With more than 900 members, ABI’s Bankruptcy Litigation Committee remains one of the largest and most active of ABI’s committees. The committee, its leadership and its members were quite busy in 2019, so we wanted to take a moment to quickly update you about what we’ve been working on.
New members to our committee promptly receive a personal email from our Membership Relations Director, Kesha Tanabe (Tanabe Law; Minneapolis), welcoming them to our group. Kesha advises them about the educational and volunteer opportunities for our committee and encourages them to become more engaged. This is one of the many ways we try to identify new and diverse talent so that the committee can remain active for years to come.
All members are also added to our committee listserve, overseen by our Communications Manager, Isley M. Gostin (WilmerHale; Washington, D.C.). Isley closely monitors key bankruptcy decisions from across the country on a daily basis and routinely sends out summaries of groundbreaking and interesting decisions as group emails. These emails not only update members about key bankruptcy litigation issues, they also provide opportunities for discussion among members. The last post, released approximately one week ago, alerted our membership to a groundbreaking decision out of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit about bankruptcy court’s lack of jurisdiction to enforce discharge injunctions entered by courts in other judicial districts.
In additional Isley’s emails, committee members also receive a quarterly newsletter, organized and edited by Newsletter Editor Joseph C. Barsalona, II (Morris, Nichols, Arsht & Tunnell LLP; Wilmington, Del.). In 2019, the committee published newsletters focused on issues ranging from cryptocurrency/blockchain to immunities to oil and gas issues. Newsletter articles are drafted by committee members and are typically followed by a members-only conference call with the authors. The committee’s newsletter presents members with quality writing and speaking opportunities. The conference calls also offer members an easy way to get more out of their ABI membership and become more actively engaged in the committee.
Among the committee’s other annual responsibilities is to plan joint panels with other ABI committees at national conferences: the Annual Spring Meeting (ASM) in April and the Winter Leadership Conference (WLC) in December. This effort is spearheaded by the Committee’s Education Director, Peter J. Keane (Pachulski Stang Ziehl & Jones; Wilmington, Del.). At ASM, the committee partnered with the Mediation Committee on a panel about strategies for using mediation to resolve case-dispositive chapter 11 issues. The room was packed, and reviews of the panel were very positive. At WLC, the committee is partnering with the Health Care Committee for a panel about the nuances of litigating issues in health care bankruptcy matters.
Finally, each year the committee chooses a special project, led by Special Projects Leaders Amanda Demby (Province, Inc.; Henderson, Nev.) and James S. Green, Jr. (Landis Rath & Cobb LLP; Wilmington, Del.). In 2019, the committee actually chose two projects (because we are overachievers by nature). First, Amanda and Jim are working with a group of litigators and financial experts to produce a series of on-demand videos focused on trial skills such as examining and cross-examining financial expert witnesses. Second, the committee’s immediate past co-chair, Ferve Khan (BakerHostetler; New York), is leading a group of authors to re-write ABI’s Bankruptcy Litigation Manual, which is scheduled for publication in 2020.
Based on the foregoing, two things are clear. First, the committee was quite busy in 2019 providing members with timely and relevant information through emails, newsletters, panels and special projects. Second, for any member who is so inclined, there will be plenty of quality speaking and writing opportunities in 2020, so we hope that you will get involved. Happy New Year!
Co-Chair
Rhode Island Legal Services, Inc.
Providence, NY
sflores@rils.org
(401) 274-2652 ext. 182
Communications Manager
WilmerHale
Washington, DC
isley.gostin@wilmerhale.com
(202) 663-6551
Education Director
Pachulski Stang Ziehl & Jones LLP
Wilmington, DE
pkeane@pszjlaw.com
(302) 778-6462
Membership Relations Director
Tanabe Law
Minneapolis, MN
kesha@tanabelaw.com
(612) 735-0188
Newsletter Editor
Morris, Nichols, Arsht & Tunnell LLP
Wilmington, DE
jbarsalona@mnat.com
(302) 351-9118
Special Projects Leader
Province, Inc.
Henderson, NV
ademby@provincefirm.com
(310) 974-6352
Special Projects Leader
Landis Rath & Cobb LLP
Wilmington, DE
green@lrclaw.com
(302) 467-4426