Professional Practice Areas

Cryptocurrency: Start-To-Finish Best Practices For Effective Case Management This dynamic session will deliver practical guidance to corporate restructuring professionals when cryptocurrency is part of a Chapter 11 matter. Panelists will discuss how to effectively identify case assets, handle creditor distributions, manage community management, and oversee media interest, among other areas. Participants will gain valuable insight into practical case management involving cryptocurrency. Attendees will learn about best practices for effective case resolution, along with pitfalls to avoid. Business Suggested Speakers Cristina Terrasini cristina.terrasini@stretto.com Stretto IRVINE California

The Importance of Strategic Communications and Media Relations in High-Profile Restructurings In high profile restructurings, managing public perception and crafting a go-forward narrative matters. This session explores how strategic communications play a critical role in mitigating reputational damage and preserving brand and estate value throughout the restructuring process, including positioning the company for success upon emergence.

We will explore the importance of:
- Developing a comprehensive communication strategy to address various stakeholders (employees, partners, media, etc.) and preserve enterprise value
- Being prepared to implement aspects of the strategy even before filing (given propensity for leaks) and during key moments of the process through emergence
- Communicating effectively to promote business objectives, shape public perception, support legal strategies, and stabilize key stakeholder relationships
- Proactively (and reactively) addressing misinformation, media inquiries and stakeholder concerns to protect the brand and franchise
- Learning from real-world examples of communication efforts in major bankruptcies
Participants will be able to understand:
- The role strategic communications play in preserving value of the brand and business, including keeping internal and external parties apprised and on side
- The importance of crafting clear, forthright, consistent and timely messaging
- The ways in which strategic communications can significantly influence the outcome of a restructuring process

Debtor Suggested Speakers Paul Caminiti paul.caminiti@reevemark.com Reevemark (Strategic Communications)

Whole Leader Health World-class leadership begins with the Whole Leader. Promoting wholeness requires addressing multiple dimensions of well-being. Considering system induced stress is a significant cost personally, professionally, and organizationally, bankruptcy leaders should consider a holistic approach to improving results. -Why wholeness is the new standard for individual, team, and organizational well-being.
-How to improve resilience to reduce the effects of system induced stress.
-How to lead a company culture with higher engagement, learning, and growth levels. Other Suggested Speakers Dr. David Nico events@davidnico.com DavidNico.com

Digital Assets Are Coming to a Bankruptcy Near You This session will introduce participants to the very hiogh likelihood that digital assets could be a part of a bankruptcy estate given the rapid growth in the use of digital assets to transact business and in the number of people in the United States that own digital assets. Participants will be made aware of the resources, tools, and professional services available to locate, track, quantify, value and recover digital assets for the bankruptcy estate. 1. Participants will gain a working understanding of blockchain technology, cryptocurrencies and other digital assets and their rapid adoption by individuals and businesses.
2. Participants will learn to identify signs that a party may possess digital assets and will be familiar with the resources available to aid in discovering and identifying digital asset ownership.
3. Participants will learn about the techniques and tools available to trace and recover digital asset transactions.
4. Participants will learn the basic issues and challenges in valuing digital assets. Creditor Suggested Speakers Marc Schwartz Mschwartz@schwartzassociates.us Schwartz Associates, LLC

Navigating The Intersection of Bankruptcy and Intellectual Property Note to Committee
Beverly Berneman, Frank Oswald, and I (Summer Chandler) are working on the second edition of the ABI book, Choppy Waters: Navigating the Intersection of Bankruptcy and Intellectual Property. It should be ready to go to print by the end of this year. We would like very much to have the opportunity to present at the Spring Meeting on some of the issues we will be discussing in the book and that we have encountered in our practices or other work. Thank you for considering our proposal.

Panel Description:

Intellectual property is often critical to the financial stability and well-being of a company. When a debtor enters bankruptcy, the Bankruptcy Code contains several provisions that impact rights held by the debtor, or others, in intellectual property owned or used by the debtor. Given the important role that intellectual property often plays in the life of a business, disputes pertaining to intellectual property frequently surface in the context of the debtor's bankruptcy case. Unfortunately, significant uncertainty continues to surround many of the issues that exist at the intersection of bankruptcy law and intellectual property law.

This panel will explore the complex intersection of intellectual property and bankruptcy law, focusing on the important and unique challenges and opportunities that can arise when intellectual property rights are at issue in bankruptcy proceedings. The topics discussed will include, among others: the effect of the rejection of an intellectual property license agreement, the effect of the sale of a debtor’s intellectual property on the rights of non-debtor licensees, and the assignability of intellectual property license agreements (either standalone agreements or agreements contained within a more comprehensive agreement – such as a franchise agreement). Panelists will discuss and analyze several important and interesting disputes, including, among others, the tortured bankruptcy history of 2 Live Crew/Luther Campbell and Lil’ Joe Records. By the conclusion of the program, attendees should: (1) understand the legal framework governing the treatment of intellectual property assets in bankruptcy; (2) recognize risks and challenges related to intellectual property in bankruptcy, and (3) be able to assess the potential impact of bankruptcy on ongoing and future intellectual property transactions. Business Suggested Speakers Summer Chandler summerchandler@lsu.edu Paul M. Hebert Law Center, LSU

Life Sciences Financings in Bankruptcy This session will discuss bankruptcy issues that arise in connection with financing structures common at various stages in the growth of life sciences company, including early stage venture lending , drug development lending, royalty monetizations, and synthetic royalties/revenue interest financings and other hybrid finance structures. Bankruptcy issues include treatment of rights in IP and licensed IP as collateral and under royalty sale structures; executory contract issues with respect to material contracts related to recovery of value of financing (e.g., supply contracts for manufacture of drug); secured or unsecured status under synthetic and hybrid structures; and structuring deals to mitigate bankruptcy.
Recent cases will be discussed to illustrate the features of common structures and treatment of bankruptcy risks and issues by courts (cases include PhaseBio, Mallinckrodt and Clovis). Participants will understand the general features of these life sciences financing structures, the bankruptcy risks involved, how to avoid or mitigate risk in the structures prebankruptcy, and likely outcomes in the event of a challenge to the structure in bankruptcy. Target audience is life sciences companies and their lenders. Creditor Suggested Speakers Martin Beeler mbeeler@cov.com Covington & Burling LLP

From Good Hands to (Bankruptcy) Boxing Gloves: the Impact of Truck Insurance Exchange v. Kaiser Gypsum Company on Your Next Reorganization The Supreme Court's June 2024 decision in Truck Insurance Exchange v. Kaiser Gypsum Company held that insurers qualified as "parties in interest" under Section 1109(b), entitling those insurers to object to a plan of reorganization. This landmark decision is likely to have far-ranging effects in the reorganization world and affect debtors and creditors committees alike. The ABI should host a panel examining the expected extent and impact of those effects, including that:
- debtors and creditors should prepare for the fact that insurance carriers will start getting a seat at the negotiating table;
- the insurance industry may view Truck as not merely granting a seat at the table, but also as an invitation to test the boundaries of its newly granted position;
- Truck presents an existential threat to the already-risky tack of chapter 11 plans' limiting director and officer liability to only insurance proceeds;
- insurance carriers will likely leverage Truck to urge courts in jurisdictions that deem insurance proceeds to be property of the estate to reexamine the status quo; and
- insurance carriers will begin to horse-trade for concessions in connection with first-day motions and debtors' purchasing tail coverage and run-off policies post-petition. Participants will gain knowledge and skills vital to negotiating insurance-related issues in bankruptcy, such as:
- traps for the unwary in attempting to limit liability in chapter 11 plans to only insurance proceeds;
- how to maximize or minimize Truck's reach in their next plan negotiation, depending on whether their goal is to tout or downplay its effects; and
- how to navigate coverage issues if insurance carriers are granted a seat at the table during their next plan negotiation. Debtor Suggested Speakers Brandon Lewis blewis@reidcollins.com Reid Collins & Tsai LLP

Building Resilience Against All Odds Keynote Overview

By providing a keynote speech to your team, I will guide them through fun and engaging stories from my own personal life experience. With a lifetime of experience as a congenital quad amputee, seasoned Paralympic swimmer, and accessibility designer, I bring a worldly perspective unmatched. I thrive to find unique and out-of-the-box solutions to overcome any form of obstacle that stands in the way. Alongside my mission statements of Using What You’ve Got and Components of You, my unique outlook and determination serve as a model: we are all more than any one of our characteristics.

Workshop Discussion Overview

Built inside of the keynote, an empowering conversation will focus on the Components of You. This workshop will allow participants to reflect on pivotal moments in their life. There will also be an opportunity to share in small groups as well as with everyone depending on comfort level. 1). Audience members will have the ability to reflect on key moments in their lives
2). Audience members will come away with Motivation for success
3). Audience members will have an understanding of the components that make up who they are
4). Audience members will learn the tools to look internally at what they have versus looking externally at what they don’t
5). Audience members will have the opportunity to assess the skills they have that would help elevate their performance and excel Business Suggested Speakers Jonathan Heider Laedtke jonathan@split-star.com Split Star

Claims Trading: A Renewed Market for Recoveries and Returns Congress granted creditors a right to an accelerated recovery of their claims through FRBP 3001. This rule is the foundation for selling a bankruptcy claim but, until recently, the integrity and liquidity of the claims market was challenged by an absence of the typical features of modern capital markets. Few creditors were able to identify potential purchasers, conduct price discovery and maximize competition for their claims. Online marketplaces developed, making a global market and rapid price discovery easily accessible, and allowing unrestricted competitive pressures to inform bid/ask price disclosure and immediately actionable supply and demand. Although the market has undergone a significant transformation, a number of recent cases have tested the rules and procedures of bankruptcy courts, clerks and claim administrators to properly manage the tens of millions of claims, and hundreds of billions of dollars owed annually to creditors who enjoy a right to liquidity. • Understanding of the background/context for FRBP 3001
• Understanding of historical market characteristics and functionality
• Understanding of the emergence of online marketplaces
• Discussion of recent cases and the impediments to improved market functionality
• Discussion of opportunities for further market development and improvement
Creditor Suggested Speakers Brian Davidoff bdavidoff@greenbergglusker.com Greenberg Glusker LLP

Tax Consequences to Debtors and Creditors of Credit Bids, Foreclosures, and Deeds in Lieu of Foreclosure These transactions involve transfers of property securing a loan to the creditor in satisfaction of the debt. The applicable federal tax rules determines the amount of taxable gain realized by the debtor. The rules also determine if the creditor realizes a beneficial bad debt deduction and/or gain or loss on its acquisition. A central issue is how tax law deals with the question of the fair market value of the property. This session will illustrate the alternatives to debtors and creditors and potential planning considerations impacting after tax cash results to both parties. Participants will understand how tax law operates in credit bid, foreclosure and deed in lieu transactions including how the tax law treats the issue of what is the fair market value of the property involved in the transaction. Such understanding can assist participants in representing their clients when property securing a loan is transferred from the debtor to the lender to satisfy the debt. Business Suggested Speakers Richard Liebman rliebman@bdo.com BDO USA P.C.