South Carolina State Approved Sessions

COVID-19 spurred unprecedented levels of government support. Through Provider Relief Funds, Medicare Advanced Payments, PPP loans and other mechanisms, federal agencies provided substantial liquidity, in some cases with strings attached. Join the panelists as they delve into the effects these funds might have had on fraud and abuse in the health care space.

Successful chapter 11 cases require financing from the start. This panel will discuss financing a chapter 11 case from day one through the reorganization plan’s effective date, focusing on complex cash collateral/DIPI financing and exit financing issues.

The Small Business Reorganization Act of 2019 was heralded as one of the most important pieces of bankruptcy legislation passed since BAPCPA in 2005. Has the SBRA been widely and effectively used? What important current case law issues exist? Is the SBRA here to stay? Will the $7.5 million debt limit be a permanent change? The panelists will explore these questions and more.

Amid criminal seizure and forfeiture actions imposed by the DOJ, SEC and other regulatory bodies, criminals often have no choice but to file for bankruptcy. This panel will explore financial crimes, including Ponzi and FCPA schemes, that have resulted in bankruptcy filings, and the conflict that ultimately arises between the bankruptcy estate and the federal government over criminals’ seized and forfeited assets. The panelists will also delve into asserting a legal interest in the assets, the look-back period, remedies to the bankruptcy estate and priority schemes.

Hosted by the International, Legislation and Secured Credit Committees This panel will examine and discuss recent trends and issues in the chapter 11 reorganizations of airlines, including foreign-based airlines that have sought chapter 11 protection in the U.S., such as Avianca and LATAM. Additionally, the panelists will analyze governmental and legislative initiatives in the U.S. taken in response to COVID-19 that at the time staved off formal reorganization proceedings for U.S.-based airlines.

Bifurcated fee arrangements involve splitting the consumer chapter 7 engagement into pre-petition and post-petition fee arrangements that require little or no money down for the work required to finish the case. In several jurisdictions across the nation, however, bifurcated fee arrangements in chapter 7 cases are being challenged. This panel will review the complex issues related to these fee arrangements.

Most lawyers are schooled on how to litigate and fully understand how to prepare for the courtroom battleground. Mediation, however, is a flexible and relatively informal dispute-resolution process that has become almost a mandatory first step in many common bankruptcy disputes, like preference actions — and it can achieve significant cost-value results for clients. Yet many lawyers make the mistake of either treating mediation as a side show that requires little or no preparation, or using the same preparation methods they use for trial. This session will explore the keys to conducting a successful mediation, from deciding when mediation is appropriate through properly documenting the mediated resolution, with an emphasis on how to prepare both yourself and your client for mediation to maximize its value, regardless of whether an actual settlement is reached. The panelists will include attorneys and judges who often serve as mediators, giving attendees a unique view on the different skills, presentation methodologies and mindsets needed to prepare for mediation vs. litigation.

Do you know the answers to the hottest ethics issues of the day? Do the experts? Are there actually answers? Audience members will match wits with a panel of ethics experts to see who knows up-to-the-minute ethical issues best! In this fun interactive session, the audience and the experts will try to determine the best answers to cutting-edge ethics questions from the bankruptcy world and beyond. The hot topics and questions will be known only to our Masters of Ceremonies, Tom Horan and Michael P. Richman (who will roam the audience with microphones), and will not be known to our audience or expert panelists Prof. Nancy Rapoport and Claire Wu until they play the game. Come enjoy, participate and learn!

Hosted by the Commercial & Regulatory Law and Unsecured Trade Creditors Committees This panel will explore issues that are driving value in health care bankruptcies, particularly issues of import to unsecured creditors. Included in the discussion will be the priority and impact of Medicaid provider fees, difficulties in valuing health care receivables and the resulting effects on claim status and cost of financing, the landscape of chapter 9 as a vehicle for the restructuring of a public health care debtor, and the treatment and saleability of provider agreements.

To ease the financial fallout from the pandemic, there could be increased congressional interest in consumer bankruptcy reform. Sen. Elizabeth Warren and Rep. Jerrold Nadler already have proposed a complete overhaul of the consumer bankruptcy system and a new chapter 10 for all individual debtors. Several pending legislative proposals would make it easier to discharge student loans in bankruptcy. Profs. Robert Lawless and Adam Levitin will explain these proposals, the motivating factors behind them, and what else might be coming in the consumer bankruptcy world.