Dear Committee Members: The ABI Financial Advisors and Investment Banking (FA/IB) Committee had another active and successful year in 2015. The committee put on two entertaining sessions at ABI’s national conferences, held two more informal sessions of the “Breakfast with the Judges” series, published an informative newsletter along with several articles, and continued to expand on its Ask a Financial Advisor button on its listserve. For the coming year, the FA/IB Committee is already planning its education session for the 2016 Annual Spring Meeting (ASM), where we will continue the tradition of “Breakfast with the Judges.” We are also hoping to add a “Breakfast with the Judges” session at VALCON 2016. Additionally, the committee will continue publishing educational and informative newsletters, and we’re hoping to become more involved in other aspects of ABI that not only involve financial advisors and investment bankers, but also the attorneys who work with them.
ABI National Conferences
Together with the International Committee, the FA/IB Committee organized the educational session at the 2015 Annual Spring Meeting entitled “Structuring Cross-Border Deal to Protect Creditor Interests.” In addition, the committee, together with the Technology & Intellectual Property Committee, co-hosted an educational session at the 2015 Winter Leadership Conference (WLC) called, “You are Selling My What? Valuation and Sale of Intellectual Property and Customer Information by a Distressed Company.”
Looking Ahead
Along with the Secured Credit Committee, the FA/IB Committee is planning a session during the 2016 Annual Spring Meeting tentatively entitled “Legal and Practical Issues Involving Secured Creditors and the Retention Financial Advisors.” The conference will be held April 14-17, 2016, in Washington, D.C. This educational session will be held on Friday, April 15, at 10 a.m.
Breakfast with the Judges
In 2015, the FA/IB Committee hosted two well-attended editions of the “Breakfast with the Judges” series that has become popular with conference attendees.
At VALCON 2015, the committee hosted a session entitled “Timing and Strategy Related to Contested Valuations,” which featured Hon. Robert D. Drain (S.D.N.Y.) and Hon. Gregg W. Zive (D. Nev.) and was moderated by Scott Y. Stuart (GCG).
We followed a successful VALCON session by sponsoring another session at ASM 2015.
Newsletter
The FA/IB Committee, through its newsletter editor Jill Bauer (Epic Systems; Kansas City, Kan.), published an informative newsletter and posted several articles throughout the year to the FA/IB web page.
- “Gaining a Clear View of IT Security in a Health Care Organization”
- “Fraud Detection Methods Focusing on Lifestyle”
- “Chapter 7: Navigating Life as a Financial Advisor in Bankruptcy’s Rabbit Hole”
- “Defending Preference Actions: Are the Rules Fair?”
- “Northern District of California Weighs in on the Debate about Retaining CROs”
As always, all of the conference materials and newsletters can be found on the FA/IB Committee’s website. The FA/IB Committee is looking forward to another strong year in 2016 and engaging with more ABI members in the coming year.