Hello and thank you to our existing members, and a warm welcome to those recently joining us. We hope this newsletter finds you well, and we look forward to seeing all of you in the coming year.
The Commercial and Regulatory Committee produced a variety of programs, articles and materials throughout 2023. Set forth below is a short summary of highlights from the past year; full details of committee activity (including links to program materials and newsletter articles) are available on the committee’s website at https://www.abi.org/membership/committees/commercial-and-regulatory-law.
We can hardly believe that 2023 is coming to an end.
This year, the Secured Credit Committee has been involved with programming for ABI’s conferences. The Secured Credit Committee co-sponsored a session at the ABI’s 2023 Annual Spring Meeting with the Commercial Fraud Committee titled, “Oh No, We Have a Fraud — What Now?” This panel — comprised of lawyers in private practice and consultants that serve as CROs and trustees, as well as a U.S. Trustee — compared and contrasted the roles of various fiduciaries when there is evidence of fraud in a bankruptcy case.
Section 503(b)(9) of the Bankruptcy Code creates a priority status for claims for “goods” that were delivered to the debtor within the 20-day window preceding the filing of a bankruptcy action. These claims typically get paid in full and ahead of other claims, thus § 503(b)(9) claims status is highly coveted.
Paper Plane Cocktails, Anyone?
“It’s like déjà vu all over again.” — Yogi Berra
I’m a creature of habit, to be sure. It wouldn’t be the holidays without talking about a classic holiday movie: Frank Capra’s 1946 classic It’s a Wonderful Life. It’s the story of George Bailey, who inherits the Bailey Building & Loan Association founded by his father in the 1940s, and who forgoes his dreams of traveling the world to instead help the multicultural residents of fictional Bedford Falls, N.Y., realize the dream of home ownership.
As we enter the final days of 2022, we are pleased to step back and highlight the work performed by the Young and New Members Committee over the past year. We have loved working with our committee leaders and are truly grateful for their time and commitment to ABI.
We are privileged to have observed many talented predecessors with years of dedicated service to ABI and the Mediation Committee during our time as co-chairs. We also have had the good fortune to work with very competent subcommittee directors. Several of our directors are seasoned hands, while others are relative newcomers. They are all skilled professionals who devote many hours each month to the endeavors of the Mediation Committee for the benefit of the entire ABI Community.
The Mediation Committee presented several great CLE sessions this summer at regional bankruptcy workshops around the country. In addition, the committee just presented a fantastic CLE program at ABI’s Winter Leadership Conference this past weekend, which we will summarize in the next newsletter.
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.
