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Musings from the Tenth Circuit - Education and Opera in Santa Fe
Hon. Robert H. Jacobvitz , U.S. Bankruptcy Court
What could be better than gathering in historic Santa Fe, New Mexico in late August to experience art, opera, beautiful skies, and fellowship with kindred bankruptcy spirits ‒ and on top of that to gain knowledge
of important matters such as the Cannabis Conundrum blocking the door to the wonderful world of bankruptcy!
On Friday, August 23, 2019 the Tenth Circuit Chapter of the American College of Bankruptcy hosted a one-day, educational program. Attendees came from the 1st, 2nd, 5th, 6th, 9th, and 11th Circuits, as did insolvency professionals from Canada and Mexico. In addition to the Cannabis Conundrum, we learned about cross border insolvencies, the import of the Supreme Court’s recent decision in Mission Product on rejection of executory contracts, and the utility of examiners, receivers, and CROs.
After exhausting our minds with these intellectual treats, and following cocktail hour, we were on track to retreat to Restaurant Martín for dinner, or so we thought. Have you ever experienced that sinking feeling of learning at 4:30 pm that your dinner reservation for 40 people later that same evening was made for the wrong night? Well, no need to fear if ACB Fellow Charles Beckham is at hand. Serendipitously, many years earlier Charles had averted disaster for restaurateur Martín, who then was chief chef at Restaurant Geronimo in Santa Fe. Charles had advised chef Martín not to invest several hundred thousand dollars in the restaurant. Restaurant Geronimo later found itself to be the principal asset in a chapter 11 case. Paying it forward, Martín’s wife worked some magic and the group dined at Restaurant Martín that night after all.
On Saturday, some folks drove up to Los Alamos for a tour while others enjoyed experiencing Meow Wolf, an immersive interactive art installation located in a former Santa Fe bowling alley. The photo that looks like a Native American pueblo is actually the Eldorado Hotel where the ACB held the program.
About 50 of us went to the Santa Fe opera Saturday night for dinner on the opera grounds, to hear a short lecture before the opera, and to see La Bohème, an opera in four acts by Giacomo Puccini. As an aside, Louis Puccini, a descendant of Giacomo Puccini, is a retired New Mexico bankruptcy judge. The dinner was in a beautiful mountainous setting and gave us the opportunity to socialize further with guests of the College.
Of course, I had to take a picture of ACB Fellow Charles Beckham, who saved the day on Friday. As luck would have it, Charles was sitting next to ACB President Mark Bloom, shown together in one of the pictures. The other photos you see are of the opera building, the dinner area at the opera, and ACB guests at the dinner. If you look closely, you will see retired Bankruptcy Judge Charles Case in a plaid shirt in the upper left of the ACB guests at the dinner photo. Chuck now makes Santa Fe his home.
ACB Fellows Judge Elizabeth Brown, Charles Beckham, Mark Craige, Paul Fish and Annette Jarvis and ACB Communications Director Carole McNamara deserve our thanks for putting together such a wonderful weekend of education and fun.
The Eldorado Hotel