Notes on a Diversity Workshop

 At the ABI Winter Leadership Conference, I attended a diversity and inclusion workshop put on by Elton Ndoma-Ogar of Alix Partners and Peter S. Salib of Perkins Coie, LLP. I wasn't sure that writing about an interactive workshop would be useful, but a friend encouraged me to try. At the end of the article, I have included a link to their materials, which you can access if you are an ABI member. If you are not an ABI member, contact me and I can send them to you.

NCBJ 2022: Gradually, Then Suddenly. The Bankruptcy of Detroit

This program looked at the bankruptcy of the City of Detroit through the lens of a documentary filmmaker. I thought it was a clever way to look at one of the most consequential bankruptcies of our time through the eyes of someone who was not a bankruptcy lawyer or judge. While filmmaker Sam Katz is not part of the bankruptcy profession, he did have substantial experience in municipal finance, having served as Chair of the Fiscal Oversight Board in Philadelphia in the 1990s. It took him six years to make the film compared to the fourteen months that Detroit was in bankruptcy. I have included a link to a website about the film at the end.

NCBJ 2022: The Role of the Bankruptcy Judge

 This panel asked the question, what is the role of the bankruptcy judge? To answer that question, they featured two retired judges, Judge Robert Drain from the Southern District of New York and Judge Harlan "Cooter" Hale from the Northern District of Texas along with sitting judges Erithe Smith from the Central District of California and Grace Robson from the Middle District of Florida. Rather than trying to recreate their panel, I will try to distill their presentation into a series of rules.

Counsel's Retention of "Wet Signatures" Overcomes Debtor's "Faulty" Memory

Sometimes debtors get buyer's regret after filing a bankruptcy petition.  However, once a bankruptcy petition is filed, it remains on the debtor's credit for ten years. One debtor sought to throw his attorney under the bus by claiming that the bankruptcy filing had never been authorized. Fortunately the debtor's attorney had retained his client's wet signatures and text messages which protected him from the Court's Order to Show Cause. In re Wilson, 2022 Bankr. LEXIS 3378 (Bankr. D. N.J. 11/30/22).