With more than 900 members, the 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 2020 — a year unlike any other — so we wanted to give you a quick update on the committee’s work.
New members to our committee promptly receive an email from the co-chairs welcoming them to our group. Membership engagement this year has been deftly handled by our Membership Relations Director, John Cannizzaro (Ice Miller LLP; Columbus, Ohio), and he has been critical in reaching out on a more personal level with new members that express interest in getting more involved in the committee and holding Zoom videoconference discussions to maximize face-to-face interaction during these strictly “virtual” times. John also has been critical in advising new members about the educational and volunteer opportunities for our committee and encouraging them to become more engaged. He has been reaching out directly with some of the new members to discuss new ideas and potential projects. The committee is always looking to identify new and diverse talent and ideas to make sure it remains active and beneficial for years to come.
All members are also added to our committee’s listserv, overseen by our Communications Director, Anthony Pirraglia (Thompson & Knight LLP; Houston). He closely monitors key bankruptcy decisions from across the country, 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 in early November 2020, alerted our membership to recent developments in an area of continuing litigation: whether midstream oil and gas contracts constitute covenants that run with the land or executory contracts subject to rejection under § 365 of the Bankruptcy Code. In particular, the post highlighted the Delaware Bankruptcy Court’s recent decision in In re Extraction Oil & Gas Inc. authorizing the rejection of certain midstream transportation contracts.
In addition to Anthony’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 2020, the committee published newsletters focused on issues of health care and director & officer liability. 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 planning 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, Isley Gostin (Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr LLP; Washington, D.C.), who this year was chosen as one of ABI’s “40 Under 40” honorees. Although this year’s ASM was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the committee was able to put together a great virtual panel at WLC by partnering with the Business Reorganization Committee on the ability to obtain nunc pro tunc relief and delaying post-petition rent payments in light of the pandemic. View the Panel Online.
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. (Seitz, Van Ogtrop & Green, P.A.; Wilmington, Del.). In 2020, Amanda and Jim worked to develop a series of on-demand videos focused on trial skills such as examining and cross-examining financial expert witnesses. In addition, the committee’s past co-chair, Ferve Khan (BakerHostetler; New York), led a group of authors to re-write ABI’s Bankruptcy Litigation Manual, which was published at the end of 2020.
Despite these strange times and lack of in-person meetings at conferences, the committee continued to be busy throughout 2020 by providing members with timely and relevant information through its emails, newsletters, “virtual” panels and special projects. New members are strongly encouraged to take advantage of the numerous speaking and writing opportunities. We hope that you will get involved.
Best wishes for a happy holiday season and a healthy 2021!
Jeremy R. Fischer (Drummond Woodsum; Portland, Maine & Manchester, N.H.)
Peter J. Keane (Pachulski Stang Ziehl & Jones LLP; Wilmington, Del.)
Co-Chairs