Contact: John Hartgen
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LABOR, ETHICAL ISSUES IN BANKRUPTCY AND ECONOMIC FORECASTS AMONG THE TIMELY TOPICS AT ABI’S WINTER LEADERSHIP CONFERENCE

August 23, 2006, Alexandria, Va. — The American Bankruptcy Institute’s (ABI) Eighteenth Annual Winter Leadership Conference will take place Nov. 30 – Dec. 2, 2006, at the Hyatt Regency Scottsdale Resort and Spa at Gainey Ranch in Scottsdale, Ariz. The conference will feature seven bankruptcy judges and address such timely bankruptcy topics as labor vs. management issues, supply contracts and a financial forecast of industry sectors for 2007. Program chair for the conference is ABI Education Vice President Robert J. Keach of Bernstein, Shur, Sawyer & Nelson PA (Portland, Maine). The Winter Leadership Conference also offers participants the opportunity to earn 11.75 CLE credit hours, including 3.0 hours of ethics.

Publisher and former Presidential candidate Steve Forbes will be the featured speaker at this year’s conference as he discusses the U.S. economic outlook and its implications for the insolvency community.

Panel sessions include:

Bankruptcy Judge Eugene R. Wedoff (Chicago) will moderate the “Management vs. Labor: The Collision of Bankruptcy and Labor Law and Policy” session, featuring panelists Richard Bank of the AFL–CIO (Washington, D.C.), Babette Ceccotti of Cohen, Weiss & Simon LLP (New York), David M. Davis, vice president of finance for Northwest Airlines and the former CFO of U.S. Airways (Eagan, Minn.) and Brian P. Leitch of Arnold & Porter LLP (Denver).

“Thinking Outside the Bankruptcy Box: Nonbankruptcy Options for Entities and Individuals after BAPCPA” will be moderated by Geoffrey L. Berman of Development Specialists, Inc. (Los Angeles) and feature panelists Robbin L. Itkin of Kirkland & Ellis LLP (Los Angeles), Richard C. Kennedy of Kennedy, Koontz & Farinash (Chattanooga, Tenn.), Prof. Ronald J. Mann of the University of Texas School of Law (Austin) and R. Scott Williams of Haskell Slaughter Young & Rediker, LLC (Birmingham, Ala.).

Moderator Patrick E. Mears of Barnes & Thornburg, LLP (Grand Rapids, Mich.) is joined by Nancy Roberts of Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP (Toronto), Val Venable of GE Plastics (Huntersville, N.C.) and Bankruptcy Judge Gregg W. Zive (Las Vegas) for the “Supply Contracts in Chapter 11 Cases: Executory Contracts, Forward Contracts, Sales of Goods (or All of the Above)?” session.

“The ‘New Lenders’: Second-Lien Financing, ‘Loan to Own,’ DIPs to Sell and Other Problems of Nontraditional Players in the Distress-Lending Market” features moderator

Jo Ann J. Brighton of Kennedy Covington Lobdell & Hickman, LLP (Charlotte, N.C.) and panelists Mark N. Berman of Nixon Peabody LLP (Boston), Thomas Cambern of  Wachovia Capital Markets LLC (Charlotte, N.C.), Glenn E. Siegel of Dechert, LLP (New York) and John T. Todd of Special Investments CapitalSource/DMD Special Situations (Chicago).

Richardo I. Kilpatrick of Kilpatrick & Associates, PC (Auburn Hills, Mich.) will moderate “Matters of First Impression–Consumer: BAPCPA’s Consumer Bankruptcy Provisions in Practice and in the Courts,” and will be joined by panelists Stuart A. Gold of Gold Lange & Majoros, PC (Southfield, Mich.), Bankruptcy Judge Eileen W. Hollowell (Tucson, Ariz.), Dennis J. LeVine of Dennis LeVine & Associates, PA (Tampa, Fla.) and Robert H. Waldschmidt of Howell & Fisher (Nashville, Tenn.).

“Matters of First Impression–Business: The Death of Retail Chapter 11? BAPCPA in Practice in Retail Bankruptcy Cases” will be moderated by Laura Davis Jones of Pachulski Stang Ziehl Young Jones & Weintraub LLP (Wilmington, Del.) and feature panelists Ivan Gold of Allen Matkins (San Francisco), Jay R. Indyke of Kronish Lieb Weiner & Hellman, LLP (New York), Steve Liff of Sun Capital Partners (Los Angeles) and Peter M. Schwab of Giuliani Capital Advisors LLC (Chicago).

Moderator Daniel M. Glosband of Goodwin Procter LLP (Boston) will be joined by a panel including Bankruptcy Judge Allan L. Gropper (New York), Thomas J. Salerno of Squire, Sanders & Dempsey, LLP (Phoenix), Peter Spratt of PricewaterhouseCoopers Global Restructuring Services (New York) and Derrick Tay of Ogilvy Renault (Toronto) for “Matters of First Impression–International: Chapter 15’s New Cross-Border Bankruptcy Provisions in Practice and in the Courts.” 

“Fuel Price Fatigue, Fleeing Foreign Capital, Fed Funds Forecasts and the Future: Which Sectors of the Economy Will Thrive (or Dive) in 2007?” will include featured guest speaker Gary Zimmerman of the U.S. Federal Reserve Bank (San Francisco) along with panelists Rebecca A. Roof of AlixPartners LLC (New York), William Q. Derrough of Jefferies & Company, Inc. (New York) and Stephen B. Darr of Mesirow Financial Consulting, LLC (Boston).

“Fibermark, New Duties and Beyond: Ethical Problems of Committee Membership and Representation in a ‘Hedge-Fund World,’” moderated by Kurt F. Gwynne of Reed Smith LLP (Wilmington, Del.), will feature panelists Bankruptcy Judge Bruce A. Markell (Las Vegas), Eve H. Karasik of Stutman, Treister & Glatt, PC (Los Angeles), Harvey R. Miller of Greenhill & Co., Inc. (New York) and Diana G. Adams, Acting U.S. Trustee (New York). 

“Independent Counsel or Watchdog? Ethically Juggling the Multiple Roles of Consumer Counsel” will feature moderator Claire Ann Resop of Brennan, Steil & Basting, SC (Madison, Wis.) and a panel including Bankruptcy Judges Peter Bowie (San Diego) and  Steven W. Rhodes (Detroit), Paul G. Swanson of Steinhilber, Swanson, Mares, Marone & McDermott (Oshkosh, Wis.) and Felicia S. Turner of Office of the U.S. Trustee, Region 21 (Atlanta). 

For more information on the Winter Leadership Conference, please visit http://www.abiworld.org/WLC06.

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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.