Business Reorganization

What do attorneys and other professionals need to know when preparing chapter 11 liquidation plans? This panel will discuss selecting a trust, LLC, plan administrator or other vehicle; ensuring that affirmative claims are preserved post-confirmation; searching for unencumbered assets; negotiating carve-outs; establishing a value/tax basis in litigation claims and other assets transferred to a trust or LLC; key plan provisions such as preserving 2004 discovery rights, creditor oversight, continuing court oversight, required reporting and retention/transfer of attorney/client privilege; trading of interests; provisions for closing the case; and structured dismissals following asset sales as an alternative to a liquidating plan.

Back by popular demand! This panel is in the format of the classic current-events TV program “Crossfire” and will address “hot” and “interesting” bankruptcy issues that are not being addressed in the other sessions. Each topic discussed will have parties taking opposing positions (pro/con).

To make meaningful progress, legal professionals and the organizational cultures they inhabit must adopt a learning goal orientation and be willing to change. Join this keynote panel of legal professionals from across the nation for an active discussion on the business impacts of racial and gender diversity, equity, and inclusion within the legal industry. The panel will begin with a plenary session followed by breakout rooms.

This panel of bankruptcy judges from the Eighth and Tenth Circuits will discuss several recent decisions from the U.S. Supreme Court, the Eighth and Tenth Circuit Courts of Appeals and Bankruptcy Appellate Panels, and elsewhere that are likely to impact your bankruptcy practice.

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.

This year's ABI Talks, presented in the style of the ever-popular TED Talks, will focus on four timely topics: The Rhetoric and Reality of Student Debt, Not Your Parent’s Loan, Energy in Bankruptcy, and Health Care in Bankruptcy.

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 past year has seen a remarkable number of wide splits and controversial opinions. This panel of experts, moderated by ABI Editor-at-Large Bill Rochelle, will discuss and analyze current notable business and consumer bankruptcy cases.

The panelists will discuss COVID-related business bankruptcy issues, including rent issues in commercial leases, § 365(d)(3) issues, force majeure clauses, and lease assumption and rejection issues after COVID.

Presented by the Business Reorganization and Bankruptcy Litigation Committees This panel will focus on two important issues that have arisen during the COVID-19 pandemic: The availability of nunc pro tunc orders in the wake of Roman Catholic Archdiocese of San Juan, Puerto Rico v. Acevedo Feliciano, __ S. Ct. __, No. 18-921, 2020 WL 878715 (Feb. 24, 2020), and the battle between landlords and debtors across the country regarding the deferral of rent pending the pandemic and beyond the period authorized by the Bankruptcy Code.