Vermont State Approved Sessions

In today’s digitally connected world, attorneys face unique challenges and opportunities at the crossroads of social media, credit reporting and bankruptcy law. This panel will first debunk prevalent social media myths and scams that complicate client advisement and the setting of realistic legal expectations. Next, the panelists will delve into the nuanced relationship between credit reporting and bankruptcy, offering insights that enhance attorneys' ability to guide clients through financial restructuring. Finally, the discussion will highlight effective strategies for harnessing social media as a tool to positively influence public perception and expand access to critical legal information. Join us for an engaging session designed to equip legal professionals with practical knowledge and innovative approaches for navigating this evolving landscape.

Sponsored by Inspira FinancialIn this session, you will learn practical strategies to oversee/manage retirement plan terminations that are required due to corporate bankruptcies and merger-and-acquisition transactions. From understanding your clients’ fiduciary responsibilities to finding missing and unresponsive participants and reconnecting them with their retirement savings, this session will inform attendees on the steps necessary to successfully terminate a company's retirement plan.

This panel will explore the basics of privilege and how it is used in bankruptcy litigation. Do members of an LLC have access to privileged info? Do former board members have rights to privileged info? Does a trustee of an individual debtor have rights to the individual debtor's privileged information? Is a trustee required to turn over his/her privileged information to the debtor after it retakes possession? Can mediation privilege be used to cloak an entire bankruptcy case so that all information is immune from discovery from non-mediation parties or its adversaries?

This panel will identify the unique issues that come into play in health care asset sales, from hospitals to senior living facilities. The panelists will address closing challenges, regulatory issues, HIPPA/privacy issues, Opco/Propco issues and much more.

This panel will consider and discuss practice points, deployment of technology, and ethical considerations for attorneys following the COVID-19 pandemic.

This unique, interactive panel will be presented as a mock trial where financial advisors will be cross-examined by attorneys on valuation issues, including liquidation value.

Ponzi and other fraudulent schemes continue to proliferate. Many of these schemes, event if primarily targeted at Americans, operate using offshore entities in the Caribbean. As a result, resolving such schemes typically involves domestic receiverships or bankruptcy coupled with offshore liquidation proceedings. The victims’ recoveries may vary widely depending on whether the distribution of the scheme’s remaining assets is determined by U.S. bankruptcy law, U.S. common law or foreign law. This panel will explore the various ways in which U.S. and foreign laws implicate victims’ recoveries, as well as potential changes to those laws.

This panel will discuss the ins and outs of mediating consumer bankruptcy issues, including the types of issues typically mediated, selecting a mediator, and special considerations involved.

Hosted by ABI's Unsecured Trade Creditors Committee This mock mediation, based on the Southern District of New York’s (SDNY's) recent preference decision in The Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Company, Inc. bankruptcy cases involving McKesson Corp., will demonstrate how plaintiff, defendant and mediator analyze risk and preference exposure when trying to reach a mediated settlement. The SDNY’s decision followed two summary-judgment motions filed by McKesson, but this webinar will assume that this is a pre-summary-judgment mediation. The panelists will discuss the three issues decided by the court: (1) whether McKesson could include paid new value as part of its new value defense (i.e., whether the subsequent advance vs. remains-unpaid approach is appropriate); (2) whether McKesson could set off its § 503(b)(9) claim (i.e., its 20-day claim) against preference liability (i.e., mutuality as to when a § 503(b)(9) claim and preference claim arise); and (3) whether the amounts in McKesson’s § 502(h) claim, which paid invoices for 20-day § 503(b)(9) goods, should be a general unsecured claim that recovers $0, or a higher priority § 503(b)(9) claim, which could theoretically recover 100% if a plan was confirmed, but would recover much less here, as the cases were administratively insolvent and structurally dismissed. A fourth issue that the SDNY implicitly addressed was whether there is improper double-dipping where there is an allowed § 503(b)(9) claim (either paid or reserved for) that a claimant seeks to also include as part of its new value calculations (i.e., Auriga Polymers and, analogously, Friedmans).