News & Events

Both Brad Sharp and Geoff Berman will be moderating panels at the ABI's upcoming 18th Annual Southwest Bankruptcy Conference in Las Vegas, September 23-25, 2010. Geoff, who is the current President-Elect of ABI, will moderate a panel of nine bankruptcy judges in, "Hotcakes & Hot Topics: Judges' Roundtable Q&A." Brad's panel, meanwhile, will take a look at "Current Developments in Corporate Chapter 11 Practice."
The New York Law Journal's August 2, 2010, edition included an article on DSI's settlement of litigation in the Coudert Brothers bankruptcy. The lawsuit involves fees owed to the Coudert Brothers estate from cases that departing attorneys took to their new firms. The settlement provides for a $6.65 million payment to the estate, forfeiture of any claim to expected fee recovery in contingency fee litigation. The article quotes Bill Brandt, who heads up DSI's team in the wind down of the estate, on potenttial recovery: "Do I think there's $10 million left in the pot? The answer is yes."
Elizabeth Lynch discussed Small Business Restructuring Alternatives with fellow panelists at the Midwest Regional Bankruptcy Seminar in Cincinnati, Ohio, on August 20. Joining Liz were Michael Debbeler of Graydon, Head & Ritchey, and Donald Rafferty of Cohen Todd Kite & Stanford.
We are proud to announce that Geoff Berman became the American Bankruptcy Institute’s President Elect at the group’s recently concluded Annual Spring Meeting. He will serve in that capacity for a one year term. Geoff will be will be installed as President at the 2011 Annual Spring Meeting. Congratulations, Geoff!
DSI once again showed its support for the William J. O'Neill Great Lakes Regional Bankruptcy Institute, serving as the Luncheon Sponsor for this annual event hosted by the Cleveland Metropolitan Bar Association. In addition, Bill Brandt joined two of the event's panels. In the first, Bill and his fellow panelists discussed the "Future of Chapter 11," while the second focused on "The Great Recession: The Legislature's Response."
Bill Brandt crossed the nation in April to speak on a variety of different topics to various audiences, starting in California and wrapping things up in National Harbor, Maryland. Bill joined a panel to discuss "Strategic Considerations: Bankruptcy or Non-Bankruptcy Remedies" at the Bay Area Bankruptcy Forum's April meeting in San Francisco, while in Denver for the ABA Business Law Section's annual meeting, he and fellow panelists opined upon "Legislative Attempts to Heal an Ailing Healthcare System – Take 2 Aspirin and Call Us." Bill then presented a guest lecture to Professor Ingrid Hillinger's business bankruptcy students at Boston College School of Law and moderated a panel at the ABI Annual Spring Meeting on “Dealing with the Varied Role of the Government in Bankruptcy: Creditor, Lender, U.S. Trustee, PBGC, FDIC, SEC, IRS.”
Brian Calvert moderated a panel at the ABI's VALCON2010 Restructurings, Reorganizations and Distressed Sales: Valuation Strategies and Opportunities held February 24-26, 2010 in Las Vegas. Brian's panel, Equity Risk Premium and Small Business Risk Adjustment, examined how to interpret and apply the Duff & Phelps and Ibbotson's Models to estimate equity risk premium and small business risk adjustment.
Geoff Berman explained "Assignments for the Benefit of Creditors: What You Need to Know about ABCs" at a January 25 teleconference sponsored by Lorman Education Services. Geoff, author of the ABI's handbook on ABCs, provided attendees an overview of the basics of an assignment, the state law alternative for the liquidation of a distressed business that while long available under state laws, has had little use outside of states such as California, Illinois, Florida and Massachusetts. He also discussed the fiduciary nature and responsibilities of the assignee, the advantages and disadvantages to the process as compared to bankruptcy, and the general nature of how assignemtns proceed.
Joe Luzinski discussed The Evolution of Bank Insolvencies at the ABI's Sixth Annual Caribbean Insolvency Symposium, held February 11-12 in Boca Raton, Florida.
Bill Brandt was quoted in a December 8, 2009, article in The Distressed Debt Report entitled "Casino Industry May Be Years From Recovery." The article examines the beleaguered casino industry, which has been hit hard by high unemployment.

Brandt predicts that the number of casinos entering chapter 11 bankruptcy will increase before the industry sees recovery. "The market is way off in places like Las Vegas because of unemployment ... Casinos have to find an identifiable niche they can play to in order to attract business. They'll have to fight for market shares and there will be losers. The market will have to retrench before it can expand again. It's 20, 25, maybe 30 percent overbuilt." Brandt added that new casino development is unlikely before 2012 and expects a 20 to 30 percent reduction in the number of operating casinos before development begins anew.
Cathy Vance's new article, In Pari Delicto, Reconsidered, appeared in the November 2009 edition of the ABI Journal. In the article, Cathy considers the possibility that a large part of modern bankruptcy case law misapplies the doctrine, overlooks its exceptions, and displaces state law defenses that ought to apply.
Clare Pierce joined a panel presentation on Internal Investigations: Ethical Challenges in Managing the Process at the annual ABI Winter Leadership Conference on December 5. Joining Clare were moderator Howard Brod Brownstein of Nachman Hays Bronstein, Nancy B. Rapoport, Gordon Silver Professor of Law at UNLV's William S. Boyd School of Law, and Neal H. Levin, of counsel at Freeborn & Peters.
Brian Calvert returned to the John Marshall Law School as a guest lecturer. Brian presented his lecture on Fundamentals of Real Estate Valuation to law students attending the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Laws Real Estate class.
Bill Brandt joined a panel at the ABI's 2009 Legislative Symposium, cosponsored and hosted by Georgetown University Law Center on November 16, 2009. Bill was joined on the panel, entitled The 1978 Code Reconsidered: Strengths, Weaknesses and the Impact of Amendments to the Original Vision of U.S. Restructuring, by Prof. Edward Altman of New York University, Richard Levin of Cravath Swain & Moore, and Robert Fiedler, a consultant and former Congressional staff member.
Cathy Vance once again co-authored the legislative update for the 2009 Bankruptcy Yearbook & Almanac, published annually by New Generation Research. The Yearbook provides over 500 pages of facts, figures, graphs, research and commentary covering all aspects of bankruptcy and is geared toward bankruptcy and marketing professionals seeking a thumbnail guide to the corporate bankruptcy industry.