Arkansas State Approved Sessions

Oftentimes lawyers must deal with people in vulnerable positions- and there are a whole host of rules that govern our behavior in those instances. Cheating (misrepresentation, rule 4.1 and 3.3), Preying (deceptive practices, rule 8.4), and Shoving (fairness to opposing parties and counsel, rule 3.4) are prohibited by the attorney ethics rules...and why not learn about them with a little humor? Join internationally recognized speaker Stuart Teicher, Esq., (the "CLE Performer") as he alerts us to the issues that should concern us when interacting with people who might be at a competitive disadvantage when facing a lawyer.

This panel will discuss preferences and fraudulent conveyances, the Fairfield cases relating to extraterritoriality, and whether returning the funds acts as a defense (Kingsley v. Wetzel (In re Kingsley), 518 F.3d 874, 877-78 (11th Cir. 2008)) versus what the Seventh Circuit has ruled on the issue (Nostalgia Network Inc. v. Lockwood, 315 F3d 717, 720 (7th Cir. 2002)).

How do judges view the various types of committees–official statutory committees (including unsecured creditor, equity, retiree and tort claimant committees) and ad hoc committees? Is the makeup of the committee (trade/landlords/noteholders/bondholders/litigation claimants) relevant? What is Jevic’s impact on the ability of unsecured creditors’ committees to obtain recoveries for their constituents—do committees representing deeply out-of-the-money creditors have anything left in their toolboxes? This panel will discuss these questions and more relating to official and ad hoc committees.

This panel will explore hot-button issues relating to sales, including: limitations on credit bidding; successor liability and related due process considerations; releases for purchasers under sale orders; and the standard for allowance of break-up fees. The panel will also reflect on lessons learned from the emergency section 363 sale of Lehman.

This session will cover a number of recent confirmation hot topics, including pre-packaged reorganization (In re FullBeauty Brands Holding Corp.), make-whole provisions (In re Ultra Petroleum Corp.), reorganization through rights offerings (In re Pacific Drilling SA), and the ‘one day’ confirmation issue (Pacific Western Bank v. Fagerdala USA-Lompac Inc.).

This panel will address up to 15 thorny evidentiary issues that commonly arise in consumer cases. The issues will be presented to a bankruptcy judge by two expert litigators in a variety of pre-trial and trial scenarios.

This panel will discuss several leading bankruptcy cases making the headlines, and some of the issues, decisions and challenges unique to those cases.

This panel will discuss the use of third-party litigation financing in bankruptcy and in litigation and liquidation trust matters, and will address such issues as the different causes of actions and general characteristics of litigation considered, uses for funds and the general structure of financing, ethical issues concerning the funder relationship, and examples of successful uses of litigation financing — as well as things that can go wrong and how to avoid them.

This lively roundtable discussion will focus on adherence to local rules for purposes of malpractice prevention, civility among litigants’ counsel, professional responsibility, and related ethical considerations for practitioners by undertaking a multi-jurisdictional exploration of some of the most well regarded and most reviled local bankruptcy and district court rules, providing attendees with an opportunity to measure particular rules’ efficacy, practical effects and unintended consequences.