Professional Compensation/Fees

This panel of ABC-certified judges will discuss the applicable rules of professional conduct and other authority implicated in electronic filing, the use of email, “phishing” scams and hacking, and technology issues raised by today’s pandemic practice. The panelists will also consider issues raised by the requirement that many professionals must file public fee applications in bankruptcy cases, as well as fee issues stemming from converted cases, insufficient content in the applications, and problems that arise when the results achieved and the fees sought bear little relationship to each other. Finally, the panelists will consider unique professionalism issues raised by attorneys and law firms as bankruptcy debtors, particularly involving clients and the use of IOLTA accounts, along with more general do’s and don’ts about practicing in bankruptcy court before, during and (hopefully) after the pandemic.

This panel will discuss several threshold issues that should be considered when determining whether you can and should represent a potential debtor client, including (1) whether you can ethically and legally be retained, (2) how you can be compensated for your work, (3) whether your potential client has the requisite corporate authority, and (4) reasons to walk away from an engagement before it’s too late. The panelists will highlight real-life examples and provide best practices and pitfalls to avoid with respect to these issues.

This panel will discuss the impact of the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021 on bankruptcy cases, the latest automatic stay cases, employment of professionals and fee applications, and § 363 sales in the Zoom era.

The judges of this year's Rocky Mountain Bankruptcy Conference will hold in-depth discussions on navigating virtual hearings and what we have learned from the pandemic; the benefits of filing commercial cases in Rocky Mountain jurisdictions; gross-income calculations in light of the closures of small, closely held businesses; trends in consumer/small business cases during the pandemic; and ethics and professionalism in a (more) virtual world.

We often forget that what we say and how we say it can signal more than we intended. One of the primary ways in which "what we say"/"how we say it" creates such signals is with the wording of time entries, whether or not those time entries are ever reviewed by a bankruptcy court. Clients read bills, too, so if one wants to communicate that their work was valuable and efficiently performed, the fable of Goldilocks comes to mind: The time entries need to be "just right." When they're not, clients and courts can draw conclusions that we never intended them to draw. This panel will discuss these issues and more.

Presented by the Young and New Members & Ethics and Professional Compensation Committees You work hard for the money, so let’s make sure you get it. This panel will discuss ethical considerations governing that all-important process: getting retained and paid by the bankruptcy estate. Aside from covering the basics of retention for young and new professionals, the panelists will address some of the myriad ethical issues governing retention and compensation that can arise, including connection disclosures, concurrent representations of insiders and expense reimbursement.

Presented by the Young and New Members & Ethics and Professional Compensation Committees You work hard for the money, so let’s make sure you get it. This panel will discuss ethical considerations governing that all-important process: getting retained and paid by the bankruptcy estate. Aside from covering the basics of retention for young and new professionals, the panelists will address some of the myriad ethical issues governing retention and compensation that can arise, including connection disclosures, concurrent representations of insiders and expense reimbursement. The session will also discuss recent decisions that could fundamentally affect how professionals are retained — including the use of the so-called “Jay Alix Protocol” and whether nunc pro tunc is still viable.

What are the hottest topics in bankruptcy law? This panel of experts, moderated by ABI Editor-at-Large Bill Rochelle, will discuss and analyze current business and consumer bankruptcy law cases.

This session will highlight several of the Rules of Professional Conduct, including RPC 1.5 (Fees); the Alix/McKinsey litigation; RPC 3.3 (Candor to Tribunal); RPC 4.1 (Truthfulness to Others); the U.S. Trustee guidelines concerning retainers; RPC 7.1 (Communications Concerning a Lawyer’s Services); overbilling, RPC 8.4 (Misconduct); fee examiners, RPC 1.3 (Diligence); disclosures, Bankruptcy Rule 2014; RPC 1.7 (Conflict of Interest); and RPC 7.3 (Solicitation of Clients).

Finally, you think you have the case of your dreams. How do you manage to navigate employment before the bankruptcy court? How do you ensure that you get paid and that neither you nor your client do anything to jeopardize your fees or your reputation? Join this discussion with an esteemed panel and numerous bankruptcy judges in breakout rooms as we discuss the often-confusing ethical issues that present themselves in employment.