The Consumer Provisions of the CARES ACT and Local Court Responses to the Pandemic

Eric W. Goering is a partner with the Law Office of Goering & Goering, LLC. He has over 20 years of experience in bankruptcy law. His practice concentrates in business and consumer bankruptcy, including loan workouts and commercial loan restructuring for the large business client. He handles an average of 100 cases per month as Trustee and Debtors counsel.

Eric was appointed in 2003 as a Chapter 7 Trustee in the Southern District of Ohio. He is a past President of the Cincinnati Bar Association, former school board member, member of the Judicial Liaison Committee, Bankruptcy Local Rules Committee, Volunteer Lawyers, and Executive Committee Member of the Midwest Regional Bankruptcy Seminar. He is a frequent lecturer throughout the country regarding Chapter 7, Chapter 11, and Chapter 13 bankruptcy issues. He is married with three wonderful children.

Michael McCormick is a senior partner with the bankruptcy department at McCalla Raymer Leibert Pierce, LLC. Mr. McCormick has been with the firm since 2004 and currently assists in bankruptcy representation for dozens of mortgage lenders and servicers nationwide.

Michael is a frequent speaker and author on various topics related to bankruptcy, including the handling of escrow accounts during a bankruptcy proceeding, and the recent bankruptcy form changes. He is also a member of numerous local and national bankruptcy organizations.

Tracey N. Wise is the chief judge of the United States bankruptcy court, Eastern District of Kentucky. She joined the court on March 31, 2010. She was elevated to the role of chief judge on October 1, 2011. Her current term on the court will expire on March 30, 2024.

Judge Wise's career as a private practice attorney spanned 27 years before she was appointed to the bench. She began her career with Sturgill Turner & Truitt in 1983, where she remained until 1992 when she started her own firm, Wise Warnecke & Wise. In 2003, the firm subsequently became known as Wise DelCotto. Judge Wise's practice was focused entirely on bankruptcy and debt restructuring work.

Judge Wise earned a bachelor's degree and a J.D. from Indiana University.

David Leibowitz founded Lakelaw in 1999 after more than 25 years of distinguished practice in Chicago. David focuses his practice at Lakelaw on bankruptcy and mortgage foreclosure defense. He was the first lawyer in Northern Illinois or Southern Illinois board certified both as a business bankruptcy lawyer and as a consumer bankruptcy lawyer. He is admitted to the bar in Illinois, Illinois and Arizona. David has achieved national recognition for his work in defending against predatory mortgages. Under his leadership, Lakelaw has become the leading consumer advocacy firm in Illinois and Illinois. Recognized for service to the community and courts, he has been awarded the prestigious Pro Bono Service Award from the Federal District Court for the Northern District of Illinois.

He also was honored by the Circuit Court for the Nineteenth Judicial Circuit, Lake County, Illinois with its “Liberty Bell Award” in recognition for his service in organizing the mortgage foreclosure help desk. He is the author of “Filing Chapter 13 – What you Need to Know” published by Aspartore and the editor-in-chief and a principal author of the American Bankruptcy Institute’s Commercial Fraud Manual.

David has handled virtually all aspects of bankruptcy work from complex chapter 11 cases representing debtors, creditors’ committees and secured creditors to consumer bankruptcy cases in chapter 7 and 13. Recognized as a national leader in the field, David has served as the co-chair of the American Bankruptcy Institute’s consumer bankruptcy committee and commercial fraud committee. David is proficient in French and Spanish and regularly conducts business with his clients in the Spanish language. The Supreme Court of Illinois does not recognize certifications of specialties in the practice of law and the certificate, award or recognition is not a requirement to practice law in Illinois

Prof. Robert M. Lawless is the Max L. Rowe Professor of Law and co-director of the Program on Law, Behavior & Social Science at the University of Illinois College of Law in Champaign, Ill., where he writes and teaches about bankruptcy, consumer finance and business law. He also served as the College’s associate dean for research from 2013-16.

Prof. Lawless served as the reporter for the ABI’s Commission on Consumer Bankruptcy and was the recipient of ABI’s Service Award in 2019. He is a co-author of Secured Transactions: A Systems Approach and Empirical Methods in Law. He also is a regular contributor to the blog Credit Slips, a discussion on credit, finance and bankruptcy.

Prof. Lawless has testified before Congress, and his work has been featured in media outlets such as CNN, C-SPAN, NPR, the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, USA Today, the National Law Journal, the L.A. Times and the Financial Times. He received both his undergraduate degree in accounting and his J.D. from the University of Illinois, during which time he served as editor-in-chief of the University of Illinois Law Review.