Arkansas State Approved Sessions

When developing a strategy for an entity in distress, good insolvency lawyers weigh all their options, both in and out of bankruptcy. This presentation will consist of two mock client consultations (one debtor-focused and one creditor-focused) discussing the pros and cons of various alternatives to bankruptcy. The presentation will culminate in a mock status conference before a federal district court in an action where the plaintiff is seeking the appointment of a federal receiver in a loan-enforcement action. This session also will provide an in-depth examination of assignments for the benefit of creditors, as well as state and federal receiverships.

Unemployment rates are slowly dropping after hitting an all-time high in April of this year and remaining in the double digits for four months straight. However, the effects of the ongoing pandemic remain. Rent payments are down, and homeowners are delaying payments on their mortgages. The Federal Reserve has dropped interest rates to near-zero, and small business revenue nationwide is down nearly 20%, even after accounting for the thousands of businesses that have already closed for good. Congress, states and local governments are scrambling to put policies and programs in place that will help forestall financial collapse. As bankruptcy practitioners and scholars, this is our moment — or is it? This presentation will explore the role that bankruptcy policy can and should play in a global pandemic, discuss the role that bankruptcy policy has already begun to play, and query what factors may be limiting the effectiveness of bankruptcy policy in easing financial distress and limiting unnecessary business closures.

This panel will explore the development of subchapter V bankruptcies during their first year of existence, a.k.a. the COVID-19 era. The panelists will first perform a brief review of subchapter V bankruptcy cases and the way in which they differ from standard chapter 11 cases. The panel will then discuss issues relating to CARES Act funding in subchapter V cases and explore various hot issues in subchapter V, such as the aggregation of debts among affiliates. Finally, the panelists will discuss “anomaly” filings and attempts by seemingly ineligible companies to obtain relief under subchapter V.

This panel will focus on Congress’s new foray into streamlining small business reorganizations under the Small Business Reorganization Act of 2019, as amended by the CARES Act of 2020. The panelists will examine similarities and differences between subchapter V and traditional chapter 11 reorganization, debtor eligibility, and the role of the newly created position of subchapter V trustee. The panelists will then examine early decisions on these issues from bankruptcy courts around the country.

Covering a wide array of bankruptcy litigation matters, this session will focus on issues relating to stay relief, discharge litigation, and post-discharge injunction matters. Evidentiary considerations and standards for relief will be highlighted, along with case law developments and practice tips from the experienced panelists.

We often forget that what we say and how we say it can signal more than we intended. One of the primary ways in which "what we say"/"how we say it" creates such signals is with the wording of time entries, whether or not those time entries are ever reviewed by a bankruptcy court. Clients read bills, too, so if one wants to communicate that their work was valuable and efficiently performed, the fable of Goldilocks comes to mind: The time entries need to be "just right." When they're not, clients and courts can draw conclusions that we never intended them to draw. This panel will discuss these issues and more.

This panel will provide an overview of the requirements for a reorganization plan in subchapter V cases under the Small Business Reorganization Act, including the new fair-and-equitable standard for cramdowns, and effective strategies to get to plan confirmation.

This session includes a panel discussion of the unique issues and challenges involved with demonstrating plan feasibility during our current pandemic economy. The panelists will also discuss how bankruptcy courts have dealt with the issues thus far, and how debtors can make their best cases before the court.

On January 14, 2021, the Supreme Court ruled in the case of City of Chicago, Illinois v. Fulton that the mere retention of estate property after the filing of a bankruptcy petition does not violate 11 U.S.C. § 362(a)(3), which operates as a “stay” of “any act” to “exercise control” over the property of the estate. ABI Editor-at-Large Bill Rochelle will host a discussion with two leading bankruptcy academics who filed amicus briefs in the case, Profs. John Pottow of the University of Michigan Law School (Ann Arbor, Mich.) and Ralph Brubaker of the University of Illinois College of Law (Champaign, Ill.), to analyze the decision and its impact on future bankruptcy case law.

The use of artificial intelligence and machine learning is becoming increasingly prevalent in the practice of law. Lawyers are using AI to assist in a multitude of tasks, including document management and review, analytics, and legal research. This program will provide an overview of how AI is being used by lawyers today, the advantages and drawbacks in using AI, and the potential ways in which AI may be used now and in the future in bankruptcy practice.