Legislation Committee

ABI Committee News

Committee Welcomes Its Two Newest Co-Chairs

Karen Cordry is bankruptcy and special-issues counsel for the National Association of Attorneys General in Washington, D.C. She serves as a resource person to the states for issues relating to the effects of bankruptcy on attorneys general activities. She also provides support for the states on bankruptcy filings by tobacco companies, of which there have been six to date. Ms. Cordry conducts an annual seminar on bankruptcy topics, works with state and local contacts involved with bankruptcy issues and writes a monthly bankruptcy bulletin on recent cases of interest to government counsel. She also assists states to present property damage claims in asbestos cases, maintaining liaison with securities fraud litigators and serving as a representative of the states on the Intergovernmental Policy Advisory Committee. Ms. Cordry also conducts an annual seminar on state defensive litigation to assist the Offices of the Attorneys General in dealing with suits brought against the states. She previously worked for the National Labor Relations Board, both as a field attorney in Detroit and in the Office of Appeals, Appellate Court Section and Contempt Litigation Section in Washington, D.C. She obtained her B.S. in Biochemistry at Michigan State University in 1973, her J.D. from Wayne State University in 1977 and her LL.M. from George Washington University in 1987.

John D. McMickle is a partner in Winston & Strawn's federal governmental relations and regulatory affairs practice group in its Washington, D.C. office, where he represents clients before Congress and administrative agencies. His clients include financial services companies and associations, pharmaceutical manufacturers, tax-exempt bond issuers and the association of qui tam plaintiff attorneys. Mr. McMickle serves firm clients with interests in health care, tax, bankruptcy, international trade, tort reform and intellectual property. Before joining Winston & Strawn, he served as counsel to Sen. Charles Grassley, chairman of the Subcommittee on Administrative Oversight and the Courts of the Senate Judiciary Committee. In this capacity, he advised the chairman on bankruptcy policy, telecommunications, health care fraud and abuse, the False Claims Act, judicial nominations and the administration of federal courts. He has also served as a litigation director for the National Law Center for Children and Families. He was the primary staff draftsman for PL 109-8 and the Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act of 2005. Mr. McMickle received a B.A. in political science, magna cum laude from the University of Tennessee in 1989 and a J.D. from American University, Washington College of Law in 1994. Mr. McMickle is a co-author of the Bankruptcy Code Manual, a legal guide to bankruptcy law published by Thomson Publishing. 

 

Bankruptcy Legislation Update

On Thursday, April 30, 2009, the U.S. Senate defeated controversial legislation that would have given bankruptcy judges the ability to rewrite first mortgage terms by lowering the value of a mortgage to the current market value of the property, reducing interest rates and extending loan maturity. The bill, which was discussed at length in the February 2009 edition of the ABI legislation newsletter, was stripped out of a larger bill package, and 12 Democrats joined Senate Republicans to vote down the measure 51 to 45. Legislation author and Senate majority whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) spent weeks negotiating with financial lobbyists in a bid to strike a deal that could be embraced by GOP Senate members. The House had previously passed the bankruptcy legislation on party lines in a 234-191 vote.

 

Updated 111th Congress Hearing Archive

Click here to view an updated archive of hearings that have been held in the 111th Congress on issues and legislation pertinent to bankruptcy or insolvency law. The updated chart includes recent congressional hearings examining the effect of the Lehman Brothers bankrupcty on state and local governments, hedge fund registration and the credit card industry's use of the Federal Arbitration Act.

Note that the chart lists the date of the hearing, the committee where it was held and the hearing title. The hearing title is linked to the committee pages to provide access to written testimony, congressional member statements and any additional materials or proposals made available by the committee for the hearing.

 

Annual Spring Meeting Conference Session Now Available in Audio Format

The Legislation Committee thanks Congressman Louie Gohmert (R-Texas), who recently spoke at the committee's breakout session at ABI's Annual Spring Meeting in April. Congressman Gohmert discussed how the bailout might have been avoidable, fraud behind credit default swaps, and bankruptcy as a means to reduce home foreclosures.

Did you miss the Legislation Committee session at the Annual Spring Meeting or do you want to hear the discussion again? Recordings of all committee sessions held during the Annual Spring Meeting can now be accessed online at http://asm09.abiworld.org or click here to go directly to the Legislation Committee session recording!

 

Contribute to the Newsletter

Please send articles for the Legislation Committee newsletter to Jon Lieberman at jjl@lsrlaw.com.