2022 has been a return to “normal” and a busy year for ABI’s Business Reorganization Committee. Committee members have taken advantage of the many benefits afforded to them, including the committee’s many newsletters and educational programs offered throughout the year, and have taken part in active discussions over the listserv regarding hot topics and industry trends. We have big plans for 2023, and we thank our committee members and leadership for their support and continued participation.
We are excited to continue growing and providing relevant and interesting content for our members. The committee always welcomes any ideas for newsletter contributions, webinar topics and other special projects. If you are interested in contributing, please reach out to the committee co-chairs, Robert Marticello or Jamie Fell. Their contact information can be found on the Business Reorganization Committee’s web page.
Below are a few highlights from the committee’s activities over the last year.
Educational Programming
Our committee was thrilled to present in-person panels at the 2021 Winter Leadership Conference in Rancho Palos Verdes, Calif., and the 2022 Annual Spring Meeting in Washington, D.C. Last December, we teamed up with the Real Estate Committee on the panel “Real Estate Restructurings in the Aftermath of COVID-19.” This spring, we joined forces with both the Ethics & Professional Compensation Committee and the Commercial Fraud Committee to present the panel “Examining Venue, Ethics and Bad Faith Issues in 2019-2021 Bankruptcy Filings.” Both panels were a great success, with esteemed and insightful speakers and tremendous audience engagement. We recently presented “Dealing with Digital Assets” with the Secured Credit Committee at the 2022 Winter Leadership Conference in December.
Special Projects
The Business Reorganization Committee hosted multiple webinars over the past year. In November 2021, the committee produced a webinar with the Real Estate Committee, “The Texas Two-Step of Tort Liability.” The panelists, Stephen Darr (Huron Consulting Group), Benjamin Mintz (Arnold & Porter Kaye Scholer) and Prof. Pamela Foohey (Cardozo School of Law), led an exciting and rigorous discussion on the “Texas Two-Step” and key bankruptcy cases that have garnered much attention in 2021 and 2022. The panel was so popular that it led to follow-up webinars hosted by other committees in 2022.
In June 2022, the Business Reorganization Committee hosted a webinar with the Commercial and Regulatory Law Committee on ERISA and PBGC issues. The panelists, Stephen Wilkes (The Wagner Law Group), Israel Goldowitz (The Wagner Law Group), Joel Ruderman (Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp.) and Boris J. Steffen (Province, LLC), discussed employer pension funding, termination, withdrawal liability, and other important pension issues that arise in reorganization cases.
If you have an idea for a webinar or would like to participate in a panel, please reach out to our Special Projects Leader, Bradley Cosman.
Newsletter
With contributions from our committee members, we published three newsletters with 10 original scholarly and professional articles in 2022. These articles covered topics like subchapter V issues, resolving mass tort claims, third-party releases and § 363 sales, and we thank all of our contributors for their helpful and thought-provoking submissions. The newsletters with these articles can be found on the Business Reorganization Committee’s web page.
We are always looking for articles that provide up-to-date analyses of emerging hot topics in the restructuring world, and we welcome your submissions. Many of our members have enjoyed the profile-raising benefits of publishing in our widely distributed newsletter. If you are interested in writing an article or have any ideas or suggestions, please contact our co-chairs or our Newsletter Editor, Colleen Restel.
Listserv
The listserv continues to provide a meaningful opportunity to foster discussion and a means for promoting ABI-related business and events. In 2022, the listserv was used, among other things, to:
- discuss recent court opinions;
- debate topical areas of particular interest;
- discuss important/interesting bankruptcy and restructuring news and developments;
- solicit input regarding practice and procedure; and
- publicize ABI-related business, including upcoming programs and newsletters.
If there is a specific topic that you would like to see addressed in our listserv, please contact our Communications Managers, Jacob Frumkin and Scott Lawrence.
Planning for 2023
The Business Reorganization Committee is already at work planning for 2023. We hope that you will join us for more educational programming and social/networking activities as we continue to plan more in-person engagements.
Over the course of the coming year, we will continue to identify ways for committee members to get involved. Newsletter articles and webinars are a great way to do so. We also invite you to share with us any other questions or thoughts that you may have regarding the Business Reorganization Committee or ABI in general.
Our goal is to make membership in the Business Reorganization Committee valuable and rewarding, and we always welcome ideas for how to improve that experience. If we can be of help to you, please do not hesitate to reach out to us.
— Jamie J. Fell
Robert S. Marticello