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

SEVEN BANKRUPTCY JUDGES AND LEADING PRACTITIONERS TO GATHER AT ABI’s SOUTHEAST BANKRUPTCY WORKSHOP JULY 25-28

April 24, 2007, Alexandria, Va. — Seven bankruptcy judges and more than 300 attendees will gather to discuss the latest bankruptcy topics at ABI’s Twelfth Annual Southeast Bankruptcy Workshop. The workshop will be held from July 25-28, 2007, at The Sanctuary at Kiawah Island, Kiawah Island, S.C., bringing together the region’s top insolvency professionals for four days of intense learning and networking. Attendees also have the opportunity to earn 13.5 hours of CLE credits, including 1.5 hours of ethics.

Program co-chairs for the Southeast Bankruptcy Workshop include James D. Decker of Houlihan Lokey Howard & Zukin (Atlanta) and Patricia A. Redmond of Stearns, Weaver, Miller, Weissler, Alhadeff & Sitterson, PA (Miami). The judicial chair for the workshop is Bankruptcy Judge Margaret A. Mahoney (Mobile, Ala.).

Highlighting the panel sessions will be the “ABI Presidents Panel: Advocacy in Your Bankruptcy Practice” that will feature former ABI presidents Andrew W. Caine of Pachulski Stang Ziehl Young Jones & Weintraub LLP (Los Angeles), Ford Elsaesser of Elsaesser, Jarzabek, Anderson, Marks, Elliott & McHugh, Chtd. (Sandpoint, Idaho), Robert M. Fishman of Shaw Gussis Fishman Glantz Wolfson & Towbin LLC (Chicago), John D. Penn of Haynes and Boone, LLP (Fort Worth, Texas), Michael P. Richman of Foley & Lardner LLP (New York), Bettina M. Whyte of MBIA Insurance Corporation (Armonk, N.Y.) and Deborah D. Williamson of Cox Smith Matthews Inc. (San Antonio).

Sessions at the Workshop include:

The “Consumer Bankruptcy Developments” plenary session will feature Bankruptcy Judges Laurel Myerson Isicoff (Miami) and A.Thomas Small (Raleigh, N.C.).

Moderator John C. “Kit” Weitnauer of Alston & Bird LLP (Atlanta) and panelists Matthew Doheny of Deutsche Bank Securities (New York), Robert B. Glenn of Glenn Rasmussen Fogarty & Hooker, PA (Tampa)  and Bankruptcy Judge Cecelia G. Morris (Poughkeepsie, N.Y.) will take part in the “Complex Chapter 11 Developments” session.

“Ethics in the Real World” will feature Lucian T. Pera of Adams & Reese LLP (Memphis) and Bankruptcy Judge Douglas O. Tice, Jr. (Richmond, Va.).

The “Outside of Court/Outside the Box” session will be moderated by Judy D. Thompson of Poyner & Spruill LLP (Charlotte, N.C.) and feature panelists Robert M. Fishman of Shaw Gussis Fishman Glantz Wolfson & Towbin LLC (Chicago), Charles M. Ivey, III of Ivey, McClellan, Gatton & Talcott, LLP (Greensboro, N.C.) and Mindy A. Mora of Bilzin Sumberg Baena Price & Axelrod, LLP (Miami).

“Post-BAPCPA Issues for Attorneys Representing Individual Chapter 11 Debtors: Stays, Cases and Ethical Obligations,” moderated by C.R. “Chip” Bowles Jr. of Greenebaum Doll & McDonald PLLC (Louisville, Ky.), will feature panelists Bankruptcy Judges Stan Bernstein (New York) and David T. Stosberg (Louisville, Ky.) in addition to Felicia S. Turner of the U.S. Trustees Office, Region 21 (Atlanta).

Brett H. Miller of Otterbourg, Steindler, Houston & Rosen, PC (New York) will moderate “Troubled Industries–The Next Wave of Chapter 11s” featuring panelists Ronald F. Greenspan of FTI Consulting, Inc. (Los Angeles), Michael Leo Hall of Burr & Forman LLP (Birmingham, Ala.) and Peter L. Tourtellot of Anderson Bauman Tourtellot Vos & Co. (Greensboro, N.C.).

“Scams and Schemes: Fraud in the Marketplace” will include panelists Leanne Gould of GlassRatner Advisory & Capital Group LLC (Atlanta), Soneet R. Kapila of Kapila & Company (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.) and Harris Bryan Winsberg of Troutman Sanders LLP; (Atlanta).

The “Cap Markets Update: The Lenders' Views” session, moderated by Jesse H. Austin, III of Paul, Hastings, Janofsky & Walker LLP (Atlanta) will include panelists Matthew B. Berk of Alvarez & Marsal, LLC (Charlotte, N.C.), William C. Beebe of Silver Point Finance, LLC (Atlanta), Patrick L. Bickers of SunTrust Bank (Atlanta), James Cooper of CIT (Atlanta) and David Gittleman of Cratos Capital (Alpharetta, Ga.).

“Litigation in Bankruptcy Court: 2007 and Beyond” will be moderated by  Dion W. Hayes of McGuireWoods LLP (Richmond, Va.) and feature panelists Bankruptcy Judge  C. Ray Mullins (Atlanta) and Charles W. Throckmorton of Kozyak, Tropin & Throckmorton, PA (Coral Gables, Fla.). 

Bankruptcy Judges Laurel Myerson Isicoff (Miami) and A. Thomas Small (Raleigh, N.C.) will partner again to hold the “Business Bankruptcy Developments” plenary session.

“Effective Pre-Bankruptcy Negotiating and Packaging” will be moderated by James S. Feltman of Mesirow Financial Consulting, LLC (Miami) and feature panelists Mark I. Duedall of Houlihan Lokey Howard & Zukin (Atlanta), James R. Lackie of Kean, Miller, Hawthorne, D’Armond, et al. (Baton Rouge, La.) and David S. Miller of Macquarie Securities (USA) (Atlanta).

Attendees will also be treated to a performance by the only all-ABI member rock-and-roll band, the “Indubitable Equivalents!”

For more information about the Twelfth Annual Southeast Bankruptcy Workshop, call ABI at (703) 739-0800 or visit http://www.abiworld.org/SE07.  

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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 11,000 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.