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

MORTGAGES, AUTO LOANS, REAL ESTATE AND CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRIES TO BE EXAMINED AT ABI’S FOURTEENTH ANNUAL ROCKY MOUNTAIN BANKRUPTCY CONFERENCE 

October 6, 2008, Alexandria, Va. — The American Bankruptcy Institute’s (ABI) Fourteenth Annual Rocky Mountain Bankruptcy Conference will take place Jan. 22-23, 2009, at the Westin Tabor Center in downtown Denver. The conference will feature nine bankruptcy judges and one circuit judge. Topics addressed at this year’s conference include mortgages and auto loans in consumer bankruptcy cases, construction and real estate trends, and bankruptcy alternatives for distressed companies. The conference will also feature a 2009 economic forecast by Dr. Richard L. Wobbekind, director of the Business Research Division and Associate Dean for External Relations at the University of Colorado at Boulder. Program co-chairs for the Rocky Mountain Bankruptcy Conference are Annette W. Jarvis of Ray, Quinney and Nebeker, PC (Salt Lake City) and Risa Lynn Wolf-Smith of Holland & Hart LLP (Denver). The judicial chair for the conference is Bankruptcy Judge Elizabeth E. Brown (Denver).

Concurrent workshops include:

The “Branding the Cattle: Executory Contracts—How to Keep the Ones You Want” session will be moderated by John F. Young of Block, Markus & Williams, LLC (Denver) with panelists Weston Anson of CONSOR Intellectual Asset Management (La Jolla, Calif.), Jill L. Murch of Foley & Lardner LLP (Chicago), Steven C. Strong of Ray, Quinney & Nebeker, PC (Salt Lake City) and Bankruptcy Judge Judith H. Wizmur (Camden, N.J.).

David E. Letaof Snell & Wilmer, LLP (Salt Lake City) will moderate “The Saloon or the Corral? Jurisdictional Battles from Forum-Shopping” session with panelists Troy J. Aramburu of Jones Waldo Holbrook & McDonough PC (Salt Lake City), Bankruptcy Judge A. Bruce Campbell (Denver), Sally E. Edison of McGuireWoods LLP (Pittsburgh) and Christian Carl Onsager of Onsager, Staelin & Guyerson, LLC (Denver).

“The Pony Express: Delivering the Latest News—Recent Developments” session, moderated by Michael J. Pankow of Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck, LLP (Denver), will feature panelists Lawrence Bass of Holme Roberts & Owen LLP (Denver), Bankruptcy Judge Sidney B. Brooks (Denver) and Steven B. Towbin of Shaw Gussis Fishman Glantz Wolfson & Towbin LLC (Chicago).

Moderator Danny C. Kelly of Stoel Rives LLP (Salt Lake City) will be joined by panelists F. Wayne Elggren of LECG, LLC (Salt Lake City), Christopher F. Graham of McKenna Long & Aldridge LLP (New York) and Bankruptcy Judge Michael E. Romero (Denver) for the “Building the Ranch House: Where's the Roof? Construction/Developers Gone Bad” session.

“Swing Your Partner Round and Round: Discovery, Disclosure and Ethics in Bankruptcy” will be moderated by J. Thomas Beckett of Parsons Behle & Latimer (Salt Lake City) with panelists Susan M. Freeman of Lewis and Roca LLP (Phoenix), Michael P. Richman of Foley & Lardner LLP (New York) and Bankruptcy Judge Howard R. Tallman (Denver).

Kimberley H. Tysonof Ireland, Stapleton, Pryor & Pascoe, P.C. (Denver) will moderate the “Culture in the West: The Fine Art of Recharacterization/Subordination of Debt” session with panelists Jo Ann J. Brighton of K&L Gates LLP (Charlotte, N.C.), Bruce A. Harwood of Sheehan, Phinney, Bass + Green (Manchester, N.H.) and Bankruptcy Judge Dana L. Rasure (Tulsa, Okla.).

Moderator Ellen R. Welner of George T. Carlson & Associates (Englewood, Colo.) will be joined by panelists Loretta A. Burnett (Colorado Springs, Colo.), Mark R. Stewart (Cheyenne, Wyo.), Bankruptcy Judge William T. Thurman (Salt Lake City) and John Turner (Colorado Springs, Colo.) for the first consumer workshop, “Knocked into a Cocked Hat—Means Test Unresolved Issues and Case Law Update.”

The “How the West Was Won: Trying the Insolvency/Valuation Case—Iridium and Beyond” session, moderated by Annette W. Jarvis of Ray, Quinney & Nebeker, PC (Salt Lake City), will feature panelists R. Bruce Den Uyl of AlixPartners LLP (Chicago), Bankruptcy JudgeJeffery P. Hopkins (Cincinnati), Peter Schulman of Hein & Associates LLP (Denver), Paul N. Shields of LECG, LLC (Salt Lake City) and Anne M. Sidrys of Kirkland & Ellis LLP (Chicago).

“There's a New Sheriff in Town: Receiverships and Other Alternatives to Bankruptcy” session will be moderated by Elizabeth K. Flaagan of Holme Roberts & Owen LLP (Denver) and feature panelists Edward B. Cordes of Cordes & Co. (Englewood, Colo.), Caroline Case Fuller of Fairfield & Woods, PC (Denver) and Jack L. Smith of Holland & Hart LLP (Denver).

The second consumer workshop, “Robber Barons, the Old Homestead and the Beloved Model T: Mortgages and Auto Loans in Chapter 7 and 13 Cases,” will be moderated by Ellen R. Welner of George T. Carlson & Associates (Englewood, Colo.) who will be joined by panelists Britney Beall-Eder of Castle Meinhold & Stawiarski LLC (Denver), Tara E. Gaschler of The Gaschler Law Firm (Denver) and Kim R. Wilson of Snow, Christensen & Martineau (Salt Lake City).

Bankruptcy Judge Elizabeth E. Brown (Denver) will moderate the “Plain Speaking: Do They Mean What They Say or Say What It Means? Debate on Equitable vs. Plain Meaning Jurisprudence of the Supreme Court” session featuring panelists Brett A. Axelrod of Greenberg Traurig, LLP (Las Vegas), Steven J. McCardell of Durham Jones & Pinegar (Salt Lake City) and Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Michael R. Murphy (Salt Lake City).

Moderator Duane H. Gillman of Durham Jones & Pinegar (Salt Lake City) will be joined by panelists Stephen E. Berken of Berken & Associates (Denver), Kenneth L. Cannon II of Durham Jones & Pinegar (Salt Lake City) and Robert Padjen of Laufer and Padjen LLC (Englewood, Colo.) for the third consumer workshop, “Riding the Circuits—Case Law Update, Eligibility, Consumer Chapter 11.”

The fourth consumer workshop, “Beat the Devil Around the Stump—Ethically Making Adversary Proceedings Affordable to Debtors,” will be moderated by Duane H. Gillman of Durham Jones & Pinegar (Salt Lake City) and joined by Bankruptcy Judge Elizabeth E. Brown (Denver), Peter Lucas of Appel & Lucas PC (Denver) and Holly Renee Shilliday of Snell & Wilmer, LLP (Denver).

Two programs sponsored by the International Women's Insolvency & Restructuring Confederation (IWRC) will also be featured at the start of the 2009 Rocky Mountain Bankruptcy Conference.The “Women and Finance: A Winning Hand” session will feature Stephanie S. Anderson of AlixPartners LLP (Dallas), Kesli Jensen of PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP (West Valley City, Utah), Elizabeth B. Monty of Veriti Consulting (Scottsdale, Ariz.), Lori L. Payne of BDO Seidman, LLP (Los Angeles) and Susan M. Smith of Mesirow Financial Consulting, LLC (Miami). “Hitting Four of a Kind—Matching Financing Needs with Financing Sources” will feature Anne Kenney Gardner of AJL Renewal Partners LLC (Park City, Utah), Peggy Hunt of Ray, Quinney & Nebeker, PC (Salt Lake City), Carla Meine of VAST (Salt Lake City), Sherilyn A. Olsen of Holland & Hart LLP (Salt Lake City) and Melody Stallings of Wells Fargo Business Credit, Inc. (Denver). IWIRC is also sponsoring a keynote luncheon featuring Circuit JudgeDeanell Reece Tacha of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit.

For more information on ABI’s 2009 Rocky Mountain Bankruptcy Conference, please visit http://www.abiworld.org/RMBC09.

###

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 nearly 11,700 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.