Abi Podcast

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.

The Supreme Court on Feb. 27 ruled in Merit Management Group, LP v. FTI Consulting, Inc. (16-784) that the only relevant transfer for purposes of the §546(e) safe harbor is the transfer that the trustee seeks to avoid. ABI Editor-at-Large Bill Rochelle talks with Prof. Bruce Markell of the Northwestern Pritzker School of Law and Prof. Ralph Brubaker of the University of Illinois College of Law about their perspectives on the impact of the Supreme Court's ruling.

ABI Deputy Executive Director Amy Quackenboss talks with David Cox of Cox Law Group (Lynchburg, Va.) and Elizabeth Gunn of the Office of the Virginia Attorney General (Richmond, Va.) about their new publication, Consumer Bankruptcy: Fundamentals of Chapter 7 and Chapter 13 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code, Fourth Edition. Cox practices bankruptcy law throughout the Western District of Virginia. Gunn works as the bankruptcy specialist in the Virginia Attorney General's Division of Child Support Enforcement and is a member of ABI's inaugural "40 Under 40" class. The new edition is an update on the fundamentals of consumer bankruptcy proceedings under chapters 7 and 13 of the Code. The authors discuss some of today's most litigated questions and address the current state of consumer bankruptcy law.

As wild fluctuations in cryptocurrency value invites a potential surge in bitcoin-related bankruptcies, a guest on ABI's latest podcast examines how to approach cryptocurrency in fraudulent-transfer litigation. ABI Executive Director Sam Gerdano talks with Alan Rosenberg of Markowitz, Ringel, Trusty + Hartog, PA (Miami), author of the February ABI Journal article "The Cryptocurrency Craze: How to Treat Bitcoins in Fraudulent-Transfer Litigation," about what practitioners should know about bitcoin and potential approaches to fraudulent-transfer litigation involving cryptocurrency.

ABI Deputy Executive Director Amy Quackenboss talks with Christopher A. Ward of Polsinelli (Wilmington, Del.) and Ryan G. Foley of Shook Hardy & Bacon, LLP (Philadelphia) about their new publication, Business Creditor's Guide to Distressed Vendors, Debt Collection and Bankruptcy. Ward, a member of ABI's Board of Directors, and Foley, a member of ABI's inaugural "40 Under 40" class, teamed up to write about options available to help screen a business's customers, plan for worst-case scenarios, and, if the situation does arrive, efficiently handle the financial fallout. The authors discuss strategies for business owners in the event that a major customer files for bankruptcy and leaves behind a large unpaid account receivable.

ABI Executive Director Sam Gerdano speaks with Joseph A. Peiffer of Ag & Business Legal Solutions (Cedar Rapids, Iowa) about a chapter 12 amendment that was enacted into law at the end of October. While incorporated into legislation that dealt with disaster aid and extending bankruptcy judgeships, the amendment clarifies a rule allowing discharge to governmental claims arising from the disposition of farm assets under chapter 12. Peiffer, an attorney with more than 30 years of bankruptcy and agricultural law experience, explains the history of the issue, what the amendment does and how it will impact chapter 12 debtors going forward.

As retail bankruptcy filings continue to climb in 2017, ABI Executive Director Sam Gerdano speaks with Amir Agam of FTI Consulting (Los Angeles) and Bradford J. Sandler of Pachulski Stang Ziehl & Jones (Wilmington, Del.) about the reasons behind the ongoing retail downturn.

ABI Executive Director Sam Gerdano talks with Prof. Robert Lawless, the Reporter for the ABI Commission on Consumer Bankruptcy. Lawless, the Max L. Rowe Professor of Law and co-director of the Program on Law, Behavior & Social Science at the University of Illinois College of Law, provides a recap of Commission activity to date and previews future work by the Commission, including public meetings at NABT's annual conference in New Orleans on Sept. 15 and NCBJ's annual meeting in Las Vegas on Oct. 10.

Former Two-Time ABI Resident Scholar Jack F. Williams, an Adjunct Professor of Law at Georgia State University College of Law, and Susan H. Seabury, both with Baker Tilly Virchow Krause, LLP in Atlanta, discuss gathering business valuation evidence, why various parties might read the evidence in different ways, and how to best overcome challenges in court when admitting valuation evidence.

ABI editor-at-large Bill Rochelle talks with consumer law scholar Prof. Jeff Sovern of St. John’s University School of Law and consumer bankruptcy attorney John R. Bollinger of the Boleman Law Firm about the Supreme Court's June 12 opinion in Henson v. Santander Consumer (No. 16-349). After the court ruled that a debt collector who purchases a debt for its own account is not a debt collector covered by the FDCPA, Sovern and Bollinger examine the potential effects that the decision will have on both debt collectors and consumers.

ABI Resident Scholar Drew Dawson talks with Prof. Chris Odinet of the Southern University Law Center about "marketplace lenders," online firms that utilize automation for underwriting and big data to quickly process loans. Prof. Odinet's new research, "Consumer Bitcredit and Marketplace Lending," looks at how these firms grew out of the void left by banks that exited the consumer and small business lending after the 2008 financial crisis, and the role that they will play in consumer credit going forward.

In a podcast jointly hosted with the National Creditor Bar Association (NARCA), ABI Resident Scholar Andrew Dawson talks with Lauren Burnette of Barron & Newburger, P.C. in Austin, Texas, and consumer attorney Nick Wooten in Auburn, Ala., about the May 15 Supreme Court decision in Midland Funding LLC v. Johnson. Mr. Wooten represented the debtor in the related case of Crawford v. LVNV Funding, and Ms. Burnette co-authored an amicus brief on behalf of the creditor. http://www.abi.org/supreme-court-opinions/midland-funding-llc-v-johnson-no-16-348 Click here to read the decision. https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/16pdf/16-348_h315.pdf

ABI Resident Scholar Andrew Dawson talks with Israel Shaked of the Michel-Shaked Group in Boston and Robert F. Reilly of Willamette Management Associates, Inc. in Chicago about the ways in which they have expanded on valuation in the bankruptcy context in the latest edition of their comprehensive guide A Practical Guide to Bankruptcy Valuation, Second Edition — and why the art of valuation is more important than ever in insolvency practice.

ABI Resident Scholar Andrew Dawson talks with Chief Bankruptcy Judge Brendan Shannon (D.Del.; Wilmington) and Prof. Anthony Casey of the University of Chicago Law School about intercreditor and "bad boy" agreements in corporate bankruptcy cases. Prof. Casey is a co-author of "Bankruptcy on the Side," a paper that examines the question of how judges should interpret and enforce side agreements. Judge Shannon, with more than 12 years of experience on the Delaware bench, provides his thoughts on the research and the challenges that these often side agreements present in his courtroom.

Episode - 199 ABI Resident Scholar Prof. Drew Dawson is joined by Prof. Megan McDermott of the University of Wisconsin Law School (Madison) to explore her research of Justice Scalia's "textualist" approach to the Bankruptcy Code and the parallels that Judge Gorsuch has taken in his jurisprudence.

ABI Resident Scholar Drew Dawson talks with Matthew A. Bruckner, Assistant Professor of Law at Howard University School of Law, about his recent research examining the financial struggles of the higher education sector. Bruckner, who recently wrote "Higher Ed ‘Do Not Resuscitate’ Orders" and the "Bankrupting Higher Education" (forthcoming), discusses his thoughts on why all financially distressed colleges, both for-profit and public, should be allowed to reorganized in chapter 11.

ABI Resident Scholar Drew Dawson talks with Neil Steinkamp of Stout Risius Ross (New York) about his recently released Understanding Ordinary: A Primer on Financial and Economic Considerations for the Ordinary Course Defenses to Bankruptcy Preference Actions, 2nd Edition. Steinkamp discusses the new edition of Understanding Ordinary, bankruptcy preference matters and his expertise in the ordinary course of business defense

Episode 196 As there are states without debt restructuring mechanisms for struggling local governments, ABI Resident Scholar Drew Dawson discusses a proposal by Prof. Samir Parikh to encourage recalcitrant state legislatures to enact the structural changes their local governments need. Prof. Parikh discusses his proposal contained within his forthcoming research, "Falling Cities and the Red Queen Phenomenon." Joining Dawson and Parikh to discuss the proposal and research is Marc Levinson of Orrick (Sacramento, Calif.), who was the lead attorney in the chapter 9 filings in Stockton, Calif., and Vallejo, Calif.

ABI Executive Director Amy Quackenboss talks with Prof. Susan E. Hauser of North Carolina Central University School of Law (Durham, N.C.) and attorney Daniel A. Austin (Cranberry Township, Pa.), authors of the recently released Graduating with Debt: Student Loans under the Bankruptcy Code, 2nd Edition. Hauser and Austin, authors of the original edition of Graduating with Debt, provide insights into the new edition and their perspectives on new case law, litigation issues and legislation centered on student loans and bankruptcy.