Ethics

Review of GSC case (bankruptcy court decision pending); what are the lessons of GSC for practitioners regarding disclosure, fee sharing, disinterestedness and conflicts, etc?; review of disinterestedness standards under § 101(14) and related disclosure requirements; additional ethics topic might include conflicts waivers (when is it necessary to obtain a waiver? Distinctions may be drawn based on current vs. recent vs. former clients, directly adverse vs. positionally adverse, relatedness to a prior matter, use of confidential information); Brown Publishing

Dilemmas of Dying Businesses: Practical and Ethical Issues to Consider When Representing Businesses that Are on Death’s Doorstep

A panel of participants in ABI’s Civility Task Force will discuss the work of the task force in an interactive program designed to further the conversation about civility in our profession.

This panel will explore the tension between the fundamental tenets of disclosure and due process in bankruptcy cases and the increasing trend toward confidentiality, whether legitimate or not.

The Judicial Conference Advisory Committees on Bankruptcy and Civil Rules have proposed amendments to their respective rules. This panel will discuss the proposed rule changes and the impact they will have on bankruptcy case administration.

Prof. Nancy Rapoport, co-chair of ABI’s Ethics Task Force, will give a presentation on the ethics of professional civility by using a familiar Southern California medium: the movies!

In 2013, ABI issued its Final Report of the ABI National Ethics Task Force, and the Executive Office for U.S. Trustees set forth new guidelines for reviewing applications for compensation and reimbursement of expenses filed under § 330 of the Bankruptcy Code for attorneys in larger chapter 11 cases. In addition, the Cayman Islands and the Bahamas have experienced developments with respect to retention and compensation of attorneys. This panel will discuss the ethical implications of these developments.