2:00 p.m.

ABI Registration Desk and Exhibit Hall Open

2:30-5:00 p.m.

Emerging Leaders Program

Calling all up-and-comers in the bankruptcy industry! Join your fellow emerging leaders for an interactive half-day program for insolvency professionals with less than 10 years of experience in either consumer or business bankruptcy. We invite lawyers, financial advisors, bankers, etc. to participate in an interactive program targeting issues of particular interest to emerging leaders. An Emerging Leaders Reception will immediately follow the program.

 

Hon. Christopher J. Panos, Moderator

U.S. Bankruptcy Court (D. Mass.); Boston

Christopher M. Candon

Sheehan Phinney; Manchester, N.H.

Timothy J. Carter

Goulston & Storrs PC; Boston

Andre S. Digou

Chace Ruttenberg & Freedman, LLP; Providence, R.I.

Uchechi A. Egeonuigwe

Brown Rudnick LLP; New York

Chris Ferrara

Capstone Headwaters; Boston

Kate P. Foley

Mirick, O’Connell DeMallie & Lougee, LLP; Westborough, Mass.

Maegan L. Hurley

Massachusetts Debt Relief Foundation, Inc.; Boston

Molly Jobe

CR3 Partners LLC; New York

Katherine M. Krakowka

Marcus Clegg; Portland, Maine

David A. Mawhinney

K & L Gates LLP; Boston

Latonia C. Williams

Shipman & Goodwin LLP; Hartford, Conn.

5:00-6:00 p.m.

Emerging Leaders Reception (invite only)

Sponsored by WilmerHale

6:00-8:00 p.m.

Opening Reception

Sponsored by Choate Hall & Stewart LLP, Duane Morris LLP and Second Avenue Capital Partners, LLC

Bar sponsored by Argus Management Corporation, Pachulski Stang Ziehl & Jones and Sullivan & Worcester

7:00-7:45 a.m.

Breakfast

Sponsored by Brown Rudnick LLP and Murtha Cullina LLP

7:30-7:45 a.m.

Welcome Address

7:45-9:15 a.m.

Bankruptcy and the U.S. Supreme Court

The panel will discuss recent cases and longstanding Supreme Court jurisprudence on recurring themes, including law vs. equity, approaches to statutory interpretation, the role of courts and limits to jurisdiction, and bankruptcy policy related to reorganization, discharge and the fresh start.

 

Hon. Brian K. Tester, Moderator

U.S. Bankruptcy Court (D. P.R.); San Juan

G. Eric Brunstad, Jr.

Dechert LLP; Hartford, Conn.

Douglas Hallward-Driemeier

Ropes & Gray LLP; Washington, D.C.

Prof. Margaret Howard

Washington & Lee Law School; Lexington, Va.

9:15-9:30 a.m.

Coffee Break

Sponsored by Goulston & Storrs PC

9:30-10:45 a.m.

Business Track Sessions (2)

Nonprofits: The Internal Struggles of Officers and Directors

Two of the most currently challenged industries — higher education and health care — are also the two industries most likely to use the nonprofit form of organization. Recent high-profile cases have demonstrated the pull and tug on officers and directors of those entities. Tasked with both the practical realities imposed by the need to make payroll and the mission-based obligation to pursue the organization’s charitable purposes, the officers and directors are forced to weigh financial discipline against the obligation to heal or to educate. This panel will explore the seemingly conflicting fiduciary duties of the officers and directors of nonprofit companies, identifying those duties and the statutory protections afforded those who are faced with making real-time decisions. The discussion will also explore challenges to the actions taken, including additional hurdles to asset sales under § 363(d)(1), government agency investigations and oversight, and class action litigation.

 

Cynthia Romano, Moderator

CohnReznick Advisory; New York

William K. Harrington

Office of the U.S. Trustee; New York

John J. Monaghan

Holland & Knight LLP; Boston

Charles R. Powell, III

Devine, Millimet & Branch, PA; Manchester, N.H.

Hon. Elizabeth S. Stong

U.S. Bankruptcy Court (E.D.N.Y.); Brooklyn

Early-Case Orders that Dictate the End-of-Case Orders: Efficient or Disenfranchising?

Cash-collateral, DIP-financing, § 363 bid-procedure and assumption-of-restructuring-support-agreement orders all enter into the early stages of a chapter 11 case, and all have the potential to dictate how the case will end. Some argue that setting a firm course for the case in the early days promotes efficiency and recognizes the financial realities posed by current capital structures. Others argue that those same orders, fashioned by a small subset of the creditor constituencies, preclude all but those at the top of the capital structure from having an effective voice in the case. The panelists include people on both sides of that debate, and the discussion will feature such topics as benchmarks in DIP financing and cash-collateral orders, recent developments in bid-procedure orders such as the recent approval by some courts of multiple breakup fees and of a no-shop clause, and just how far a restructuring support agreement can go in a pre-negotiated case.

 

Hon. Hannah L. Blumenstiel, Moderator

U.S. Bankruptcy Court (N.D. Cal.); San Francisco

Stephen L. Coulombe

Berkeley Research Group LLC.; Boston

Hon. Robert E. Gerber (ret.)

Joseph Hage Aaronson LLC; New York

Lisa Bittle Tancredi

Gebhardt & Smith LLP; Baltimore

 

Consumer Forum Session

Access to Bankruptcy Justice: Expanding Opportunities (Ethics Panel)

Individuals with disabilities or with limited English proficiency often require accommodations to successfully access the relief afforded by the bankruptcy system. This requirement applies whether individuals are debtors or creditors. The panelists will discuss accessibility issues and the provision of reasonable accommodations to enable debtors or creditors with differing abilities to access the bankruptcy system. They will also provide practical steps that can be taken to ensure compliance with the Rules of Professional Responsibility, the Bankruptcy Code and the Americans with Disabilities Act. The panel will explore these issues from the perspectives of counsel, judges and the U.S. Trustee’s Office.

 

Hon. Peter G. Cary

U.S. Bankruptcy Court (D. Maine); Portland

Stephen G. Morrell

Office of the U.S. Trustee; Portland, Maine

Marlene Sallo

Disability Law Center; Boston

Jacob T. Simon

Simon Law; Swampscott, Mass.

10:45-11:00 a.m.

Coffee Break

Sponsored by Bernstein Shur

11:00 a.m.-12:15 p.m.

Business Track Sessions (2)

Not Your Parents’ Fraudulent-Transfer Action

Practitioners are constantly looking for ways to expand, or limit, the ability of estate fiduciaries and creditors to avoid transfers. This panel will explore several cutting-edge issues with respect to fraudulent-transfer actions currently playing out in bankruptcy courts, including whether trustees may recover tuition payments by debtor-parents for the benefit of their adult children and the meaning of “reasonably equivalent value” under Section 548(A)(1)(b). The panel will explore opportunities to expand a trustee’s avoidance powers, including a trustee’s ability to stand in the shoes of the IRS and benefit from the 10-year look-back period, Ponzi scheme issues, and applying avoidance powers to foreign defendants. The speakers will also discuss whether silence is still golden in light of Husky International v. Ritz.

 

Andrew Z. Schwartz, Moderator

Foley Hoag LLP; Boston

Hon. Julie A. Manning

U.S. Bankruptcy Court (D. Conn.); Bridgeport

Harold B. Murphy

Murphy & King, PC; Boston

Suzanne B. Roski

Protiviti Inc.; Richmond, Va

Achieving Consensus in Bankruptcy Disputes Through Mediation

In this program, three expert mediators, two retired judges and one federal judicial mediator will provide insights on what to expect in a mediation of a dispute in a contested matter or adversary proceeding in a bankruptcy case. They will focus on the types of bankruptcy disputes that are well-suited for mediation; procedures for implementing a mediation referral, including the referral order and mediation agreement; confidentiality issues; the conduct of the mediation session; different mediation techniques; strategies for parties and counsel to conduct effective negotiations in mediations; and bad-faith participation in mediation and remedies for such conduct. The panelists also will provide their insights on traps and problems to avoid before, during and after mediation, and best practices for counsel and parties in mediations.

 

Hon. Joan Feeney, Moderator

U.S. Bankruptcy Court (D. Mass.); Boston

Hon. Louis H. Kornreich (ret.)

Bernstein Shur; Bangor, Maine

Berry B. Mitchell

U.S. District Court (D. R.I.); Providence

 

Consumer Forum Session

Student Loans: How Do We Deal with Them Before and After Bankruptcy?

It is estimated that U.S. student debt obligations now exceed $1.5 trillion. This panel will discuss the impact of student loans before and after the borrower files bankruptcy. What can an attorney do to assist his/her client in determining his/her options with student loan obligations? How can a student loan be modified, and what can be done outside the courtroom for the borrower? Further discussion will concentrate on when a student loan can be dischargeable, the difficulty in establishing a hardship discharge, how the lender defends against a debtor seeking a hardship discharge at trial, and how student loans are treated in chapter 13 proceedings throughout the First Circuit.

 

Hon. Elizabeth D. Katz

U.S. Bankruptcy Court (D. Mass.); Springfield

Adam S. Minsky

Law Office of Adam S. Minsky; Boston

Perry O’Brian

Bangor, Maine

Julia Pitney

Drummond Woodsum; Portland, Maine

1:00 p.m.

Optional Events

Golf Tournament at Newport National Country Club

Sponsored by Mackinac Partners LLC, Murphy & King, PC and Partridge Snow & Hahn LLP

1:30 p.m.

Tour de ABI

Tennis Tournament at the Tennis Hall of Fame

Sponsored by Huron Consulting Group Inc.

6:00-7:00 p.m.

Sponsor Reception (by invite only)

Sponsored by Foley Hoag LLP

7:00-10:00 p.m.

Dinner

Sponsored by Deloitte; Neubert, Pepe & Monteith; Pullman & Comley LLC; Ropes & Gray LLP; and Zeisler & Zeisler, P.C.

Bar sponsored by Capstone Headwaters, Devine, Millimet & Branch, PA and Sheehan Phinney

Dinner Entertainment sponsored by Mintz, Levin, Cohn, Ferris, Glovsky & Popeo, P.C.

7:30-8:00 a.m.

Breakfast

Sponsored by BMC Group and McLane Middleton, PA

8:00-9:30 a.m.

Welcome to the New Age: Don’t Be Radioactive (or a Cybersecurity Victim)

Lawyers and law firms, as well as other professionals, need to understand the critical issue of data security. This panel will detail why you are at risk and what you should be doing to combat the threats. The focus will be on understanding cybersecurity risks, data-protection best practices, incident-response planning and ethical obligations. This plenary program will offer practical guidance that you can use both personally and professionally, whether focused principally on consumer or commercial issues.

 

Hon. Frank J. Bailey, Moderator

U.S. Bankruptcy Court (D. Mass.); Boston

Tinamarie Feil

BMC Group, Inc.; New York

Robert S. Litt

Morrison & Foerster LLP; Washington, D.C.

John G. Loughnane

Nutter McClennen & Fish LLP; Boston

9:30-9:45 a.m.

Coffee Break

Sponsored by Casner & Edwards, LLP

9:45-11:00 a.m.

Business Track Repeat Sessions (1)

Not Your Parents’ Fraudulent-Transfer Action

 

Business Track Sessions (1)

Other Nonbankruptcy Alternatives: Exchange Offers, Strict Foreclosures and Workouts

ABCs and state receiverships are not the only chapter 11 alternatives. With even middle-market companies having widely held and tradeable note instruments, the exchange offer provides an out-of-court alternative that, if successful, can provide most of the benefits of a confirmed chapter 11 plan, and if unsuccessful, can still provide the basis for a confirmable prepackaged plan. The panel will provide an introduction to exchange offers: the goals, mechanics and documents. The panel will also explore the current thinking on the short reach of the Trust Indenture Act in exchange offers after the Second Circuit Court of Appeals’ decision in Marblegate Asset Management vs. Education Management Corp. In addition, the panel will explore opportunities to use strict foreclosure and other consensual, or nonconsensual, workouts, wind-downs and liquidations to maximize value.

 

William W. Kannel, Moderator

Mintz, Levin, Cohn, Ferris, Glovsky & Popeo, P.C.; Boston

Stefanie Birbrower Greer

Prudential Insurance Company of America; Newark, N.J.

Craig R. Jalbert

Verdolino & Lowey, P.C.; Foxboro, Mass.

Lisa M. Kresge

Brennan Recupero Cascione Scungio McAllister LLP; Providence, R.I.

 

Consumer Forum Session

Violations of the Automatic Stay and the Discharge Injunction

This panel will discuss current developments in the law in the First and Second Circuits for both violations of the automatic stay and discharge injunction. We will analyze the unique consequences debtors may face when filing for bankruptcy and what might or might not violate the automatic stay (e.g., revocation of a driver’s license after an uninsured motorist files), and how corporations are able to address stay violations. The panel will discuss preparing both stay- and discharge-injunction-violation cases, including how to develop emotional-distress and punitive-damage claims, and possible additional claims to explore.

 

Alex F. Mattera

Partridge Snow & Hahn LLP; Boston

Steven M. Notinger

Notinger Law, PLLC; Nashua, N.H.

Hon. James J. Tancredi

U.S. Bankruptcy Court (D. Conn.); Hartford

11:00-11:15 a.m.

Coffee Break

Sponsored by Arent Fox LLP

11:15 a.m.-12:30 p.m.

Business Track Repeat Sessions (1)

Early-Case Orders that Dictate the End-of-Case Orders: Efficient or Disenfranchising?

 

Business Track Sessions (1)

Are Trademarks Really That Special, or Did Congress Just Miss Something?

The First Circuit Court of Appeals decision in Mission Product Holdings Inc. v. Tempnology LLC held that the absence of trademarks from the definition of intellection property in § 101(35A) of the Bankruptcy Code means that, unlike other types of intellectual property, a licensor’s rejection of a trademark license deprives its licensee of any right to continued use of the mark. The Supreme Court has accepted certiorari in the case and is expected to issue a decision late this Spring on the question of whether, under Bankruptcy Code § 365, a debtor-licensor’s rejection of a license terminates rights of the licensee that would survive the licensor’s breach under nonbankruptcy law. This panel will analyze the reach of the question presented, examine the arguments briefed, interpret the scope and breadth of the Court’s decision (assuming it is rendered before the term concludes), and consider the implications for commercial licensing and bankruptcy administration.

 

Hon. Michael A. Fagone, Moderator

U.S. Bankruptcy Court (D. Maine); Bangor

Lee Harrington

Nixon Peabody LLP; Boston

Lindsay Z. Milne

Bernstein Shur; Portland, Maine

Danielle Spinelli

WilmerHale; Washington, D.C.

 

Consumer Forum Session

Practice Pointers: When Bankruptcy and Consumer-Protection Statutes Collide

The same circumstances that lead debtors to bankruptcy often give rise to claims under various consumer-protection statutes. The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, the Fair Credit Reporting Act, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s mortgage-servicing rules, and similar consumer-protection rules and statutes can have substantial impacts on the creditor/debtor relationship. Whether you represent business or consumer debtors, creditors, or estate fiduciaries, an understanding of how consumer-protection statutes intersect with bankruptcy will help you deal with the opportunities and challenges that your clients might face when bankruptcy and consumer-protection laws meet. The panelists will discuss practical implications of the common intersection of consumer-protection statutes and bankruptcy.

 

Steven J. Boyajian

Robinson & Cole LLP; Providence, R.I.

Hon. Diane Finkle

U.S. Bankruptcy Court (D. R.I.); Providence

Justin A. Kesselman

Arent Fox LLP; Boston

Sarah Petrie

Massachusetts Attorney General’s Office; Boston

1:30-3:30 p.m.

Historic Walking Tour

3:00-4:00 p.m.

Ice Cream Social

4:00-5:00 p.m.

The Honorable James F. Queenan, Jr. Seaside Chat

Hon. Bruce A. Harwood

U.S. Bankruptcy Court (D. N.H.); Concord

Prof. Margaret Howard

Washington & Lee Law School; Lexington, VA

Richard E. Mikels

Pachulski Stang Ziehl & Jones; New York