In August 2001, after two state trial court clerkships, a short stay at a small, matrimonial law firm, and then a position as a staff attorney with a committee of our state supreme court, I declined an offer to work for Legal Services (the goal that had been the sole purpose of my entering law school in 1989) and accepted a one-year position as a shared (“swing) law clerk with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of New Jersey.
Popular cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase surprised many in its first 2022 quarterly report when it informed customers that “custodially held crypto assets may be considered to be the property of a bankruptcy estate, in the event of a bankruptcy,...
The Hawaii Bankruptcy Court’s ruling in In re Minesen Co. [1] is a cautionary tale of how seemingly innocuous contract language can have unintended consequences — effectively waiving applicable nonbankruptcy law and overriding contract language to allow assignment without counterparty consent. Well-established federal law protects certain contracts (commonly IP contracts) from being assigned in a chapter 11 or other bankruptcy proceeding without counterparty consent.
Now more than ever, companies have been in distress and facing financial troubles since the COVID-19 pandemic struck the globe. Following the expiration of federal and state financial assistance to businesses, such as the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL), and other grants and loan programs, companies must understand their options for reorganizing or liquidating their businesses in an orderly manner.
In the much-discussed decision of City of Chicago v. Fulton [1], the Supreme Court ruled that a creditor’s continued retention of estate property that was seized pre-petition does not violate the automatic stay under § 362(a)(3) [2] of the Bankruptcy Code. Yet the majority opinion and Judge Sotomayor’s concurrence emphasized that the Court’s ruling was limited to § 362(a)(3).
2021 has been an incredibly productive year for the Young and New Members Committee. The committee continued to produce high-quality newsletters and educational programs, while branching out and trying some new things, too. Below are some highlights.
Quarterly Newsletters
Can chapter 13 debtors deduct voluntary 401(k) contributions under § 541(b)(7)(A) when calculating disposable income? If so, can they plan for bankruptcy in good faith by making pre-petition 401(k) plan contributions to their 401(k) plans prior to filing to decrease their disposable income? The Sixth Circuit recently broke with dicta from Seafort v.
As the Young and New Members Committee, we (unsurprisingly) count many young and new members among our ranks. Many of our members may be new to practice or to the insolvency field, and/or new to ABI. It can be daunting to navigate a new role, new industry and new organization. The Y&NM Committee leadership recognizes this, so we thought we would take a moment to share our advice on how to make the most of a new opportunity. Without further ado, here is our advice for young and new members (and those young and new at heart!).