Consumer Bankruptcy Educational Sessions from ABI’s Regional Conferences
The summer of 2008 featured a great lineup of consumer bankruptcy educational sessions from the ABI’s regional conferences, including the 3rd Annual Northeast Consumer Forum held in conjunction with the Northeast Bankruptcy Conference in Brewster, MA. In the outline below you will find selected session materials from the Northeast Consumer Forum, Mid-Atlantic Bankruptcy Workshop and the Southeast Bankruptcy Workshop.
Northeast Consumer Forum
- BAPCPA Three Years Later: Through The Looking Glass – How Is It Down The Rabbit Hole?
- Speakers – Justin H. Dion, Bacon & Wilson, PC, Springfield, MA - Moderator; Kirstin M. McDonough, Riemer & Braunstein LLP, Boston; and Hon. Eugene R. Wedoff, U.S. Bankruptcy Court (N.D. Ill-Eastern Div.)
- Materials
- Fables And Fairy Tales…How The Practice Has Evolved
- Speakers - Geraldine L. Karonis, Assistant U.S. Trustee (District of NH) - Moderator; William M. Gillen, The Law Offices of William M. Gillen PC, Manchester, NH; Hon. Enrique S. Lamoutte, U.S. Bankruptcy Court (District of PR); and David W. Ostrander, Ostrander Law Office, Northampton, MA
- Materials
- Income and Expense Issues Under Section 707(b)(2) And Projected Disposable Income In Chapter 13 Cases – Geraldine L. Karonis
- Income – Current Monthly Income; Section II Projected disposable income v. disposable income under 11 U.S.C. § 1325(b)(1) and (2) – William M. Gillen
- Policing The “Means Test”: Some Observations And Questions From A Panel Trustee – David W. Ostrander
- Messing With Mortgages: Continuing Consumer And Creditor Confusion
- Speakers – Catherine V. Eastwood, Partridge, Snow & Hahn, LLP, Providence, RI – Moderator; Richard I. Isacoff, Richard I. Isacoff, PC, Pittsfield, MA; William J. McLeod, McLeod Law Offices, PC, Boston; and Hon. Joel B. Rosenthal, U.S. Bankruptcy Court (District of Ma.)
- Materials
- The Bursting Bubble: Behind On Mortgages And Car Loans – Is Chapter 13 An Option?
- Speakers – Eleanor William Dahar, Victor W. Dahar, PA, Manchester, NH – Moderator; Steven J. Boyajian, Boyajian, Harrington & Richardson, Providence, RI; Hon. Colleen A. Brown, U.S. Bankruptcy Court (District of Vt.); and John S. McNicholas, Ablitt & Charlton, PC, Plymouth, MA
- Materials
Southeast Bankruptcy Workshop
- Adequate Protection In Chapter 11 And Chapter 13 Cases
- Speakers – Paul L. Orshan, Paul Orshan, PA, Miami – Moderator; Hon. Robert A. Mark, U.S. Bankruptcy Court (S.D. Fla.); Peter D. Russin, Meland Russin & Budwick, PA, Miami; and Mark P. Williams, Norman, Wood, Kendrick & Turner, Birmingham, AL
- Materials
- Consumer Bankruptcy Update (Plenary Session)
- Speakers – Samuel K. Crocker, Crocker & Niarhos, Nashville, TN; Hon. David W. Houston, U.S. Bankruptcy Court (N.D. Miss.); and Prof. Lois R. Lupica, University of Maine School of Law, Portland, ME
- Materials
- Consumer Ethics: How To Stay Out Of Jail
- Speakers – Debera F. Conlon, Assistant U.S. Trustee, Norfolk, VA and Hon. John K. Olson, U.S. Bankruptcy Court (S.D. Fla)
- Materials
Mid-Atlantic Bankruptcy Workshop
- When Circuits Collide – Revisited (Plenary Session)
- Speakers – Prof. Jack F. Williams, ABI Scholar In Residence – Moderator; Hon. Randolph Baxter, U.S. Bankruptcy Court (N.D. Ohio-Eastern Div); Hon. Jean K. FitzSimon, U.S. Bankruptcy Court (E.D. Pa.); Hon. Robert E. Littlefield, U.S. Bankruptcy Court (N.D.N.Y.); and Hon. S. Martin Teel, Jr., U.S. Bankruptcy Court (District of Columbia)
- Materials
- Lessons In Statutory Interpretations: Is Plain Meaning Always The Answer? – Hon. S. Martin Teel, Jr.
- Circuit Split – Should 401k Withdrawals Be Included In CMI Calculations? – Hon. Randolph Baxter
- Legal Effect of 11 U.S.C § 1325(a): Whether The “Hanging Paragraph” Eliminates A Creditor’s Ability To Assert A Deficiency Claim
From The ABI Law Review - A Study of Consumers’ Post-Discharge Finances: Struggle, Stasis, or Fresh-Start?
The American Bankruptcy Institute Law Review, published twice a year by Thomson West, is among the most respected scholarly publications in the bankruptcy community. Free to ABI members, the ABI Law Review has the largest circulation of any bankruptcy law review. The Law Review is edited by top students at St. John's University School of Law under the direction of Prof. G. Ray Warner, an ABI director, former member of the ABI Executive Committee and the director of the LL.M. program at St. John's. The Spring 2008 issue contains seven articles and one LL.M. thesis on topics such as substantive consolidation in large public company bankruptcies, due process and nationwide service, trends in distressed debt investing, wage priorities in bankruptcy, valuation practices and Daubert and non-assignable contracts in bankruptcy.
Of particular interest to the committee is the article entitled A Study of Consumers’ Post-Discharge Finances: Struggle, Stasis, or Fresh-Start?, written by Jay L. Zagorsky and Lois R. Lupica. Mr. Zagorsky is a research scientist at The Ohio State University Center for Human Resource Research, and Ms. Lupica is the Maine Law Foundation Professor of Law at the University of Maine School of Law. In this article the authors address the question of whether bankruptcy’s remedial discharge operates in a way consistent with its theoretical justification: whether the discharge provides honest, but unfortunate debtors a meaningful and sustainable financial fresh start. They examine the issue of the impact of a bankruptcy discharge on consumers’ financial distress through the analysis of a very large random national sample survey, concluding that the results show an encouraging outcome: the average person who files for bankruptcy to relieve financial distress catches up with their peers, but the time needed before the impact of this distress is no longer recognizable in their finances is long. Please click below to read the full article.
A Study of Consumers’ Post-Discharge Finances: Struggle, Stasis, or Fresh-Start? (pdf)
Committee Session At The Winter Leadership Conference
The Winter Leadership Conference will be held Dec. 4-6 in Tucson, AZ, at the Westin La Paloma. This year’s conference will feature another great group of sessions and speakers, as well as some top-notch entertainment! The Consumer Bankruptcy Committee will hold a joint session on Friday morning at 9:30 a.m., with the Real Estate and Legislation Committees. The Consumer Committee’s Education Director, Alane Beckett of Becket & Lee, LLP in Malvern, Pa., will moderate the panel for the session entitled “Politics, Practicality and People: The Impact of the Mortgage Meltdown in Bankruptcy.” The panel will include Ronald Greenspan of FTI Consulting, Inc. in Los Angeles, Hon. David W. Houston, III, U.S. Bankruptcy Court (District of Miss.), Debra L. Miller, Standing Chapter 13 Trustee in South Bend, IN and Tara Twomey of the National Consumer Law Center in Carmel, CA. Registration is now open. Click here to register now.