| Hannah Hutman and Jeff Fraser, co-chairs of the ABI Consumer Bankruptcy Committee, thank all committee members for their participation this year.
The committee once again played a vital role in ABI’s Consumer Practice Extravaganza (CPEX), which held a successful Part 1 in November 2024 and is gearing up for a robust Part 2 in January 2025. They partnered with ABI’s professional staff, Advisory Board Co-Chairs Jeff Fraser (also co-chair of the Consumer Committee) and Summer Shaw, and the CPEX judicial board.
Now in its fourth year, ABI’s Consumer Practice Extravaganza (CPEX) continues to be the premier educational event for consumer practitioners. CPEX 2024 (Part 1) offered four sessions on diverse consumer issues, including how to combat creative consecutive filers, taking the fear out of chapter 13, dealing with crossover areas of law in consumer bankruptcy cases, and a consumer spin on the Purdue Pharma Supreme Court decision. CPEX Part 2 (kicking off on Jan. 21, 2025) is set to feature approximately 12-15 sessions and promises to be the best yet. The committee is honored to continue playing an active role in the planning and presentation of this innovative event.
Jeffrey Fraser and Ari D. Kunofsky are our Special Project Leaders. In addition to Jeffrey’s leadership in CPEX 2024, Jeff and Ari hosted a webinar on Oct. 10, 2024, titled, “Escrow 101-103 and the Impact of COVID on the Treatment of Escrow in a Bankruptcy Case.” Furthermore, Ari and Jeff are planning a podcast series, “If Only [He/She] Knew.” Through this series, the Special Project Leaders hope to find speakers that represent certain constituencies from each consumer role and engage in short dialogues about certain struggles or frustrations experienced in representing clients. Furthermore, the committee intends to engage in other “point/counterpoint” discussions — namely, a majority vs. majority discussion on § 362(c)(3).
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| Patrick Hruby serves as our Newsletter Editor and has continued to be an excellent contributor to our leadership team in 2024. Our newsletter was published in October and included the following articles: “The Wrath of Res Judicata (A Creditor’s Cautionary Tale)” and “The Unclear Guidance Within the Fourth Circuit Renews a Question of Whether Firearms Should Be Exemptible from the Bankruptcy Estate.” The next edition of the newsletter is expected in early January 2025.
Karlene Archer serves as our Education Director. For this year’s Annual Spring Meeting, the committee partnered with the Mediation Committee to host and present “Mediation of Consumer Bankruptcy Issues.” In a perfect merger of the two worlds/committees, panelists Hannah W. Hutman, Kara K. Gendron, Stephen Sather and Hon. Thomas J. Catliota provided a comprehensive discussion on navigating mediation issues during an active consumer case. Karlene partnered with the Business Reorganization Committee at ABI’s Winter Leadership Conference to present “When the Creditor Becomes the Debtor: Consumer Lenders in Bankruptcy and the Impact on Borrowers,” which featured Hon. Christopher M. Lopez, Lydia R. Webb, Theodore O. Bartholow, III and Alexandra Dugan.
Planning for the 2025 Annual Spring Meeting is already underway; Karlene is currently lining up topics and speakers for the committee’s panel.
Daryl Smith serves as our Communications Manager and has taken a strong command of the consumer listserv. He frequently engages with committee members by sharing recent developments in consumer bankruptcy law on the listserv on what feels like a weekly basis. In 2024, Daryl stimulated discussions by posting numerous in-depth case summaries (including the lingering impacts of the CARES Act, the merits of pre-bankruptcy planning, victories of pro se debtors and many more topics). In addition to the posts coming at a frequent pace, the substance and dialogue provide our members with both information and how each update may impact the industry.
Kara Gendron serves as our Membership Relations Director and has welcomed our new members and encouraged active participation in our committee. Her efforts have been instrumental in growing committee membership and participation.
Recap and Next Steps. The committee is proud of the work that was accomplished in 2024 and is looking forward to an exciting 2025 with more timely programming, and engaging with committee members and the ABI community as a whole. The Consumer Committee hopes to make its mark by proposing a “Consumer Roundtable” initiative for ABI’s two national conferences, the Annual Spring Meeting and the Winter Leadership Conference. The goal is to provide a platform for consumer attorneys at each national conference without being limited to one particular topic. Structurally, we envision that at least one of our Consumer Committee members will be present at each national conference and will lead a discussion on a number of pre-selected issues, but also open the floor for discussion. It is our hope that this will encourage more consumer attorneys to attend national
conferences and participate during these events. The initiative is uniquely designed/presented to always be available and not limited to one consumer topic (given that the goal is for a Socratic, inclusive dialogue). |
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