Program Schedule

The Select New Cases and Other Recent Developments in Bankruptcy About Which All Practitioners Should Know.

SPEAKER: Professor David G. Epstein

The Mortgage Crises: Subprime and Alt A Mortgages - Economic conditions that gave rise to subprime and Alt A lending; role of structured finance in mortgage lending and its impact on subprime consumers; role of mortgage brokers, mortgage lenders, Wall Street financiers, credit-rating services, insurance companies, and institutional investors; what went wrong; financial fall-out and ensuing litigation for the consumer, commercial debtor, and creditor.

SPEAKER: Honorable Margaret A. Mahoney

Coffee Break (Registrants only - included in registration fee).
Sponsored by Elrod Auction Company; Brookwood Associates, LLC; W. G. Hays & Associates, LLC

Involuntary Bankruptcy Petitions - The basics of how to file a petition; joining an involuntary petition; what constitutes a disputed claim; what happens during the “gap” period between filing and entry of an order for relief; standard for determining if the debtor is not paying its debts as they come due; risks of filing an involuntary petition.

SPEAKER: Professor Jack Williams

10:45 - 12:25

BREAKOUT
SESSIONS

Litigation: Ethics: Professional Conflicts and Disclosure - Considerations for counsel and other professionals; disclosure obligations under Rule 2014; special issues relating to “connections”; disinterestedness; issues for debtor’s counsel with respect to pre-petition representation of the company; Pillowtex and related problems.

SPEAKER: Judith Greenstone Miller

Lunch (Registrants only - included in registration fee).
Sponsored by Conway Del Genio, Gries & Co., LLC.; Grisanti Galef & Goldress Inc.; J.P. Morgan Chase; Lockton Companies, LLC; NRC Realty Advisors, LLC; RGL - Forensic Accountants & Consultants

Recent Developments for Consumer Bankruptcy Practitioners.

SPEAKER: Professor David G. Epstein

Means Test Income And Deductions - Computation of median and current monthly income; determination of household number by those depending on debtor’s income, including related and unrelated; contributions by household members; deduction for debts secured by collateral to be surrendered; effect of non-filing spouse’s separate expenses; deductions related to unencumbered car.

SPEAKER: Carey D. Ebert

Secured Automobile Claims - Hanging paragraph’s effect on surrender of collateral, financing negative equity and other related expenses; resulting effect on purchase money security interest; plan treatment of vehicle-personal, business or family use; effect of surrender of car on means test or projected disposable income calculations; status of Till on interest rates.

SPEAKER: Barkley Clark

Confirming Chapter 13 Plan and Post-Confirmation Issues - Confirmation issues using projected disposable income or actual monthly income; good faith requirement; effect of surrendering collateral; status of Till on interest rates; treatment of student loans in plan; satisfying objections to confirmation; applicable commitment period; plan modification due to income change or reclassifying claim.

SPEAKER: Andrea E. Celli

Cocktail Reception (Registrants and Spouses).
Sponsored by BMC Group; GlassRatner Advisory & Capital Group, LLC; IWIRC Georgia and Florida Networks

Single Asset Real Estate Cases - What constitutes a single asset real estate case; which creditors can request interest payments; source of funds for payment of interest; application of payments made; bases for obtaining an extension of time under § 362; mandatory or discretionary nature of lifting the stay.

SPEAKER: Corali Lopez-Castro

Post-Confirmation Jurisdiction under Chapter 11 Bankruptcy Plans - Limitations on post-confirmation jurisdiction exercised by the bankruptcy courts in respect of litigation by estate representatives; retention of jurisdiction provisions in chapter 11 plans; current approaches by appellate courts to the question of subject matter jurisdiction.

SPEAKER: Honorable Bruce A. Markell

Assignments for the Benefit of Creditors, State Court Receiverships, and Bankruptcy Options - Alternatives to traditional reorganization of corporations under the Bankruptcy Code, including assignments for the benefit of creditors, receiverships, and Chapter 11 liquidations; state law statutory procedures, rules and proceedings; using Chapter 11 for debtor-directed liquidations and other sales of assets; pros and cons of choosing between Chapter 11 and Chapter 7 for corporations.

SPEAKER: Professor Jack Williams

Cross-Border Insolvencies - Overview of Chapter 15; the necessity of initial judicial determination of whether a foreign proceeding is a main proceeding or a non-main proceeding; ramifications of finding that the foreign proceeding is neither; issues in filing the main bankruptcy cases of a parent and its foreign subsidiaries in one court; difficulties in establishing that a foreign subsidiary’s center of main interests is at the headquarters of its ultimate parent; venue for petitions to recognize foreign proceedings.

SPEAKER: Alesia Ranney-Marinelli

Cocktail Reception for registrants and spouses
Sponsored by BMC Group; GlassRatner Advisory & Capital
Group LLC; IWIRC Georgia and Florida Networks

Continental Breakfast (Registrants only - included in registration fee). Sponsored by Grant Thornton LLP; JP Morgan Chase

Claims Objections - How to bring and how to defend them; new FRBP 3007; service of claims objections; effect of assigned or transferred claim on claim objection; converting your claim objection to an adversary proceeding; burden of proof issues; filing objections to claims in consumer and commercial cases - both big and small.

SPEAKER: Honorable Margaret Cangilos-Ruiz

Perfection Issues Under UCC Revised Article 9 - Secured creditor vs. trustee or debtor; debtor name problems on UCC financing statements and certificates of title; perfection of security interest in intellectual property; enforceability of consumer dragnet clauses; perfecting security interests in deposit accounts; “lien-stripping” case; pawn transactions; security interests in commercial tort claims; traps for secured creditors in enforcing UCC security interests in both commercial and consumer arenas.

SPEAKER: Barkley Clark

Coffee Break (Registrants only - included in registration fee).
Sponsored by Carl Marks Advisory Group LLC; The Douglas Wilson Companies

Arbitration of Bankruptcy Disputes - Strategies for use of an arbitration provision; how to use an arbitration decision in a bankruptcy proceeding; findings of fact; res judicata or collateral estoppel effect of an arbitration decision; using bankruptcy rules of procedure to supplement (or circumvent) discovery limitations in arbitration.

SPEAKER: Corali Lopez-Castro

10:40-12:20

BREAKOUT
SESSIONS

Litigation: Evidence: Commonly Arising Evidentiary Issues under the Federal Rules of Evidence - Admission of documents and electronic evidence, including authentication, best evidence and witnesses required; hearsay exceptions for business records; special issues with respect to electronic evidence including finding it, introducing it and practical suggestions for types of electronic evidence to request in common disputes; opinion testimony under Rules 701 and 702; proof by judicial notice; effective redaction of evidence filed electronically.

SPEAKER: Michael D. Fielding

Lunch (Registrants only - included in registration fee).
Sponsored by Conway MacKenzie & Dunleavy; Grant Thornton LLP; Morgan Joseph & Co. Inc.

Defending Motions To Dismiss Under §707(b)(2) and §707(b)(3) - Proving special circumstances of higher expenses or decreased income; describing reasonable and necessary expenses; using expenses in means test for collateral to be surrendered; filing notice of presumed abuse; arguing existence of two separate households; circumstances showing abuse; considering Debtor’s actual expenses.

SPEAKER: Carey D. Ebert

Home Mortgages In Chapter 13 Cases - Undisclosed fees and post-confirmation charges; proper application of payments; allowable fees and costs and proper procedure for compliance; effect of changes in payment amounts; late fees for trustee’s late payments; curing mortgage arrearage and reinstatement at conclusion of case; remedies ensuring compliance with plan.

SPEAKER: Andrea E. Celli

Coffee Break (Registrants only – included in registration fee).
Sponsored by Deloitte Financial Advisory Services LLP; Morris-Anderson & Associates Ltd.

Selected Chapter 7 Issues - Debtor’s available choices and timing of reaffirmation, redemption, or surrender; requirements of reaffirmation agreements for represented or unrepresented debtors; filing reaffirmation agreement; ride through; creditor’s rights if court denies reaffirmation; valuation standard for redemption; how surrender is effectuated; applying correct homestead exemption; determining if conveyance is fraudulent.

SPEAKER: Honorable Margaret A. Mahoney

Automatic Stay - When stay goes into effect; differences with repeat filings; extent of imposing stay on estate or debtor; treatment of stay under § 105 and any requirement for adversary proceeding; effect of confirming plan without stay; acts in violation of stay being void, voidable, or other; remedies for stay violations.

SPEAKER: Honorable Bruce A. Markell

Recent Developments for Chapter 11 Practitioners

SPEAKER: Professor Margaret Howard

Retail Issues, Reclamation, and Section 503(b)(9) Claims - The new administrative claim for the value of goods received by the debtor within 20 days of filing; the timing of payment and priority of this new claim; the effect of the new claim if the debtor is administratively insolvent and the challenges posed by conversion; reclamation and the Phar Mor decision.

SPEAKER: Judith Greenstone Miller

Coffee Break (Registrants only – included in registration fee).
Sponsored by Deloitte Financial Advisory Services LLP; Morris-Anderson & Associates Ltd.

Securities Issues for Publicly Held Debtors - Disclosure duties with respect to filing of bankruptcy case; confidentiality agreements and selective disclosure of material non-public information during the bankruptcy case; trading restrictions on members of creditors’ committee; trading restrictions on holders of stock or debt so as not to impair net operating losses; registration exemptions and safe harbors under Bankruptcy Code § 1145 for securities issued in connection with a plan of reorganization.

SPEAKER: Alesia Ranney-Marinelli

Sales “Free and Clear” Under the Bankruptcy Code - The limits of § 363(f)(5); other avenues for sales free and clear; the renewed scrutiny of provisions in sale orders; application of § 363(m) and other mootness theories to lien stripping under § 363(f).

SPEAKER: Thomas M. Mayer

Continental Breakfast (Registrants only – included in registration fee).
Sponsored by Lockton Companies, Inc.; NRC Realty Advisors, LLC; RGL - Forensic Accountants & Consultants

Emerging Preference Issues - Avoiding a security interest where the court clerk does not promptly file the security agreement; the doctrines of equitable subordination and earmarking in connection with refinanced mortgages; when is an exchange “substantially contemporaneous”; relation-back provisions; calculating new value; limitations on “double-dipping” with respect to the new-value defense.

SPEAKER: Professor Margaret Howard

Getting Paid in Bankruptcy Cases - Issues relating to Chapter 7 cases including prepetition retainers for postpetition services; issues relating to dischargeability litigation; Chapter 13 plan issues including current or advance payment of attorneys fees’ and relation to priority and/or secured creditors; carveouts in Chapter 11 and issues relating to priorities between administrative claims.

SPEAKER: Honorable Margaret Cangilos-Ruiz

Coffee Break (Registrants only – included in registration fee).
Sponsored by Algon Group

Executory Contracts - Executory contracts and unexpired real and personal property leases in consumer and commercial cases; impact of postpetition events on executoriness; non-debtor’s duties pending assumption or rejection, including as to credit terms; adequate assurance of future performance; effect on rejection damages of attempted mitigation; effect of post-assumption rejection and damage calculations; resulting administrative claims; impact on a Chapter 13 plan.

SPEAKER: Thomas M. Mayer

Litigation: Professionalism: Multiple Representations - Rule 2019 - the necessity for disclosure by ad hoc committees and the ongoing obligation of counsel to disclose multiple representations in bankruptcy cases; application of the rule in consumer cases as well as commercial; applicability to all Chapters under the Code; obligations generally under Rule 2019.

SPEAKER: Michael D. Fielding

Additional Sponsors: Alvarez & Marsal North America, LLC, Pocket Agenda; BMC Group, CD ROMS; Administar Services Group LLC and Habif Arogeti & Wynne, Book Bags; Hays Financial Consulting, LLC, Book Bag Identification Tags and Room Keys; TrialGraphix, Signage.