Creditor Hit with $826,000 in Sanctions for Filing a Meritless Proof of Claim
Refusing to withdraw a meritless claim with prejudice contributed to the decision by Judge Jernigan to impose high-six-figure sanctions.
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Session Description
Parties in large, complex bankruptcy cases routinely retain local counsel when that party's primary counsel has no office or attorneys licensed in a particular venue. Local counsel can provide critical support in these cases--to creditors, committees, groups, and debtors--including having local knowledge, well-formed relationships in the venue, and familiarity with other professionals and the court.
But hiring local counsel can present myriad issues with retention, compensation, and, in particular, ethics. Many courts have strict rules on hiring local counsel, including some jurisdictions that require local counsel to play a substantive role in the case (as opposed to simply signing/filing pleadings), including attending all depositions and hearings. There may be many landmines waiting for both local and outside counsel, depending on the jurisdiction.
This panel would discuss the benefits of local counsel, things to avoid, and ethical/compensation related issues. The panel could consist of an attorney that often serves as local counsel, an attorney that often hires local counsel as outside counsel, and a judge that frequently sees retention of local counsel (to provide that judge's views on what works, what doesn't, and things to avoid).
But hiring local counsel can present myriad issues with retention, compensation, and, in particular, ethics. Many courts have strict rules on hiring local counsel, including some jurisdictions that require local counsel to play a substantive role in the case (as opposed to simply signing/filing pleadings), including attending all depositions and hearings. There may be many landmines waiting for both local and outside counsel, depending on the jurisdiction.
This panel would discuss the benefits of local counsel, things to avoid, and ethical/compensation related issues. The panel could consist of an attorney that often serves as local counsel, an attorney that often hires local counsel as outside counsel, and a judge that frequently sees retention of local counsel (to provide that judge's views on what works, what doesn't, and things to avoid).
Suggested Categories
Learning Outcomes
This panel would discuss the benefits of local counsel, things to avoid, and ethical/compensation related issues. The panel could consist of an attorney that often serves as local counsel, an attorney that often hires local counsel as outside counsel, and a judge that frequently sees retention of local counsel (to provide that judge's views on what works, what doesn't, and things to avoid).
Target Audience
Business
First Name
Tim
Last Name
Anzenberger
Email
tim.anzenberger@arlaw.com
Firm
Adams and Reese LLP
Session Description
Challenges that face women attorneys: why are there so few women bankruptcy attorneys? Recently, I have noticed very few women attorneys in all the cases I handle. I practice mass torts, where attorneys come in from the most prominent law firms, and almost all of the attorneys in the hearings (over 40 attorneys sometimes) are men. I also practice consumer cases, and there have been several instances where I have been the only attorney with clients in court.
I am also a mother with young children and a spouse who also has a demanding job, and our law firms are not set up to support this kind of situation (but it is absolutely necessary in today's economy).
This issue has recently been brought to the forefront of our profession by the American Bar Association (ABA)'s Parenthood and Child Caregiver Study released in late 2023:
https://www.americanbar.org/groups/diversity/women/publications/perspectives/2023/november/parenthood-and-child-caregiver-study-published-late-october/
https://www.americanbar.org/content/dam/aba/administrative/women/2023/parenthood-report-2023.pdf
I am also a mother with young children and a spouse who also has a demanding job, and our law firms are not set up to support this kind of situation (but it is absolutely necessary in today's economy).
This issue has recently been brought to the forefront of our profession by the American Bar Association (ABA)'s Parenthood and Child Caregiver Study released in late 2023:
https://www.americanbar.org/groups/diversity/women/publications/perspectives/2023/november/parenthood-and-child-caregiver-study-published-late-october/
https://www.americanbar.org/content/dam/aba/administrative/women/2023/parenthood-report-2023.pdf
Suggested Categories
Learning Outcomes
Understanding the challenges women face in profession, especially mothers. Encourage employers to adopt from some of the suggestions in the ABA: Parenthood and Child Caregiver Study to keep women in the profession.
I also feel that this topic will be timely at the Winter Leadership Conference as we honor our 2024 ABI 40 Under 40 recipients who may face similar career challenges.
I also feel that this topic will be timely at the Winter Leadership Conference as we honor our 2024 ABI 40 Under 40 recipients who may face similar career challenges.
Target Audience
Other
ABA Authors from ABA: Parenthood and Child Caregiver Study
First Name
Diana Santos
Last Name
Johnson
Email
dsantosjohnson@waldrepwall.com
Firm
Waldrep Wall Babcock & Bailey PLLC
Session Description
Describe different strategies for marketing a bankruptcy practice to other lawyers, professionals, and prospective clients and identify which personality characteristics work for varying strategies.
Suggested Categories
Learning Outcomes
Learn how to differentiate your practice from your competition and demonstrate to your audience why you are the appropriate lawyer for the specific task and should be selected in a competitive environment.
Target Audience
Consumer
Randy
Nussbaum
randy.nussbaum@sackstierney.com
First Name
Randy
Last Name
Nussbaum
Email
randy.nussbaum@sackstierney.com
Firm
Sacks Tierney Scottsdale
Session Description
Double entry accounting and financial statement literacy, cash flow projections, monthly operating report basics - the new forms.
Tax issues.
Adult ADHD diagnoses - coping skills - (luncheon speaker?)
Substance abuse
Boycott Arizona until they change their 1800s laws regarding women's health. Go back to Terranea. I will not be attending.
Tax issues.
Adult ADHD diagnoses - coping skills - (luncheon speaker?)
Substance abuse
Boycott Arizona until they change their 1800s laws regarding women's health. Go back to Terranea. I will not be attending.
Suggested Categories
Target Audience
Business
First Name
ELISA
Last Name
SARTORI
Email
esartori@greenridgeservices.com
Firm
Greenridge Financial Services LLC
U.S. Trustee: Law Firm Was Urged to Disclose Partner's Romance with Texas Judge
Texas law firm Jackson Walker was urged nearly two years ago to disclose that one of its partners was in a romantic relationship with a federal judge who oversaw many of the firm's cases, the U.S. Justice Department's bankruptcy watchdog said in a court filing, Reuters reported. Bankruptcy Judge David Jones resigned in October after his relationship with the lawyer, Elizabeth Freeman, became public. Since then, the U.S. Trustee has filed motions in several corporate bankruptcy cases seeking to force Jackson Walker to turn over millions of dollars in legal fees Jones awarded. A lawyer for Freeman, who was a bankruptcy partner at Jackson Walker until December 2022, had advised the firm earlier that year that it should disclose her relationship with Jones "in all past cases and in cases going forward," the U.S. Trustee said in its court filing on Thursday. A spokesperson for Jackson Walker on Friday said that the firm "emphatically" denies receiving the disclosure advice. Jones, once the busiest bankruptcy judge in the United States, publicly acknowledged he was in a years-long romantic relationship and shared a home with Freeman when he retired last year. The firm in November said it had been deceived by Freeman into thinking the relationship had ended in March 2020. The U.S. Trustee in November said Jones presided over at least 26 cases in which he awarded Jackson Walker about $13 million in fees while he was in a relationship with Freeman. Thursday's filing said Freeman's lawyer had gone so far as to draft papers for Jackson Walker to use to disclose her relationship with Jones. The U.S. Trustee in the filing asked a Houston bankruptcy judge to award sanctions against Jackson Walker in the bankruptcy of the Westmoreland Coal Company.
Lack of Financial Distress Doesn’t Divest a Court of Subject Matter Jurisdiction
Two North Carolina Courts have held within two months that the Bankruptcy Clause doesn’t demand ‘financial distress’ to establish subject matter jurisdiction.
Sorrento Therapeutics Lawyers Battle Bankruptcy Fraud Allegations
Lawyers for biopharmaceutical company Sorrento Therapeutics disputed allegations that they committed bankruptcy fraud, saying that a bank account and mailbox created in Texas justified a chapter 11 filing in the state days later, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. The U.S. Justice Department’s bankruptcy watchdog alleged last week that the bankruptcy filed in Houston by Sorrento subsidiary Scintilla Pharmaceuticals in February 2023 falsely represented that its principal assets and business are in Texas when it is actually based in San Diego. A Sorrento shareholder had separately made allegations in court that the company’s lawyers committed fraud by filing the case in Texas. San Diego-based Sorrento had used Scintilla’s chapter 11 petition in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Houston as the basis to file its own petition in that court. The U.S. trustee for the Southern District of Texas said that the Sorrento and Scintilla cases should either be dismissed or transferred out of state, noting that Scintilla is a Delaware-incorporated company that made repeated representations to the California secretary of state in June 2023 that its principal address was in San Diego.
Justice Department Says Sorrento Therapeutics Lawyers Falsified Texas Bankruptcy Filing
The U.S. Justice Department’s bankruptcy watchdog accused Sorrento Therapeutics lawyers of submitting false paperwork to justify the company’s chapter 11 filing in Houston, saying the mailbox location it cited as a principal place of business was created only hours ahead of its bankruptcy, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. Kevin Epstein, the U.S. trustee for the Southern District of Texas, said that on Feb. 12, 2023, a lawyer for Sorrento rented a mailbox at a UPS in the Woodlands, a Houston suburb, on behalf of Scintilla Pharmaceuticals, a Sorrento subsidiary. Both Sorrento and Scintilla are based in San Diego. Scintilla wasn’t registered or licensed to do business in Texas, Epstein said. It had been dormant since about 2019, with no employees or business operations, and its only asset was a $60,000 bank balance that Sorrento had wired to it days before the bankruptcy filing, he said. Ten hours after establishing the mailbox, Scintilla filed its chapter 11 petition in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Houston stating that the mailbox was its principal place of business, while still listing its San Diego office as its mailing address, court records show. Sorrento, Scintilla’s parent company, then filed its own chapter 11 petition in Houston.
