The College ’ s 2023 Educational Programs
Richard Levin , Jenner & Block LLP Scholar-in-Residence
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Innovation and diversity marked the College ’ s educational programs this year . The program at the annual meeting in March featured the first Saturday morning concurrent sessions , so that both business and consumer / small business Fellows could hear about developments in their areas . Speakers came from all parts of the country and represented diverse groups of lawyers , judges , and academics working in diverse areas of bankruptcy law and practice .
The small business panel discussed Subchapter V — Tomorrow and Beyond . The panel , headed by Bankruptcy Judge Roberta Colton ( M . D . Fla .), included David Cox , Esq ., Cox Law Group , PLLC , Lynchburg , Va ., and Soneet Kapila , Subchapter V trustee in the Southern District of Florida . Their focus was on developments in subchapter V cases that point the way to its evolving uses and effects .
The business panel covered Liability Management , sometimes referred to as “ creditor-on-creditor aggression ,” 1 The panel explained the kinds of transactions distressed debtors , their sponsors , and their debt holders use to prolong the debtor ’ s liquidity and manage its liabilities , often at the expense of one or more group of other creditors , and the litigation that has resulted from those transactions , both before and after the debtor ’ s chapter 11 petition . Lisa Schweitzer , Esq ., Cleary , Gottlieb , Steen & Hamilton LLP , New York , led the panel ,
which included William Derrough , Moelis & Co ., New York , discussing the financial purposes and effects of these transactions , and Natasha Labovitz , Esq ., Debevoise & Plimpton LLP , New York , and Patrick Nash , Esq ., Kirkland & Ellis LLP , Chicago , IL .
The other two Saturday-morning panels were designed more for general interest . First , our 2023 Distinguished Service Award recipient , Professor Douglas G . Baird , Harry A . Bigelow Distinguished Service Professor , University of Chicago Law School , spoke about his most recent book , THE UNWRITTEN LAW OF CORPORATE REORGANIZATION , published last year . Prof . Baird traced the development of corporate reorganization law to the Statute of 5 Elizabeth ( 1570 ), the original fraudulent transfer law , as one of the foundations of creditors ’ rights and reorganization cases , through the railroad reorganizations of the late 19th and early 20th Centuries , section 77 of the Bankruptcy Act , and into the modern Bankruptcy Code and chapter 11 .
The second panel — Attorneys ’ Fees in Consumer Bankruptcy Cases-A Policy and Ethics Discussion — which provided CLE ethics credit , posed the policy and ethics questions in consumer bankruptcy cases of how to deal with individual chapter 7 debtors ’ inability to commit to pay their attorneys ’ fees after the filing of their petitions . The chapter 7 discharge and injunction prohibit an attorney from collecting fees postpetition , and debtors are often unable to save enough to pay the fees in advance when creditors are pounding on their doors . Practitioners have developed several different work-arounds , some of which the