qimonda; Lubrizol); valuation metrics for trademarks and patents

Overview of the legal landscape for mediation; selecting the mediator (identifying the essential traits and differing styles of a mediator that are suitable for a particular controversy); potential attorney conflicts in mediation; preparing yourself and your client for the mediation; effective use of pre-mediation statements; good, bad and ugly strategies for opening statements; preparing for potential roadblocks in a mediation; effective bargaining strategies; utilizing the mediator to your best advantage; and documenting the settlement agreement.

This panel will discuss the qualification and disqualification of the debtor in possession’s professionals and conflicts counsel.

An integral part of any solvency opinion is the valuation of items such as contingent liabilities including pending litigation, guarantees and other claims that may impact the solvency opinion. The valuation of these items is not always obvious and in some cases is at odds with GAAP. The approach to valuing these items is a blending of corporate and bankruptcy law, accounting standards, economic analysis and valuation theory. The panel examines these issues along with the instructive case law in the area, and discusses the care that is required when mixing such elements with the facts and circumstances of the matter at hand.