A little wheel is spinning on this exiting-the-pandemic thing. Many stops and starts. In person vs. Zoom. However, our committee will continue to plow forward with mediating in challenging times. Bankruptcy and mediation are continually changing, and our committee adapts accordingly with insightful programs, best practices and information.
As discussed below, Committee Co-Chair Hon. Louis H. Kornreich (ret.), past ABI President Robert J. Keach, William Kreiger and Donald L. Swanson recently presented an abiLIVE webinar titled, “Facilitation Skills for Subchapter V Trustees.” This was indeed a timely webinar given a recent court decision describing the role of subchapter V trustees as being similar to that of mediators.
Join our Mediation Committee and listen, learn and provide input in these changing times of mediation.
Our Quarterly Article
Speaking of time, this quarter our guest writer is Sylvia Mayer of S. Mayer Law, who provides us with her article, “Is Timing Everything in Mediation?” She explores the role and importance of “time” in mediation — as in, whether mediation should take place early or late in the litigation process; whether it should take place before or after discovery; whether there is a magic length and number of mediation sessions; and when the mediator should interpose a settlement proposal or suggestion. Thank you, Sylvia, for this thoughtful and timely (no pun intended) article.
Committee Leadership
We welcome to our committee leadership team Emily Wall of Dallas’s Cavazo Hendricks Poirot, PC, Issac Rothschild of Tucson, Ariz.’s Mesch Clark Rothschild, and Michael Riela of New York’s Tannenbaum Helpern Syracuse & Hirschtritt LLP. We are excited to have their input on our leadership team in the vital areas of special projects, membership and newsletter.
abiLIVE Webinar
On Sept. 14, 2021, our committee presented an abiLIVE webinar, “Facilitation Skills for Subchapter V Trustees.” The webinar panelists discussed the role of mediators as compared with the role of facilitators of subchapter V trustees, discussing the recent opinion of Hon. Lori V. Vaughan in In re 218 Jackson LLC, Case No. 21-00983 (Bankr. M.D. Fla. Aug. 17, 2021), in which she described the subchapter V trustee as a “de facto mediator.” Judge Vaughan stated that a subchapter V trustee “acts more like a mediator than an adversary” and that a subchapter V trustee is to “serve as a de facto mediator between the debtor and its creditors.” The U.S. Trustee’s Handbook provides that the subchapter V trustee should “encourage communication between all parties in interest as the plan is developed” and should be “proactive in promoting and facilitating plan negotiations.” A replay of the webinar can be found at https://cle.abi.org/product/abi-live-facilitation-skills-subchapter-v-trustees. We thank Judge Konreich, Bob Keach, Bill Kreiger and Don Swanson for the materials and insightful presentation.
Upcoming Events
ABI’s Winter Leadership Conference will take place Dec. 9-11 at the Terranea Resort in Rancho Palos Verdes, Calif. The Mediation Committee will be presenting a panel with the Young and New Members Committee, “Prepping for Success: The Keys to Maximizing the Mediation Process.” The panelists will be Jerry Markowitz of Markowitz Ringel, et al. (Miami), Isley Gostin of WilmerHale (Washington, D.C.), Nyana Abreu Miller of Sequor Law (Miami), Dan Schimizzi of Whiteford Taylor Preston (Pittsburgh) and Edward Schnitzer of Montgomery McCracken (New York). The program is geared for both experienced mediators and trial lawyers, and will focus on the importance of and methodology for preparing for mediation. We hope to see you at this “in-person” event. Register Now.
For ABI’s Annual Spring Meeting, we are still bantering around topic ideas. Early suggestions have included mediation as a solution to third-party release disputes; the good, the bad and the ugly of online vs. in-person mediation; the mediation of different types of matters; global issues vs. two-party issues; and the proposal of establishing a subchapter V trustee in other types of cases. We welcome other suggestions from our members. If you have a suggestion, please reach out to our Leadership team.
Giving Thanks
As we do every quarter, we thank our leadership: Co-Chairs Judith Elkin and Hon. Louis Kornreich; Communications Managers (listserv) Ian Bifferato and Russ Blain; Education Directors Hon. Judith Fitzgerald, Ed Schnitzer and Chris Candon; Membership Relations Directors Frank Monaco and Issac Rothschild; Special Projects Leaders Donald Swanson and Emily Wall; and Newsletter Editors Michael Riela and Mo Bauer. The success of our committee is due to their respective voluntary time and efforts, and to your reading our materials and joining our active and creative committee. Please don’t hesitate to contact any of us to explore our continued goings-on and finding ways to become involved with our happening committee.