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

HEDGE FUNDS, SUBPRIME MORTGAGES AND PROFESSIONAL FEE STUDY RESULTS AMONG THE TIMELY TOPICS TO BE PRESENTED AT ABI’S WINTER LEADERSHIP CONFERENCE

August 27, 2007, Alexandria, Va. — The American Bankruptcy Institute’s (ABI) Nineteenth Annual Winter Leadership Conference will take place Dec. 6-8 at The Westin Mission Hills Resort & Spa in Rancho Mirage, Calif. The conference will feature 12 bankruptcy judges and address such timely topics as private equity and hedge fund strategies in bankruptcy, the lessons learned from the subprime mortgage industry downturn and issues in health care bankruptcies. The Winter Leadership Conference offers participants the opportunity to earn 11.75 CLE credit hours, including 3.0 hours of ethics. The conference will also include a luncheon featuring Christopher Buckley, best-selling author, social and political satirist and editor of Forbes Life.

A plenary session presentation of the results of ABI’s professional fee study, supported by a grant from the ABI Endowment Fund, will be moderated byMichael P. Richman of Foley & Lardner LLP (New York). Panelists for the presentation include C.R. “Chip” Bowles, Jr. of Greenebaum Doll & McDonald PLLC (Louisville, Ky.), John Wm. Butler, Jr. of Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP (Chicago), Prof. Stephen J. Lubben of Seton Hall Law School (Newark, N.J.), Deirdre A. Martini of CIT Group, Inc. (New York), Prof. Nancy B. Rapoport of the William S. Boyd School of Law at the University of Nevada (Las Vegas), Bankruptcy Judge Wesley W. Steen (Houston), Albert Togut of Togut, Togut & Segal, LLP (New York) and Clifford J. White III of the Executive Office for U.S. Trustees (Washington, D.C.).

Panel sessions include:

“Loan-to-Own Strategies of Hedge Funds and Private Equity Firms,” moderated by Stephen S. Gray of CRG Partners Group LLC (Boston), includes panelists Paul Coughlin of Longroad Asset Management, LLC (Stamford, Conn.), Bankruptcy Judge Allan L. Gropper (New York), Larry G. Halperin of Richards Kibbe & Orbe LLP (New York), Aziz Hassanali of Anchorage Advisors, LLC (New York) and Andrew I. Silfen of Arent Fox LLP (New York).

Moderator Joseph Samet of Baker & McKenzie LLP (New York), along with panelists Patti H. Bass of Bass & Associates, P.C. (Tucson, Ariz.), Robert N.H. Christmas of Nixon Peabody LLP (New York) and Bankruptcy Judges Bruce A. Markell (Las Vegas) and Thomas F. Waldron (Dayton, Ohio), will participate in the “BAPCPA in the Courts: How Judicial Interpretation of the New Provisions Affects Your Cases” session.

The “Trying Valuation (on a Budget): Consumer Case Examples” session will be moderated by Dillon E. Jackson of Foster Pepper PLLC (Seattle) and joined by panelists Ford Elsaesser of Elsaesser, Jarzabek, Anderson, Marks, Elliott & McHugh, Chtd. (Sandpoint, Idaho), Richardo I. Kilpatrick of Kilpatrick & Associates, PC (Auburn Hills, Mich.), Claire Ann Resop of Brennan, Steil & Basting, SC (Madison, Wis.) and Bankruptcy Judge Steven W. Rhodes (Detroit).

The “Subprime Paradigm: Lessons on Maximizing Value from the Subprime, 1031 and Servicer Cases” session, moderated by Lawrence E. Young of AlixPartners LLP (Dallas), features panelists John Anderson of RBS Greenwich Capital (Greenwich, Conn.), Melanie L. Cyganowski of Greenberg Traurig, LLP (New York), Jeffrey W. Dulberg of Pachulski Stang Ziehl Young Jones & Weintraub LLP (Los Angeles), Bankruptcy Judge Linda B. Riegle (Las Vegas) and Eric Sagerman of Winston & Strawn LLP (Los Angeles).

“Health Care Cases: Financing, Financial Management and Exit,” to be moderated by Samuel R. Maizel of Pachulski Stang Ziehl Young Jones & Weintraub LLP (Los Angeles) includes panelists Paul E. Harner of Paul, Hastings, Janofsky & Walker LLP (Chicago), Shane A. Passarelli of Healthcare Finance Group, Inc. (Los Angeles), Louis E. Robichaux, IV of Bridge Associates, LLC (New York) and Joseph Tutera of The Tutera Group (Kansas City, Mo.).

Moderator James T. Markus of Block, Markus & Williams, LLC (Denver) and panelists Barry Lefkowitz, CIRA, of Virchow Krause & Company, LLP (Southfield, Mich.), Patricia A. Redmond of Stearns, Weaver, Miller, Weissler, Alhadeff & Sitterson, PA (Miami) and James Patrick Shea of Shea & Carlyon, Ltd. (Las Vegas) will participate in the “Individual Chapter 11: The New ‘Small Business’ Option?” session.

The “Ethics, E-mail, the Web and the Blogosphere: Rules and Values for Practice in Cyberspace” plenary session will be moderated by Terri L. Gardner of Poyner & Spruill LLP; (Raleigh, N.C.) and include panelists Bankruptcy Judge Samuel L. Bufford (Los Angeles), Prof. Paula Franzese of Seton Hall Law School (Newark, N.J.), Will Hornsby of the American Bar Association (Chicago) and author of Boundaries of Legal Marketing, and J. Charles Mokriski of Day Pitney (Boston).

Bankruptcy Judge Eugene R. Wedoff (Chicago) will moderate the “Supreme Court Year in Review (and in Prospect)” Judges’ Roundtable, featuring Bankruptcy Judges Dennis R. Dow (Kansas City, Mo.), Joan N. Feeney (Boston), Judith K. Fitzgerald (Pittsburgh) and Jim D. Pappas (Boise, Idaho).

For more information on the Winter Leadership Conference, please visit http://www.abiworld.org/WLC07.  

###

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.