Vermont State Approved Sessions

Is the legal profession’s vision for the law firm of the future already outdated? Can the law firm of today cope with the incredibly dynamic and changing competitive legal services environment, or will it go the way of the dinosaur? Greater and new competition in the forms of artificial intelligence, disruptive technology, the Big Four accounting firms, enlarged in-house legal staffs, and alternative legal service providers are eating law firms’ lunch. Clients are demanding service, efficiency and transparency in a way that puts tremendous pressure on the traditional law firm model. On top of that, the battle for the best talent is intensifying while the very nature of that talent is transforming as millennials start to dominate the talent pool. Our panel will discuss what a law firm must do to evolve and survive and how it potentially can thrive in a rapidly changing legal market.

.video-container { position:relative; padding-bottom:56.25%; padding-top:30px; height:0; overflow:hidden; } .video-container iframe { position:absolute; top:0; left:0; width:99%; height:100%; } Courts wrestle with applying Husky to except from an individual’s discharge creditor claims involving fraud or fraudulent transfers. Some courts carve a narrow path, while others take the opinion at its fullest meaning, suggesting a broad new cause of action for nondischargeability. This is especially true for directors and officers who use their control of nondebtor entities to benefit from fraudulent activity, including actual and constructive fraudulent transfers. Such actions also give rise to related breach of fiduciary duty claims and aiding-and-abetting liability that likewise could prove to be nondischargeable. The panelists will debate claims and defenses based on the evolving case law, and share their views on what lies next.

This panel will review and debate issues regarding the new official form for chapter 13 plans, including how courts are tinkering with Rule 3015.1 — and why courts think they have the ability to do so.

This panel will address various ethical issues including conflicts, chapter 7 bundling and payment arrangements, and chapter 11 retention and fee applications. Learn how to identify potential conflicts, and discover strategies to deal with them. The panel will also discuss the negotiation of fee agreements before and the application for payment of fees during bankruptcy cases.

Join us for a round of the “ABI Talks,” with speakers focusing on the ABI Consumer Commission, litigation finance in bankruptcy, transfers and more.

This panel will discuss pre-petition considerations, disposition of assets and conversion concerns at issue in individual chapter 11 cases.

This panel will focus on numerous chapter 7 issues, such as avoidable transfers, abandonment, exemptions, reopening of cases and asset-protection trusts.

This panel will focus on carve-out issues, the effects of ASARCO and Baker Botts, and § 506(c) issues. The panel will also address retention issues and administrative insolvency.

This panel will address the selection and use of expert witnesses, including tips on how to select an expert, how to prepare an expert and what a judge might find most useful.

This panel will address various plan-confirmation issues, including third-party releases, equitable mootness, post-confirmation trusts, and the impact of cases such as Sunnyslope and Millennium Labs.