Practice and Procedure

This session is designed to help new and experienced attorneys develop and refine their contract and order drafting skills by examining common drafting conventions and best practices, discussing drafting issues that arise in bankruptcy practice, and sharing tips and strategies for correcting drafting mistakes.

This panel will focus on objections raised by counsel, and rulings by a presiding bankruptcy judge, during live mock direct and cross-examination of witnesses in a Chapter 11 confirmation hearing. Attendees will gain an understanding of how to properly make/respond to, and the merits of, certain objections to testimony in the context of a Chapter 11 confirmation hearing.

This panel will present a mock trial focusing on valuation, with the panelists serving as counsel arguing each side, and as a witness and a judge. The session will cover direct and cross-examination topics that come into play with valuations, including expert witness issues, applicable evidentiary rules and procedural aspects.

This panel will delve into collateral estoppel, res judicata, judicial estoppel, equitable estoppel and, although jurisdictional, the Rooker-Feldman doctrine.

This session will provide a unique, interactive look at difficult evidentiary issues.

Regional judges will strive to answer questions on current issues.

Did you know that you are a superhero? Who else with the stroke of a pen can erase thousands, tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands, millions of dollars worth of debt? Who else can take a struggling American citizen and put them upright with a fresh start, slay aggressive creditors and stop garnishments, demand the return of seized vehicles, and push back on the IRS? Lastly, what other area of law allows you to be a superhero of epic proportions? Not one, Captain America! So wrap yourself in the American flag and spend an hour changing your perspective to understand how the businesses who support you see what you do and why it matters. This panel will present a discussion of the perspectives and issues that stand in your way as successful business owners, the changes we can all make, and how you can adapt to struggle less and succeed more by ditching the models of the past and creating a more nimble one for the future in a post-COVID-19 legal landscape.

Technology can be looked at as a business-enabler. Attorneys who want to move from manual or paper processes to an automated, streamlined, more efficient or paperless practice have a variety of options available. The choices are seemingly endless, but which options are the right fit for your practice? This panel will discuss some of the productivity suites, PDF-production software, case-management systems and other programs that are available to modernize consumer practice. Since when it comes to technology one size doesn't fit all, the panelists will highlight some general considerations that are applicable to attorneys in solo practices and to those in larger firms.