Georgia State Approved Sessions

Rule 3002.1 exists to protect debtors and creditors from unnecessary disputes over the status of current and former chapter 13 debtors’ mortgage loans. A recent Second Circuit opinion (In re Gravel) calls into question the ability of bankruptcy courts to impose monetary sanctions on mortgage-servicers that fail to comply with Rule 3002.1’s requirements. In this session, the panelists will cover both Gravel (and the dissent) and a recent bankruptcy court opinion (In re Blanco) that rejects the reasoning in Gravel. Can the two cases be reconciled? What is the standard that must be established to justify the imposition of sanctions when mortgage-servicers fail to comply with Rule 3002.1’s requirements, and what are the limitations on the amount of sanctions that can be considered appropriate? The panelists will discuss these questions along with additional legal actions and notices that consumer attorneys should take in these cases, as well as using an adversary proceeding in lieu of a motion.

You’ve read the headlines: hacked databases, stolen information, all becoming increasingly commonplace. Unfortunately, the question now is not whether your information is going to be accessed or stolen, but when. This session will inform attendees of current developments in the digital underground, and will provide realistic advice for cyberprotection. Included in the discussion will be recent high-profile cybercrime events, including website breaches impacting a variety of organizations and sectors, and particularly dangerous types of threats that might affect individuals involving the so-called dark web, the internet of things, phishing and wi-fi attacks, and the value of leveraging digital evidence and ESI in bankruptcy proceedings.

This panel will discuss why understanding gender identity is important to your practice, with a focus on key concepts and terms, gender identity/expression, sexual orientation and pronoun usage, and how we can best implement gender identity/expression in our professional lives.

Mention “artificial intelligence,” and most people start rolling their eyes and making jokes about Skynet. But today’s A.I. is changing the way that many law firms operate. Rather than replacing lawyers, A.I. is taking over more and more of the grunt work that prevents lawyers from doing the higher-level work that is necessary for their practices — by streamlining case searches, brief-writing and a whole host of tasks you might not even have considered.

Video and Materials Coming Soon! If you are newer to chapter 13 practice, you won’t want to miss this panel. Join a judge, chapter 13 trustee, and debtor and creditor counsel as they show you how to navigate a chapter 13 case from both debtor and creditor perspectives. The discussion will include plan drafting and modification, claims filing, objecting to confirmation, dismissal, conversion, and getting paid in chapter 13 cases, as well as an overview of the tools you must take advantage of to make a chapter 13 work.

This session will cover barriers to wellness for lawyers, and why lawyers are often reluctant to seek help. This panel will also include achievable strategies that lawyers can employ to enhance their well-being. In addition, this program will review lawyers' ethical obligations, and how enhancing personal well-being and adopting strategies for balancing life’s demands can enhance their ability to comply with these obligations.

Subchapter V is the newest option for debtors to reorganize in bankruptcy. Learn from a panel of experienced subchapter V trustees what it is all about and how subchapter V has changed the bankruptcy landscape for the better.

Join ABI Editor-at-Large Bill Rochelle as he hosts a panel of bankruptcy judges to discuss circuit splits on important consumer bankruptcy issues. This panel will be presented in a fun game-show format where the judges will vote to resolve the issues before they reach the U.S. Supreme Court.

The title says it all — and these sessions are always full of fireworks. We’ll cover post-petition appreciation in chapter 13s (to whom does it belong?), bifurcation of chapter 7 fees, and lien-stripping in chapter 20. You might be picking a side, but you’ll learn a lot from both sides!

Law school can seem like a long time ago, especially when a client walks in the door wanting help on filing for personal bankruptcy. This session will provide an overview of chapter 7: the players, bankruptcy estate, automatic stay, initial consultation and means test. Included in the discussion will be exemptions, preparing schedules, the relevant Bankruptcy Code and Rules sections, local rules, and how to know whether your client can or must redeem, reaffirm or surrender. Brush up on your skills and learn what you need to know about one of the core chapters of consumer bankruptcy.