California CLE Course Catalog

Join Bill Rochelle as he hosts a panel of bankruptcy judges to discuss circuit splits on important bankruptcy issues. This panel will feature a fun game-show format where judges will vote to resolve the issues before they reach the U.S. Supreme Court.

The panel will provide an overview of certain bankruptcy laws and rules relevant to mediation, using vignettes or hypotheticals to set the scenes for in-depth discussions of the relevant rules of professional responsibility and ethical concerns.

Before the DIP-financing or cash-collateral negotiation begins, there are a number of ways you can help your cash-strapped debtor raise cash. This session will share valuable tips for what you can do before reaching out to your client's lender, and how you can help fund a debtor from the first call until a sale or plan confirmation.

A frequent element of bankruptcy cases is the assertion of claims against the directors and officers of the debtor, particularly when the debtor has a significant D&O insurance policy. This panel will explore the use of fiduciary-duty litigation in bankruptcy by dissecting the anatomy of a D&O lawsuit, including the types of claims asserted and their possible defenses. The panelists will also discuss how to analyze D&O insurance policies, and such key issues as whether the proceeds of D&O policies are considered property of the estate. Finally, the panelists will highlight best practices for debtors’ counsel faced with such claims, and show how to navigate potential ethical issues.

This session will outline the top 10 consumer issues any bankruptcy or other attorney practicing consumer law needs to know.

A number of Important dialogues in recent years have addressed lawyers struggling with mental health issues and drug/alcohol problems. But what happens when it's the debtors and creditors who have these issues, such as small equity-holders and former employees of chapter 11 debtors? This roundtable discussion will focus on the issues the industry sees on a daily basis — mostly in the consumer context, but not always.

Creditors’ committees are integral to the success of chapter 11 cases. This panel will discuss what it takes to maximize results for unsecured creditors in today’s chapter 11 cases, including how to deal with the different interests of the creditors who sit on creditors’ committees.

This panel will compare Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s bill with the ABI Consumer Commission’s Final Report, released in 2019, and will address consumer bankruptcy legislation that could be introduced this spring.

The hotel and hospitality industry has been massacred by the pandemic. How can the Bankruptcy Code, chapter 11 and subchapter V help the industry restructure and survive? This panel will provide analysis and perspective.