1:15pm – 2:15pm
Keynote Address featuring
Bill Dedman, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and The New York Times best-selling author

Empty Mansions: Lessons from the Life of Huguette Clark

Join Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and The New York Times best-selling author Bill Dedman as he takes the audience on a visual tour of Bellosguardo in Santa Barbara and the life of Huguette Clark, the reclusive heiress to a copper fortune, and the lessons learned from her choices of how to use her $300 million fortune. Bill’s book, Empty Mansions, The Mysterious Life of Huguette Clark and the Spending of a Great American Fortune, spent months on The New York Times and Los Angeles Times bestseller lists.

2:15pm – 3:15pm
Judges’ Roundtable

Producers: Sharon Kopman; Oak Point Partners, Los Angeles
Shane Moses; Foley & Lardner, LLP, San Francisco

3:30pm – 4:30pm
Concurrent Session: IP Assets Caught in the Bankruptcy Rip Tide
Intellectual Property assets present unique challenges in bankruptcy. Article 9 financing statements may or may not be enforceable, and, in some instances, may actually be to your client’s detriment. Can a debtor assume and assign IP rights? Revoke them by rejecting a license? How is a security interest in intellectual property perfected and enforced? How you define the intellectual property assets can greatly impact your client’s rights, and those rights are constantly changing. This panel will help you spot the issues and navigate your way out of the bankruptcy rip tide, whether you represent a secured lender, debtor, or contract counter-party.

Producers:
Kimberly S. Fineman; Nuti-Hart, LLP. Oakland
Marshall Hogan; Snell and Wilmer, Costa Mesa

3:30pm – 4:30pm
Concurrent Session Real Estate – When the Tide Recedes: Real Estate Bankruptcies
Low interest rates, high property values, and the record 10-year bull market have largely washed real estate bankruptcy issues into the backwater. But the high-water mark may not be far off, and a retail sector that is already struggling will face further pressure if the broader economy declines. This panel will survey real estate bankruptcy issues (new and old) that are likely to surface in the next economic downturn.

Producers:
Nathan Schultz; Goodwin Procter LLP, San Francisco
Kelly Tran; Small Law PC, San Diego

4:45pm – 5:45pm
Walk the Plank: Debates on Hot Topics in Bankruptcy
Pull up your oars and bear witness to a legal duel – will the judge throw the candidates a life-line or verbal cement shoes? Watch the candidates walk the plank or live to tell their tales as they examine, argue and support their positions on important issues facing bankruptcy professionals in a quick-fire, mock political debate format.

Moderator:
John Tedford IV; Danning Gill Israel Krasnoff, Los Angeles

Producers:
Jeannie Kim; Friedman & Springwater LLP, San Francisco
Roksana Moradi-Brovia; Resnick Hayes Moradi LLP, Los Angeles

8:30 – 9:30am
Match Game 2020

Producers:
Jeffrey S. Kwong; Levene Neale Bender Yoo & Brill LLP; Los Angeles
Brian Osborne; Omni Agent Solutions, Los Angeles

10:00am – 11:00am
Concurrent Session: Small Fish in A Big Tide Pool: Individual and Small Business Chapter 11s
Chapter 11 is often synonymous with large corporate filings, but its provisions cast a far wider net. This panel will focus on considerations unique to individual and small business Chapter 11 filings, and will delve into recent, nuanced developments in the law. The discussion will include feedback from the first few months of implementation of the Small Business Reorganization Act of 2019, as well as new case law on the absolute priority rule and the debtor’s retention of exempt property, whether a large non-dischargeable judgment can preclude plan confirmation, and other recent changes likely to impact Chapter 11 practitioners.

Producers:
Nicholas A. Koffroth; Dentons, Los Angeles
Allison Rego; Barnes & Thornburg LLP, San Diego

10:00am – 11:00am
Concurrent Session: Raising the White Flag: Why Consider Abandoning Bankruptcy to an Alternative Choice
Bankruptcy is not the only option, and often times not the best. Co-sponsored with the California Receivers Forum, this panel will discuss the benefits of alternatives to bankruptcy and which factors should be examined to determine the method that best suits the situation. Professionals may understand the fundamentals of their options outside of bankruptcy, but could overlook underlying benefits of a Receiver, Assignee or Mediator and their ability to efficiently and effectively administer a case as opposed to restrictions placed on Court bounded Trustees.

Producers:
Gerard F. Keena, II; Bay Area Receivership Group, Berkeley
Joe Zagajeski; Development Specialists, Inc., Chicago

11:00am – 12:00pm
Judges’ Roundtable

Producers:
Joseph Boufadel; Salvato Law Offices, Los Angeles
Cara M. Porter; California Department of Justice, San Francisco

1:30pm – 2:30pm
Representing Consumers When the Big Wave Hits
When companies like Ditech, PG&E or national retail stores file for bankruptcy, thousands of consumers have their rights affected. This session will provide insight on how consumer lawyers can protect their client’s interests when the “big guy” turns out to be the debtor.

Producers:
Anthony Bisconti; Bienert I Katzman, PLC, San Clemente
Sabina Jacobs Margot; Gibson Dunn, Los Angeles

2:30pm – 2:45 pm
Networking Break

2:45pm – 3:45 pm
The Paddle Battle: When Bankruptcy and Family Law Collide
Surfer girl and surfer boy divorce; then, surfer boy files for bankruptcy! Now what? Unique challenges and issues accompany bankruptcy cases, for both creditors and the debtor, when a consumer debtor files bankruptcy after dissolution of marriage. This session will provide a primer on, as well as the latest developments in, such issues as child and spousal support claims, the impact of bankruptcy on a property marital settlement agreement, and the treatment of debts incurred during marriage in bankruptcy.

Producers:
Nicholas Kohlmeyer; Desmond, Nolan, Livaich, and Cunningham, Sacramento
Larry Simons; Law Offices of Larry D. Simons, Mission Hills

3:45pm – 4:00 pm
Networking Break

4:00pm – 5:00pm
The Wipe Out!
For the consumer debtor, the discharge order is the financial fresh start motivating the bankruptcy filing. This session will explore the latest developments in enforcing the discharge injunction, including the Supreme Court’s recent decision in Taggart v. Lorenzen, in calculating damages for discharge violations, and procedural considerations to discharge.

Producers:
Ahren Tiller; Bankruptcy Law Center, San Diego
J. Jackson Waste; Baker Manock & Jensen PC, Fresno