Free Sessions (no CLE)

The Eastern and Western Districts of Wisconsin, along with Florida’s Middle District, have all set up successful mortgage-mediation programs. This panel will spill the details on how they did it, particularly the ways in which they used web-based portals for document exchanges. Also on tap: the role of mediators and the court’s role in overseeing order processes and timelines.

To ease the financial fallout from the pandemic, there could be increased congressional interest in consumer bankruptcy reform. Sen. Elizabeth Warren and Rep. Jerrold Nadler already have proposed a complete overhaul of the consumer bankruptcy system and a new chapter 10 for all individual debtors. Several pending legislative proposals would make it easier to discharge student loans in bankruptcy. Profs. Robert Lawless and Adam Levitin will explain these proposals, the motivating factors behind them, and what else might be coming in the consumer bankruptcy world.

Bankruptcy filings fell dramatically during this latest recession and pandemic. The practice of law, especially insolvency law, was (temporarily?) upended. This panel will explore how the past might inform future filings.

Bankruptcy Judges Elizabeth Brown and Michael Romero will discuss the year’s widest splits and most controversial opinions with ABI Editor-at-Large Bill Rochelle.

The experts on this panel will show you how to get the best valuation evidence before the courts, and will discuss how volatile COVID-19 conditions have impacted their valuation opinions.

This panel will discuss new movements in foreclosure practices and procedures post-COVID-19, much ado about In re Kinney, dealing with mortgage payment issues at the end of a chapter 13 plan, Rule 3002.1 concerns and remedies, whether to forbear or not to forbear, and implications of COVID-19 forbearance relief options and bankruptcy.

This panel will reveal strategies and tactics for introducing evidence properly and effectively in bankruptcy court to make persuasive case presentations.

Featuring the judges of the Rocky Mountain Bankruptcy Conference, this session will strive to answer questions you have on current issues.

The panel will address the legal framework by which bankruptcy courts and federal district courts are authorized to hold parties or attorneys in contempt of court. The discussion will focus on the authority of the bankruptcy court, as an Article I tribunal, to enforce the Bankruptcy Code and its orders through civil contempt powers and the penalties associated with those powers. The panel will also cover applicable law and procedure in relation to seeking criminal contempt in the federal district court.

This panel will examine what's involved in getting a subchapter V case across the finish line, starting with best practices for debtors as attorneys position their clients to confirm their plans. The panelists will specifically explore putting together projections and liquidation analyses, the weapons creditors have in their arsenal (including the § 1111(b) election), and the role of subchapter V trustees.