The Honorable James F. Queenan, Jr. Seaside Chat

Professor Margaret Howard is the Law Alumni Association Professor of Law Emerita at Washington & Lee University School of Law in Virginia.

Mr. Mikels has extensive experience in commercial law, workouts, and reorganizations. He is known for representing significant debtor companies (both in chapter 11 and in out-of-court workouts), but also represents creditors' committees, boards of directors, insurance companies, hedge funds, claims traders, and acquirers of businesses.

Mr. Mikels is an adjunct professor at Boston University School of Law and has been listed in Chambers USA since 2003, Best Lawyers in America since 1983, and Massachusetts Super Lawyers since 2004. Best Lawyers named him Bankruptcy and Creditor-Debtor Rights Lawyer of the Year in 2010 and Bankruptcy Lawyer of the Year in 2013. In 2004, Boston University awarded Mr. Mikels the Silver Shingle Award for Distinguished Service to the School of Law. He also holds an AV Preeminent Peer Rating, Martindale-Hubbell's highest rating for ethical standards and legal ability. He has been ranked as a "star performer" in Chambers for Massachusetts from 2008 through 2016, and is currently listed in New York and nationally.

Hon. Bruce A. Harwood is Chief U.S. Bankruptcy Judge for the District of New Hampshire in Manchester, first appointed in March 2013. He also serves on the First Circuit’s Bankruptcy Appellate Panel.

Prior to his appointment, Judge Harwood chaired the Bankruptcy, Insolvency and Creditors’ Rights Group at Sheehan Phinney Bass Green in Manchester, N.H., representing business debtors, asset-purchasers, secured and unsecured creditors, creditors’ committees, trustees in bankruptcy, and insurance and banking regulators in connection with the rehabilitation and liquidation of insolvent insurers and trust companies. He was also a chapter 7 panel trustee in the District of New Hampshire and mediated disputes arising in debtor/creditor relations. Judge Harwood was program co-chair of ABI’s Northeast Bankruptcy Conference for four years, served on ABI’s Board of Directors (Communication, Information and Technology Committee) and was Northeast Regional Chair of the ABI Endowment Fund’s Development Committee. He is a Fellow in the American College of Bankruptcy and was consistently recognized in the bankruptcy law section of The Best Lawyers in America and in New England Super Lawyers, as well as in Chambers USA with a “Band 1” ranking in the field of corporate/commercial bankruptcy.

Judge Harwood received his B.A. from Northwestern University and his J.D. from Washington University School of Law.