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The long countdown to the Small Business Reorganization Act (SBRA) is over! The law takes effect on February 19. Thousands of struggling small businesses will now have a faster, cheaper and more efficient process for filing Chapter 11. SBRA includes several significant changes to current law. Join our panel to update your legal toolbox so you’ll be ready when businesses come calling. Learn more at: https://www.abi.org/sbra

Hosted by the Asset Sale Committee Marijuana-related businesses are being denied access to bankruptcy relief in all but a tiny handful of cases. This webinar will discuss prospects for success in bankruptcy court, available alternative methods of affording relief to troubled cannabis businesses, and possibilities for changes in the regulatory climate.

Hosted by the Consumer Bankruptcy Committee This webinar will discuss how new Bankruptcy Student Loan Management Programs are helping debtors solve their student loan issues. The webinar will cover the issues affecting debtors and their student loans as well as the solutions and tools the courts are implementing.

Hosted by the Commercial Fraud Committee The webinar panel, comprised of bankruptcy lawyers, a panel bankruptcy trustee and a financial advisor, will delve into what occurs when an individual debtor files bankruptcy and fails to properly disclose their assets. The discussion will include methods of investigating and discovering hidden assets and the means by which a trustee can successfully recover the assets for the bankruptcy estate. The panel will also address defenses that a debtor may raise, including exemptions, tenants by the entirety, or business assets transferred to trusts.

This panel will explore the efforts being taken to use blocking provisions in corporate and company organizational documents to limit the possibility of a bankruptcy filing, and will discuss the importance of independent board members in various transactions throughout the duration of a chapter 11 case and financial distress.

Real Estate is red-hot right now — which means it’s an attractant for both the savvy investor and the fraudster. Don’t miss getting the inside scoop on the law and insights from other perspectives concerning the latest schemes and themes in real estate fraud and bankruptcy. A panel of experts with varying professional backgrounds will discuss the various forms of fraudulent schemes involving real estate pre- and post-bankruptcy, how to sniff out irregularities using various accounting and forensic tools, what to do once you realize your client has a problem (whether debtor or creditor), and how to safeguard your clients and cases from future problems.

This panel will focus on drafting skills for bankruptcy and restructuring attorneys. It is intended to provide a practical “how to” discussion and analysis of negotiating and drafting chapter 11 sale documents and pleadings, including asset-purchase agreements, bid-procedure motions and orders, sale motions and orders, and related documents. The session will also provide form documents and discuss heavily negotiated or scrutinized provisions.

This panel will discuss the value and involvement of financial advisors and investment bankers in successful § 363 sales, as well as strategies for working with financial advisors and investment bankers to navigate negotiations of § 363 sale terms, maximizing recoveries, and handling ethical issues that may arise in § 363 sales.

Everyone likes to see lawyers get paid! This panel will address the differing approaches for attorney fees in chapter 13 cases across the country and discuss the allowance of debtor and creditor fees while examining and discussing the ABI Consumer Commission’s recommendation on fees in chapter 13 cases generally.

Neither the Bankruptcy Code nor the Bankruptcy Code’s legislative history contains an exception to the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA). As a result, bankruptcy courts grappling with whether to enforce an arbitration clause in bankruptcy have focused on whether there is an inherent conflict between the Bankruptcy Code and enforcement of arbitration pursuant to the FAA. The determination that arbitration is required could be the death knell for bankruptcy debtors. This panel will explore, in instances where arbitration is required, how to avoid jeopardizing the central objectives of the Bankruptcy Code that enable debtors to obtain a fresh start, as well as how to ensure uniformity of results to avoid what could be “wildly inconsistent” outcomes in arbitration that impact debtors on an individual and case-by-case basis.