2020

Sponsored by the Consumer Bankruptcy Committee ABI's Consumer Bankruptcy Committee is presenting this webinar, moderated by Committee Co-Chair Jon J. Lieberman of Sottile & Barile, Attorneys at Law, and featuring Hon. Allan C. Stout of the Western District of Kentucky, Chapter 7 Trustee Hannah W. Hutman of Hoover Penrod PLC, Chapter 7 Trustee Richard D. Nelson of Todd, Kite & Stanford LLC, and Keith J. Larson of Seiller Waterman, LLC. The panelists will discuss a range of issues surrounding the trustee program, including tips and strategies for both debtor and creditor attorneys in working with case trustees, the current state of chapter 7 trustee compensation and why compensation reform may be needed, and the impact the COVID-19 pandemic is having on everything from 341 exams to the retention and recruitment of chapter 7 trustees. The panelists will also discuss the role of the trustee in subchapter V cases under the SBRA, including trustee compensation.

Presented by ABI’s Secured Credit Committee, this panel will discuss recent trends and developments concerning debtor-in-possession financing by highlighting relevant issues from the debtor’s, lender’s, and creditors’ committee’s perspectives. The discussion will focus on recent chapter 11 cases, including cases from the retail and energy industries, disruption from COVID-19, and broader market observations.

Join the SRS Acquiom team and their panel of experts as they dive into recent transactions involving collateral disputes between lenders and borrowers. The discussion will highlight real-life examples, look back on why the disputes are happening, review the options for lenders, and examine how to prevent disputes from happening in the future.

ABC sponsored this October 22, 2020, session from the Insolvency 2020 Summit. The expert panel addresses the use of technology by bankruptcy professionals inside and outside of the courtroom. The panel materials include applicable Model Rules of Professional Conduct and feature a section on questionable lawyer behavior. The panelists also suggest best practices for fee applications.

Most office employees have been working from home throughout the pandemic, and businesses are increasingly realizing that office space is not as essential as once thought. In addition, retailers are closing their doors permanently or shifting exclusively to online sales. Can corporate real estate survive or reinvent itself?

You learned about it in law school, but have never seen it since. In light of the COVID-19 effects on business operations, this panel will discuss the general applicability of force majeure provisions in contracts, how they excuse or suspend performance, and exceptions to a boilerplate contract provision that we rarely see enforced until recently. The panel will also discuss business interruption insurance in the context of the Pandemic.

Shutdown orders, shuttered industries and an uncertain future due to COVID-19 have left many municipalities with a diminishing revenue base and significantly increasing costs as they strive to protect the health and safety of their residents. The era of COVID-19 is also the era of protests and renewed demands for racial justice in small and larger cities, historic wildfires and weather events due to climate change, and economic-relief packages in Congress at a stalemate as we approach the November election. This panel will consider the potential impacts of these overlapping events on the financial future of our municipalities. Taking into account the lessons learned from Detroit, Puerto Rico and other municipal insolvencies, this expert panel will consider the hard questions facing community leaders, the municipal debt market, public service employees and retirees, private businesses and citizens, and potentially the courts in this unprecedented time.

With courthouses shutting their doors due to COVID-19, trials across the country have been put in an indefinite holding pattern. Certain state and federal courts, bar organizations and private groups have begun pilot-testing courtroom innovations, procedural reforms and presentation technologies to convert jury and bench trials into an online format. This session will address the bench's and bar’s current conversation on if, how and when to conduct trials online. Particular emphasis will be paid to testimonial, documentary and legal decision-making issues germane to bankruptcy trials.