Abi Podcast

The latest ABI Podcast features members of ABI's Commission on Consumer Bankruptcy providing insights on the Commission's recommendations on student loans and bankruptcy, the first topic addressed in its Final Report. Prof. Robert M. Lawless of the University of Illinois College of Law (Champaign, Ill.), the Commission's Reporter, hosts the discussion with Commissioners Prof. Dalié Jiménez of the University of California, Irvine School of Law, Prof. Bruce Markell of Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law (Chicago) and Edward C. Boltz, a partner at the Law Offices of John T. Orcutt, P.C. (Durham, N.C.). In addition to providing the background for how the Commission arrived at the recommendations, the Commissioners discuss how the recommendations could be considered by Congress and currently applied in the courts.

ABI Editor-at-Large Bill Rochelle talks with Bankruptcy Judge Kevin Carey (D-Del.; Wilmington), Paul Hage of Jaffe Raitt Heuer & Weiss (Southfield, Mich.) and Lindsay Milne of Bernstein Shur (Portland, Maine) about the Supreme Court's decision in Mission Product Holdings Inc. v. Tempnology, LLC (17-1657). On May 20, the Court held that rejection of an executory trademark license does not bar the licensee from continuing to use the mark. Ms. Milne represented the party that prevailed in the Supreme Court.

Examining the Intersection of Tribal Sovereignty and Bankruptcy - Ep. 229 by ABI

New SIPC CEO Discussing Recovery Efforts in Madoff Case - Ep. 228 by ABI

Highlighting Women's History Month with ABI Presidents - ep. 227 by ABI

Elaborating on their ABI Journal article "Too Broke for a Fresh Start" about chapter 7 being too expensive for those in need, Bankruptcy Judge Henry Callaway (S.D. Ala.; Mobile) and Jonathan Petts of Upsolve (New York) talk with former ABI Resident Scholar Prof. Drew Dawson of the University of Miami School of Law about why chapter 7 is less accessible to those in need. They also discuss potential technological, policy and administrative solutions that could help make chapter 7 more accessible to low-income debtors.

ABI Executive Director Sam Gerdano talks with Jay Bender of Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP (Birmingham, Ala.), Kristina M. Stanger of Nyemaster Goode, P.C. (Des Moines, Iowa) and John H. Thompson of McGuireWoods LLP (Washington, D.C.) about proposals to equalize the means test treatment for veterans who seek chapter 7 relief. Bender, Stanger and Thompson, who are part of the legislative committee of ABI's Veterans' Task Force, talk about the problem of including VA disability payments as income and efforts to correct this disparity in the Code, such as the HAVEN Act.

ABI Deputy Executive Director Amy Quackenboss talks with authors Lisa Bittle Tancredi of Gebhardt & Smith LLP (Baltimore) and Mark A. Gittelman of PNC Bank (Philadelphia) about their new book Navigating Banking in Bankruptcy: A Guidebook. Tancredi and Gittelman provide an overview of the topics covered in the book, which offers practical guidance to bankers, company financial officers and legal professionals on issues that arise at the intersection of banking and bankruptcy.

ABI Executive Director Sam Gerdano talks with David Fisher of Integra Ledger (Denver) and Laura Jehl of BakerHostetler (Washington, D.C.). Both Fisher and Jehl will be speaking at ABI's Winter Leadership Conference on panel sessions examining blockchain, cybersecurity and litigating new financial industry issues in bankruptcy. Listen to their podcast discussion of opportunities and challenges in emerging legal technologies.

ABI Executive Director Sam Gerdano talks with Suzanne A. Koenig of SAK Management Services LLC (Riverwoods, Ill.) and Nancy A. Peterman of Greenberg Traurig, LLP (Chicago) about health care distress and a special ABI program in January focused on the topic. Koenig and Peterman are both chairs of ABI's “Disruption, Consolidation and Innovation in the Health Care Industry” Program taking place January 17 at Georgetown University Law Center. They discuss the program's focus on the delivery of health care, private equity’s takeover of the industry, the rationing of health care services and reimbursements, and more.

ABI Executive Director Sam Gerdano talks with Prof. Michael D. Sousa of the University of Denver's Sturm College of Law about his recent analytical look at the stigma of bankruptcy. Sousa published the lead article in the Summer 2018 edition of the ABI Law Review, “The Persistence of Bankruptcy Stigma,” which presented his findings that the stigma surrounding personal bankruptcy has actually increased, not decreased, over time.

Landlord/Tenant Issues in Retail Bankruptcy - Ep. 220 by ABI

ABI Editor-at-Large Bill Rochelle talks with Bankruptcy Judge Michael Kaplan (D. N.J.; Trenton) and ABI President-Elect Alane Becket of Becket and Lee (Malvern, Pa.) to examine the Supreme Court's opinion in Lamar, Archer & Cofrin, LLP v. Appling (16-1215). The Supreme Court on June 4 resolved a split of circuits by holding that a false statement about one asset must be in writing to provide grounds for rendering a debt nondischargeable under Section 523(a)(2).

ABI Executive Director Sam Gerdano talks with ABI President Ted Gavin of Gavin/Solmonese LLC (Wilmington, Del.) and John Ames of Bingham Greenebaum Doll LLP (Louisville, Ky.), a former ABI President), about ABI's new Veterans' Affairs Task Force. Gavin announced the formation of the Task Force in his speech when he became ABI President at the 2018 Annual Spring Meeting in April. Providing more details on the formation of the Task Force, which also includes former ABI President John Penn of Perkins Coie (Dallas) and former ABI Resident Scholar Jack Williams and Susan Seabury of Baker Tilly (Atlanta), Gavin and Ames discuss what the Task Force aims to accomplish — and ways that ABI members can help.

ABI Executive Director Sam Gerdano talks with Prof. Andrew Wolfe of American University's School of International Service about Puerto Rico's latest fiscal developments. Wolfe is currently an advisor to the government of Puerto Rico since retiring in June 2014 from the International Monetary Fund after 27 years, where he was a senior manager of the Western Hemisphere Department. Wolfe, co-author of the "Puerto Rico - Way Forward" report written in 2015, discusses Puerto Rico's current fiscal challenges and potential strategies for the commonwealth's recovery.

Recorded at Valcon 2018

ABI Journal Associate Editor Scott K. Brown of Lewis Roca Rothgerber Christie LLP (Phoenix) and J. Scott Bovitz of Bovitz & Spitzer (Los Angeles), the lead contributors to the "Chapter 8 Humor" column in the Journal, discuss the lighter side of bankruptcy and share their amusing insights on the history of and outlook for the column, which originated from a family Christmas card.

Experts Preview Panel on Navigating Liability Claims in Cross-Border Cases - Ep. 215 by ABI

Former ABI Resident Scholar Prof. Drew Dawson of the University of Miami School of Law talks with Ken Epstein, an investment manager and legal counsel at Bentham IMF (New York). Epstein, who will join a panel at the ABI Spring Meeting on the latest uses of litigation finance, talks about some of the effective ways litigation finance can be used in bankruptcy.

The Supreme Court on March 5 ruled in U.S. Bank National Association v. Village at Lakeridge (15-1509) that the Ninth Circuit was right to review the Bankruptcy Court’s determination for clear error (rather than de novo). ABI Editor-at-Large Bill Rochelle talks with former ABI Resident Scholars Prof. Charles Tabb of the University of Illinois College of Law and Prof. Drew Dawson of the University of Miami School of Law about their perspectives on the impact of the Supreme Court's ruling.