The ABI Consumer Committee has had a wonderful, busy year; our Leadership members have been hard at work. Caralyce Lassner and Margaret A. Burks serve as Co-Chairs.
Cara was part of an ABI Webinar in October which discussed BAPCPA 10 years later. She gave a debtor’s attorney perspective on how BAPCPA has affected consumer practice in the last 10 years. She also spoke on an ABI Seminar CFPB panel in Kansas City, MO. Did you know the CFPB has a web portal for making complaints? And Marge has done a fabulous job keeping our committee leadership striving to be the best of the best – sharing her experience and knowledge to help our newer leaders shoot to the top in their respective roles.
Our Committee was honored when Judge Dow of the National Rules Committee asked us to put together a survey for the new National Plan, Compromise Solution and Rules. The survey went out in November.
Ariane Holtschlag, our Education Director, developed an outstanding program for the Winter Leadership Conference, in Phoenix, Arizona, with the Legislative Committee. Our Topic was “Recent and Pending Legislation regarding Student Loans and CFPB regulations for Mortgage Servicing” with panelists Debra Miller, Ed Boltz, and Prof. Susan Hauser.
She has also started working with the Health Care Committee to develop an excellent program for the Annual Spring Meeting in Washington in the Spring of 2016. The panel will discuss how health care issues affect Consumer Cases and what resources do we have? How does ‘Obamacare’ fit in?
Cecilia Lee heads up our Listserve which has been very active under her leadership. While Cecilia periodically posts cases or issues of interest, we encourage everyone to make use of the List Serve. Issues have ranged from a discussion of Supreme Court cases to what to do if your debtor incurs debt because of credit cards while in a Ch. 13 case.
Elizabeth Gunn, our Newsletter Editor, has taken our Newsletter to new heights. If you missed an edition, please let us know. She published articles discussing all the Supreme Court Consumer cases as they came out. The great news is, we are always accepting original articles for the committee newsletter. If you are interested in writing an article on a particular issue you find to be of regional or national interest, please e-mail Elizabeth.
In addition to their work on the Collier Consumer Bankruptcy Case Update you receive via e-mail, our Special Projects Leaders, Elizabeth Stephens and Richard Cole, presented two webinars this year. Beth put together an interesting and informative tax webinar in the fall and Richard educated us on the new chedules and forms effective Dec. 1, 2015. A recording of this webinar can be found online.
The Collier Case law review is issued weekly and is a great tool to keep Consumer Attorneys up to date. (This tool alone is “worth the price of admission.”)
We always need new members. So - How do you get involved? To join, simply go to the ABI website Committees tab toward the bottom of your profile page. Then click the edit button to select from the list of committees and save your choices. Judge Tighe, our Membership Relations Director, will be in touch.
Please contact Marge Burks or Cara Lassner if you have questions or would like to get involved.