ABIs Third Annual Caribbean Insolvency Symposium to be Held February 8-10 2007

ABIs Third Annual Caribbean Insolvency Symposium to be Held February 8-10 2007

Contact: John Hartgen
             (703) 739-0800
             [email protected]

ABI’S THIRD ANNUAL CARIBBEAN INSOLVENCY SYMPOSIUM TO BE HELD FEBRUARY 8-10, 2007

November 7, 2006, Alexandria, Va. — The American Bankruptcy Institute (ABI), the Puerto Rico Bankruptcy Bar Association and the Federal Bar Association of Puerto Rico will hold the third Caribbean Insolvency Symposium at the beachfront Ritz-Carlton San Juan in San Juan, Puerto Rico from Feb. 8 - 10, 2007. The program features a faculty of outstanding practitioners, scholars and judges, including six bankruptcy judges, from the Caribbean region. Program co-chairs for the Symposium are Patricia A. Redmond of Stearns, Weaver, Miller, Weissler, Alhadeff & Sitterson, PA (Miami) and Sonia Colón of O'Neill & Borges (San Juan, P.R.). Judicial co-chairs are Bankruptcy Judges Gerardo Carlo (San Juan, P.R.) and Robert A. Mark (Miami). Attendees have the opportunity to earn up to 9.5 CLE credit hours, including 1.5 hour of ethics, with an expanded program including both consumer and business topics.

Timely topics—all updated with the latest legislative revisions—include:

The “Consumer Case Law and Practice Updates Including Continuation and Reimposition of Stay, New Confirmation Standards in Chapter 13 Cases, New Chapter 13 Discharge Requirements, Adequate Protection and Issues Regarding Equal Monthly Installments to Holders of Secured Claims Issues” session will be moderated by Richardo I. Kilpatrick of Kilpatrick & Associates, PC (Auburn Hills, Mich.). Panelists for the session include Bankruptcy Judge Bruce Markell (Las Vegas) and Standing Chapter 13 Trustee Alejandro Oliveras (San Juan, P.R.).

James S. Feltman of Mesirow Financial Consulting, LLC (Miami) will moderate “Liquidating Cross-Border Assets and Recovering Cross-Border Claims,” featuring panelists Marcus A. Wide of PricewaterhouseCoopers (Halifax, N.S.) and Ian Ratner of Glass Ratner Advisory & Captal Group, LLC (Atlanta).

Moderator Felicia S. Turner of the Office of the U.S. Trustee (Atlanta) will be joined by panelists Monsita Lecaroz-Arribas of the Office of the U.S. Trustee (San Juan, P.R.),

Juan M. Suarez Cobo (San Juan, P.R.), Bankruptcy Judge Brian Tester (San Juan, P.R.) and Wigberto Lugo-Mender of Lugo-Mender & Co. (Guaynabo, P.R.) for the “Debtor, UST and Panel Trustee Perspectives on Hot Consumer Issues under BAPCPA” session.

“Hedge Fund Failure: The Good, the Bad, the Ugly” will be moderated by Francis C. Morrissey of Edwards Angell Palmer & Dodge LLP (Boston) and panelists invited to speak include Alistaire Bambach of the U.S. Securities Exchange Commission (New York), Prof. Edward R. Morrison of the Columbia Law School (New York), Kenneth Krys of RSM Cayman Islands (Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands) and Scott M. Berman of Friedman Kaplan Seiler & Adelman LLP (New York).

Desmond Thomas, the Inter-American Development Bank Country Economist/Coordinator for Barbados and Country Economist for the Caribbean Regional Matters, will keynote the luncheon program, “Macroeconomic Trends in the Caribbean Region.”

The “Cross-Border Consumer Issues: Citizenship, Residency and the Extra-Territorial Reach of a Bankruptcy Discharge and Cross-Border Recovery of a Fraudulent Transfer” session will be moderated by Bankruptcy Judge Judith K. Fitzgerald (Pittsburgh), who will be joined by panelists Jose R. Carrión of Trujillo Alto (San Juan, P.R.), Robert C. Furr of Furr & Cohen, PA (Boca Raton, Fla.) and Prof. Patrick D. O’Neill of the Puerto Rico University Law School (San Juan, P.R.)

“Update on Chapter 15: Where in the World (Caribbean) is the COMI?” will be moderated by Josefina Fernández McEvoy of Squire Sanders & Dempsey, LLP (Los Angeles) and include panelists Michael J. Fay of Ogier (Tortola, British Virgin Islands), Laura Hatfield of Solomon Harris (Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands) and Christopher A. Jarvinen of Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP (New York).

Moderator Sonia Colón of O'Neill & Borges (San Juan, P.R.) will be joined by Bankruptcy Judges Gerardo Carlo (San Juan, P.R.), Judith K. Fitzgerald (Pittsburgh), Enrique S. Lamoutte (San Juan, P.R.), Robert A. Mark (Miami) and Brian Tester (San Juan, P.R.) for the “Consumer Views from the Bench” session.

The “Lenders' Panel: Caribbean/South American Cross-Border Issues” will be moderated by Luis Salazar of Greenberg Traurig, LLP (Miami) and will feature panelists Luis de Lucio of Alvarez & Marsal (Sao Paulo, Brazil) and Rodolfo Pittaluga of Deloitte Financial Advisory Services LLP (Miami).

“Bankruptcy Issues for Nonbankruptcy Lawyers,” moderated by Sonia Colón of O'Neill & Borges (San Juan, P.R.), will include Bankruptcy Judges Robert A. Mark (Miami),  

Judith K. Fitzgerald (Pittsburgh), Gerardo Carlo (San Juan, P.R.), Enrique S. Lamoutte (San Juan, P.R.) and Brian Tester (San Juan, P.R.)

The “Regional Updates and Cross-Border Issues” session will be moderated by Bankruptcy Judge Gerardo Carlo (San Juan, P.R.) and feature panelists Leyza Florin Blanco of Katz, Barron, Squitero, Faust, Brecker, Terzo, Friedberg & Grady, PA (Miami), David P. Freedman of O'Neill & Borges (San Juan, P.R.), Carol Logue of

Bridge Associates, LLC (Spring, Texas), Bankruptcy Judge Robert A. Mark (Miami) and Mercedes Figueroa Morgade of the Justice Department (San Juan, P.R.)

Patricia A. Redmond of Stearns, Weaver, Miller, Weissler, Alhadeff & Sitterson, PA (Miami) will be joined by Carol Ann Rich of Dudley, Clark & Chan (St. Thomas, U.S.V.I.), Troy Taylor of the Algon Group LLC (Atlanta) and Regina Thomas of

McCalla Raymer, LLC (Roswell, Ga.) for the “Ethics Courtesy and Results in the Region” session.

For more information on ABI’s 2007 Caribbean Insolvency Symposium, please visit http://www.abiworld.org/CIS07.  

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ABI is the largest multi-disciplinary, nonpartisan organization dedicated to research and education on matters related to insolvency. ABI was founded in 1982 to provide Congress and the public with unbiased analysis of bankruptcy issues. The ABI membership includes more than 11,500 attorneys, accountants, bankers, judges, professors, lenders, turnaround specialists and other bankruptcy professionals, providing a forum for the exchange of ideas and information. For additional information on ABI, visit www.abiworld.org. For additional conference information, visit http://www.abiworld.org/conferences.html.