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ABI 18th Annual Bankruptcy Battleground West

Sponsored
Hyatt Regency Century Plaza Los Angeles, California

Loeb & Loeb LLP is proud to sponsor the American Bankruptcy Institute's 18th Annual Bankruptcy Battleground West Conference.

From the conference website:

In its 18th year, ABI's Bankruptcy Battleground West continues the tradition of bringing seasoned insolvency professionals together to discuss, debate and learn about leading issues of bankruptcy law.

This year's program, "The Perfect Storm: Navigating the Latest Wave of Insolvency," addresses some of the most intriguing issues that have emerged during the latest insolvency cycle, including the conflicts between intellectual property and bankruptcy law, challenges to the structure of insolvent real estate enterprises, the increasing use of prepackaged and prenegotiated plans as a restructuring strategy, and the re-emergence of litigation challenging lenders, their claims and their reorganization strategies.

The program will again include a courtroom-style debate featuring several of the leading practitioners in our field, and a look into both the past and future of the current recession by a renowned economist from the UCLA Anderson Forecast. This is one bankruptcy program you will not want to miss!

Agenda

8:00-9:00 a.m.
Breakfast and Registration
The Advisory Board welcomes you to a complimentary continental breakfast

9:00-9:15 a.m.
Welcome by Conference Leadership

9:15-10:30 a.m.
Back to the Future: Bankruptcy Litigation Is Back with a Vengeance
This program will explore familiar topics that are once again being litigated in bankruptcy courts around the country, including equitable subordination, in pari delicto, deepening insolvency, free and clear sales and sub rosa plans. This panel will consider whether these developments are making bankruptcy a more or less effective remedy for distressed businesses and their creditors.

  • Robert B. Orgel (Moderator) - Pachulski Stang Ziehl & Jones LLP, Los Angeles
  • Lisa Hill Fenning - Arnold & Porter LLP, Los Angeles
  • Rodger M. Landau - Landau & Berger LLP, Los Angeles
  • Teresa McMahon - FTI Consulting, Inc, Chicago

 

10:30-10:45 a.m.
Coffee Break
Sponsored by Klee, Tuchin, Bogdanoff & Stern LLP

10:45 a.m.-12:00 noon
Clash of the Titans: Intellectual Property Law Meets Bankruptcy
Intellectual property issues are permeating bankruptcy cases more than ever. This panel will explore the interplay between bankruptcy law and intellectual property rights, including the treatment of intellectual property as assets of the estate, or as executory contracts subject to assumption, assignment or rejection; the differences in the treatment of copyright, patent and trademark licenses under the Bankruptcy Code, and the rights that licensors and licensees retain after making section 365(n) elections.

  • Jeffry A. Davis (Moderator) - Mintz Levin Cohn Ferris Glovsky and Popeo, P.C., San Diego
  • David A. Fidler - Klee, Tuchin, Bogdanoff & Stern LLP, Los Angeles
  • Katherine C. Piper - Steptoe & Johnson LLP, Los Angeles
  • Jane Shay Wald - Irell & Manella LLP, Los Angeles

 

12:00-1:15 p.m.
Luncheon with Keynote Speaker Jerry Nickelsburg, Economist at UCLA Anderson Forecast
Speaker sponsored by Allen Matkins Leck Gamble Mallory & Natsis LLP
Luncheon sponsored by AlixPartners LLC and GlassRatner Advisory & Capital Group LLC
Professor Nickelsburg returns to take a critical look at the progress of the economy over the past year, his own analysis and predictions regarding the economy of a year ago, and the future of the economy here in California and throughout the United States.

1:30-2:45 p.m.
Some Like It Prepackaged: Are Prepackaged and Prenegotiated Plans the Wave of the Future?
This panel will explore why prepackaged plans and prenegotiated plans are increasingly more common, how they are accomplished, when they are appropriate strategies, and the key elements and timeline of a successful prepackaged or prenegotiated plan.

  • Peter J. Gurfein (Moderator) - Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP, Los Angeles
  • Nathan J. Cook - AlixPartners LLC, Los Angeles
  • Debra A. Riley - Allen Matkins Leck Gamble Mallory & Natsis LLP, San Diego
  • Stephen H. Warren - O'Melveny & Meyers LLP, Los Angeles

 

2:45-3:00 p.m.
Coffee Break
Sponsored by Loeb and Loeb, LLP

3:00-4:15 p.m.
The Great Debate: When Special-Purpose Real Estate Vehicle Entities Don't Serve Their Special Purpose in Bankruptcy
Two of the leading practitioners in our field engage in an appellate argument before a panel of U.S. Bankruptcy Judges addressing the cutting-edge issues arising from the bankruptcies of affiliated real estate entities financed by commercial mortgage-backed securities or "CMBS" loans loans that are made to individual special-purpose vehicles or " SPVs," that are supposed to be "bankruptcy remote" if not "bankruptcy proof." This debate will address the central issues that flow from this common real estate finance mechanism, including whether the filing of chapter 11 cases by SPVs effectively should be precluded or be dismissed as bad-faith filings, whether cases filed by members of an affiliated group of SPV entities should be treated as single-asset real estate cases or a consolidated business enterprise, and whether the use of consolidated cash-management systems for such enterprises in chapter 11 constitutes an improper de facto form of substantive consolidation or can the otherwise challenged by entity-specific secured lenders.

  • Panel Members:
    Richard L. Wynne (Moderator) - Jones Day, Los Angeles
  • Advocates:
    Isaac M. Pachulski - Stutman, Treister & Glatt, PC, Los Angeles
    Joseph A. Eisenberg - Jeffer, Mangels, Butler & Marmaro, LLP, Los Angeles
  • Judicial Panel:
    Judges to be announced

 

4:15-6:00 p.m.
Closing Reception
Sponsored by Landau & Berger LLP and Crowe Horwath LLP