| 3rd Quarter Newsletter, 2025 | Vol 12, Num 3
|
|
|
Applications Open for the Sheila Smith Emerging Women in Restructuring Scholarship
|
|
The newly established Sheila Smith Scholarship honors her legacy of mentorship, excellence and service by expanding access for emerging female professionals to attend ABI's flagship conferences: the Annual Spring Meeting and the Winter Leadership Conference. Emerging female professionals and students committed to excellence, ethics and service in the insolvency and restructuring community are encouraged to apply. Rolling applications opened in September. Contact Erin Green at egreen@abi.org or endowment@abi.org for more information.
Apply for Scholarship →
|
|
|
Give an Hour to Support the ABI Endowment
|
|
What difference can one hour make? For the ABI Endowment, it can mean funding scholarships, supporting research, and advancing education for the next generation of leaders in our field.
The Give an Hour Campaign invites members to donate the equivalent of one billable hour of their time to the ABI Endowment Fund. It’s a simple way to make a meaningful impact, and every contribution strengthens ABI’s mission and legacy.
Join your colleagues today and turn one hour into a lasting investment in our profession.
|
|
|
|
Every year at the Winter Leadership Conference, the ABI Endowment acknowledges those who reach new levels of donation. There is still time to reach your new donation level. If you want to know where you are in your donations and would like to level up, please reach out to Erin Green at egreen@abi.org.
|
|
|
ABI’s Research & Grants Committee has two significant projects nearing completion. Prof. Lois R. Lupica’s “Financial Distress Research Project,” which began in 2012, examined whether financial education and counseling and/or assistance from a lawyer definitively improves the current financial health of the unemployed, the under-employed, the working poor, and others in financial distress. The final phase of the study involves interviews with as many of the 945 participants as possible to discuss their financial health, including whether and how the assistance provided through the FDRP has led to an improvement in financial well-being. These interviews have already yielded some great stories, which Prof. Lupica will share during a presentation at ABI’s 2025 Winter Leadership Conference, being held Dec. 4-6 in Tucson, Ariz.
Also nearing completion is a study undertaken by Profs. Brook E. Gotberg (Brigham Young Univ. School of Law) and Michael D. Sousa (Univ. of Denver Sturm College of Law) that examines what effect, if any, the Affordable Care Act’s Medicaid expansion has had on consumer bankruptcies. While Profs. Gotberg and Sousa published their quantitative analysis in a 2019 issue of the ABI Law Review (available to ABI members free of charge here), the final phase of their project involves individual interviews, which were to be completed over the summer. ABI’s Research Grants Committee hopes to present a discussion of this project at ABI’s 2026 Annual Spring Meeting, being held April 23-25 in Washington, D.C.
ABI also continues to provide funding for its Veterans’ and Service Members’ Task Force, the Duberstein Moot Court Competition and the Global Rising Scholars Workshop (which will be hosted by Brooklyn Law School this month).
|
|
|
Join Our Regional Committee(s) and Make a Difference!
|
|
As we continue to grow and strengthen our efforts, we’re excited to invite passionate individuals like you to join our Regional Committees. This is a wonderful opportunity to make an impact by shaping programs, initiatives and events that benefit the industry and beyond.
Why Join?
|
|
|
- Influence Regional Initiatives: Your insights and ideas help guide key projects.
- Connect with Leaders: Collaborate with a diverse group of professionals dedicated to meaningful change.
- Make a Difference: Be part of a team committed to advancing our mission and goals.
|
|
What's Involved?
As a committee member, you’ll:
|
|
|
- Attend quarterly virtual meetings.
- Provide input on regional programming and engagement strategies.
- Serve as an ambassador, sharing our mission with your network.
|
|
Whether you’re a longtime supporter or newly interested in becoming more involved, we would be thrilled to have your voice at the table.
To express your interest or to learn more, please reach out to Endowment Manager Erin Green at egreen@abi.org, and we’ll follow up with next steps.
|
|
|
Another Way to Give to the Endowment: ABI Founders Society
|
|
|
By becoming a member of the ABI Founders Society, you can continue to support the Endowment and ABI for years to come through estate-planning. All the proceeds benefit the ABI Endowment Fund and are 100% tax-deductible. When you include ABI in your estate plan, your generosity helps provide additional funding for the Endowment so that it can continue to support current and future industry members. Please visit the ABI Founders
Society for more information. If you have any additional questions, please reach out to Erin Green.
|
|
|
Diamond Level
Contributions of $80,000 and above
Platinum Level
Contributions of $65,000 – $79,999
Millennium Level
Contributions of $50,000 – $64,999
30th Anniversary Circle
Contributions of $30,000 – $49,999
Century Council Member
Contributions of $25,000 – $29,999
Visionary
Contributions of $20,000 – $24,999
Legacy
Contributions of $15,000 – $19,999
Lifetime Member
Contributions of
$10,000 – $14,999
Benefactor
Contributions of $5,000 – $9,999
Sustaining Member
Contributions of $2,000 – $4,999
Leadership Club
Contributions of $1,000 – $1,999
Donor
Contributions of $100 – $999
|
|
|
Endowment Fund Development Committee
|
|
Vice President—Development:
Bradley D. Sharp
Development Specialists, Inc.
|
|
|
Committee Members:
Steven M. Berman
Emeritus Member
Shumaker, Loop & Kendrick, LLP
Marchand Boyd
Axos Bank
Dawn M. Cica
Carlyon Cica Chtd.
|
|
|
Erika F. Johnson
Bayard, P.A.
Kristina M. Johnson
Jones Walker LLP
Rebecca Redwine Grow
Hendren, Redwine & Malone, PLLC
|
|
|
|
|
