Washington (WA) Bankruptcy Law CLE Course Catalog

General corporate counsel, counsel for debtors, creditors, shareholders and other participants in the reorganization process need to grasp the ethical restraints on professionals imposed by the Bankruptcy Code, Bankruptcy Rules, the ABA Code of Professional Conduct and relevant case law. This program uses recent case law to show how all of these rules work. Because the reorganization process is filled with ethical landmines, no lawyer can represent a client effectively without the help of this experience-based guide.

Chapter 11 doesn’t work for every corporate liquidation. This panel of experts will discuss other ways a corporation can be liquidated, including out-of-court liquidations, receiverships, ABCs, the Delaware Dissolution Statute and chapter 7.

Opioid, sexual abuse and asbestos cases have been all over the news in the last few years. This panel of experts will discuss and analyze the complex issues involved in mass tort chapter 11 cases today, including current issues involving future claims, nonconsensual releases and plan-confirmation issues.

If you are newer to chapter 13 practice, you won’t want to miss this panel. Join a judge, chapter 13 trustee, and debtor and creditor counsel as they show you how to navigate a chapter 13 case from both debtor and creditor perspectives. The discussion will include plan drafting and modification, claims filing, objecting to confirmation, dismissal, conversion, and getting paid in chapter 13 cases, as well as an overview of the tools you must take advantage of to make a chapter 13 work.

Law school can seem like a long time ago, especially when a client walks in the door wanting help on filing for personal bankruptcy. This session will provide an overview of chapter 7: the players, bankruptcy estate, automatic stay, initial consultation and means test. Included in the discussion will be exemptions, preparing schedules, the relevant Bankruptcy Code and Rules sections, local rules, and how to know whether your client can or must redeem, reaffirm or surrender. Brush up on your skills and learn what you need to know about one of the core chapters of consumer bankruptcy.

Successful consumer bankruptcy cases often hinge on the intake process, particularly the details gathered on the intake form. What questions should be asked? What resources should be used? Discover best practices for getting the right information from the very beginning, which can avoid all kinds of headaches later. (No one wants to discover a fraudulent transfer at the 11th hour!).

This panel will focus on impairment, TransWest issues, third-party releases, horizontal gifting related to Noverra and more.

Our expert faculty will update you on a potpourri of automatic stay and discharge injunction violation issues, including the latest guidance from the Supreme Court on action vs. inaction, the return of repossessed cars and the collection of discharged debt.

The panelists discuss in-court and out-of-court options for distressed businesses, as well as alternatives both pre- and post-COVID-19, drawing upon their experiences and what they see in the market going forward.