BankruptcyBill.us

Howdy all you Bankruptcy Bill fans out there!  I’ve been in Austin, TX attending the 28th Annual Jay Westbrook Bankruptcy Conference presented by the University of Texas Law School at the Four Seasons Hotel, and I thought it’d be nice to share a little of what it’s like down here.

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FYI, this cartoon also appears in the Fall 2009 issue of the newsletter for the Bankruptcy Section of the State Bar of Texas along with a nice profile about the Bankruptcy Bill cartoons written by Eric Van Horn, a bankruptcy lawyer with Dallas firm Rochelle McCullough LLP and the writer of the Chapter 8 humor columns in the ABI Journal.  Also, thanks to Judge Alan S. Trust of the Eastern District of New York for his article in the Summer 2009 issue of the Bankruptcy Section newsletter (”Robes Without Stripes”) which provided helpful cultural background for the cartoon.

Highlights of the conference included:

1. Learning that both Professor Jay Westbrook and Judge Keith Lundin both have extensive collection of bankruptcy-related cartoons, and that both Texas and Tennesse have had bands comprised of musical bankruptcy judges who like to write and play bankruptcy-related songs.
2. Judge Lundin’s monogrammed bowling shirt with “High on BAPCPA” on the back.
3. A spirited discussion between Hugh Ray (McKool Smith) and Bruce Grohsgal (Pachulski Stang Ziehl & Jones) on the topic of “Who’s Really in Charge Here?  Reorganizations in the Shadow of Chrysler and GM.”
4. Learning that Byrnie Bass’ son Brett is a professional bass player and that he not only has played with Enrique Iglesias but currently plays in a band with former Spin Doctors lead singer–and my high school classmate–Chris Barron.  (Here’s an article about Brett from Lubbockonline.com.)
5. Cartoon brainstorming with Andrew Eckerman (Conway Mackenzie, Inc.), Melissa Hayward (Franklin Skierski Lovall Hayward), Jesse Moore (Hunton & Williams), Ian Roberts (Baker Botts), Tim Million (Munsch Hardt Kopf & Harr) and Eric Van Horn (Rochelle McCullough).
6. Jogging around the lake and arriving at the Congress Avenue Bridge just in time to see the largest urban bat colony pour out for its evening activities.
7. Hearing Evelyn Biery (Fulbright & Jaworski) recount her role as Anna Nicole Smith for a previous bankruptcy conference musical send-up.
8. An in depth discussion of organic farming with Joe Martinec and Weldon Ponder.
9. The Third Annual Westbrook Bankruptcy Conference Cocktail Reception at Austin hotspot Lanai, hosted by the Young Lawyers Committee of the Bankruptcy Section of the State Bar of Texas.  (Thanks to Jay Ong (Munsch Hardt Kopf & Harr), Layla Milligan (Staff attorney for Chapter 13 Trustee) and Eric Van Horn (Rochelle McCullough) for organizing!)
   

   "Ain't that Texas cookin' good!"

10. Obtaining valuable advice from Brian Abramson (Diamond McCarthy) on the topic of sleep training for infants.
11. Barbecue from Stubbs, Iron Works and (at the airport) Salt Lick.  (Thanks to Guy Clark for the inspiration!)
12. Keeping Austin Weird.
13. Having a chance to meet so many wonderful folks on my first-ever visit to the Great State of Texas.  The conference had an extremely friendly and collegial atmosphere, and everyone from associates to partners to judges were accessible and enjoyable to meet.

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*To see more of Gideon Kendall’s work go to www.gideonkendall.com.  Or order yourself a copy of Dino Pets, the wonderfully illustrated children’s book written by Lynn Plourde and illustrated by BAPCPA Man’s favorite illustrator, Gideon Kendall.

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Bankruptcy Billables is an overview of bankruptcy-relevant coverage and discussion from various law-related blogs.

Law Shucks

• links for 2009-08-22 – Mentions Bankruptcy Bill #19 – Law firm raids)
• This Week in Layoffs – 8/21/09
• Reading List for Deal Lawyers – Includes excellent summary of Eat What You Kill by Milt Regan.  (Eat What You Kill is also one of the books in Bankruptcy Bill’s Summer Reading List.)

Point of Law

• Will Number 25 Be The Charm? – S. Todd Brown reviews and analyzes the latest developments in the seemingly endless Congoleum asbestos bankruptcy case.

WSJ Bankruptcy Beat

• Can You Pay My Bills?
• Coyotes Hometown Seeks to Block Gretzky Claim
• Recession Scares Morbid Industries Into Liquidation
• Forget Speidi; Meet Markus and Indrani
• Where’s Schwarzenegger When You Need Him?
• Lucky Dog: Dykstra Values Pooch at $10,000

Creditslips.org

Going Concern

• Preliminary Analytics | 08.26.09 – Madoff & JP Morgan; Colonial Bank-ruptcy; U.S. Postal Service job cuts

Above The Law

• All the News That’s Fit to Recycle (NYT reports: ‘Legal job market is hard!’)
• How to Avoid Getting Fired (very funny video)
• Fall Recruiting Open Thread: Vault 6-10 (2010)
• The Mainstream Media Is Aware That Law Firms Exist, Right? – Commentary on the lack of media attention for the role that law firms played in enabling the global financial crisis.

Note:  If you are viewing this site using Internet Explorer, you may not be able to view items in the sidebar.  Clicking on any page or post will cause sidebar items to appear.

*Update: In bankruptcy news today,  Michael Foreman has joined Haynes & Boones‘ New York office.  He was previously at Dorsey & Whitney.

*If you like what you see and want to support us, you can do it via sponsorship/advertising/syndication/other as well as by simply making a donation in any amount via PayPal.

*Click here to see all of the Bankruptcy Bill cartoons and here to see cartoons related to “law firms.”

*To see more of Gideon Kendall’s work go to www.gideonkendall.com and gideonkendall.squarespace.com/journal.  Or order yourself a copy of Dino Pets, the wonderfully illustrated children’s book written by Lynn Plourde and illustrated by BAPCPA Man’s favorite illustrator, Gideon Kendall.

p.s.  Regarding copyright issues, our legal counsel, IP Aileen, says:  “Other bloggers/websites/publications:  You are more than welcome to post Strip #19 – Law Firm Raids on your sites as long as you also include all of the text, links and images in this post, including this paragraph.  If you fail to respect our wishes, we’ll send you back to Kirkland’s restructuring group (Chicago office).”

Bankruptcy Billables is an overview of bankruptcy-relevant coverage and discussion from various law-related blogs.

Point of Law

• Cramdown still lurking
• Systemic Indifference (S. Todd Brown comments on reckless and indifferent collection practices of mortgage companies cited in a Huffington Post piece by Karen Weise.  Ties commentary into accuracy of claims process in bankruptcy cases, particularly asbestos cases.)

WSJ Bankruptcy Beat

• Lawyer aims to bring “Fiegenomics” to Washington (Bankruptcy lawyer Tom Fiegen to challenge Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley for his seat.)

Creditslips.org

• Thanks to Max
• Private Tax Collection
• The Lack of Evidentiary Foundations Fosters Fraud
• Show Me the Original Note and I Will Show You the Money
• The Alphabet Problem and the Pooling and Servicing Agreements
• Does a Tarnished Credit Report Equal an Untrustworthy Employee?
• How Much Credit Card Debt Do Bankrupt Consumers Have?
• What Does RESPA Have to do with Consumer Bankruptcy Cases?
• Countrywide Sanctioned by Ohio Court Citing Porter & Twomey
• HAMP–Is It Really All About the Money?
• The Consumer Financial Protection Agency
• Truth in Lending or Truth in Ownership of Residential Mortgage Notes
• The Problem with Houston
• Greetings to Max Gardner
• Remote Deposit Capture (RDC) iPhone App

Going Concern

• Huron Consulting Beats the Numbers, Cooked Books and a Bunch of Other Shadiness Notwithstanding
• Bank Failures by the Numbers
• Hammer Wants Everyone to Know That the IRS Can’t Touch This

Above The Law

• $40 Million Benchslap for Weil Gotshal (relates to IP and litigation, but anything about Weil Gotshal is bankruptcy relevant from Bankruptcy Bill’s perspective)
• How Well-Endowed Is Bernie Madoff?
• Official New Vault Rankings (Weil Gotshal moves up to #6)
• Morning Docket 08.18.09 (Why has there been no litigation surge in the recession?)
• Non-Sequiturs: 08.17.09 (Link to another legal cartoon site:  Courtoons–Daily Legal Cartoons.  By David Mills)
• Bad News for the Brothers Madoff?
• Morning Docket 08.17.09 (Programmers figure out a way to hack PACER to be able to access public court docs without having to pay for them.)

NYLawyer.com (free registration required)

• Laughing All the Way to the Bankruptcy: NY Firm Passes $100 Million in Fees in Lehman Disaster
• Zombie Firm Loses Bid to Set Aside NY Default Judgment

Law Shucks

• Layoffs in the Vault 25
• This Week in Layoffs – 8/14/09

Did we miss a good recent bankruptcy-related post on another blog?  E-mail bill [at] bankruptcybill [dot] us to let us know.

(To see more of Gideon Kendall’s work go to www.gideonkendall.com and gideonkendall.squarespace.com/journal.)

While Struck is not likely to win any awards for his pro bono bankruptcy service, here are some law firms and lawyers who have:

• George Cauthen of the firm Nelson Mullins in Columbia, SC won the Richland Sertoma Club Service to Mankind Award for his pro bono work in bankruptcy and other areas of law.

• New York State Bar Association 2009 President’s Pro Bono Service Award Winners
  • Kim Zinke (2nd Judicial District: Kings County)- Brooklyn Bar Association Volunteer Lawyers Project
  • Thomas Miller (6th Judicial District: Broome, Chemung, Chenango, Cortland, Delaware, Madison, Otsego, Schuyler, Tioga, Tompkins counties) – Law Office of Thomas Miller, Binghamton
  • Barbara R. Ridall (8th Judicial District: Allegany, Cattaraugus, Chautauqua, Erie, Genesee, Niagara, Orleans, Wyoming counties) – Bulan Chiari Horwtiz & Ilecki, LLP, Buffalo
  • Simon Haysom (9th Judicial District: Dutchess, Orange, Putnam, Rockland, Westchester counties) – Simon Haysom LLC, Goshen
  • Hon. Robert J. Nicholson (Senior Lawyer), Oswego
  • Syracuse University College of Law Pro Bono Bankruptcy Practice Group (Law School Group), Syracuse

• Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP was recognized by the American Bar Association on August 3, 2009, for developing an innovative pro bono policy which requested that every lawyer in the firm perform 50 hours of pro bono work, every partner and counsel take or supervise at least one pro bono matter, and every new lawyer work on at least one pro bono matter.

If you know of someone else who deserves a mention for their pro bono bankruptcy work, feel free to post a comment about them.

p.s.  Regarding copyright issues, our legal counsel, IP Aileen, says:  “Other bloggers/websites/publications:  You are more than welcome to post Strip #18 – Pro Bono on your sites as long as you also include all of the text, links and images in this post, including this paragraph.  If you fail to respect our wishes, we’ll make you work for Weil Gotshal on an entirely pro bono basis.”

*Note: For those unfamiliar with the bagel reference, you can find the explanation in this NY Post article along with some additional modern bankruptcy cultural history in this NY Observer article.

A reminder that we are always open to STR.I.P. Financing to help us continue to publish future strips of Bankruptcy Bill (ideally with more frequency).  Please contact us to discuss sponsorship.  And thanks to everyone who has purchased a bit of merchandise.

• “Facebook #1”
  
  • Posters – now available for purchase at http://www.zazzle.com/facebook_1_poster-228322404522388807
  • Mugs – now available for purchase at http://www.zazzle.com/facebook_1_mug-168057205980340215




• To receive updates for new postings: E-mail bill@bankruptcybill.us with the word “update” in the subject field, or get the RSS feed.

• Here are links to see more of Gideon Kendall’s creative artwork as well as his Sketch Journal and a recent profile of Gideon in the Kensington Brooklyn Blog.

Thanks!

-Bill & Struck

p.s.  Regarding copyright issues, our legal counsel, IP Aileen, says:  “Other bloggers/websites/publications:  You are more than welcome to post Strip #12 on your sites as long as you also include all of the text, links and images in this post, including this paragraph.  If you don’t, then we’ll purchase all of your personal information from the Facebook Leviathan and publish our own list of 25 things about you.”

A reminder that we still are seeking STR.I.P. Financing so that we can continue to publish future strips of Bankruptcy Bill (and preferably with more frequency).  Please contact us to discuss sponsorship.  And thanks to everyone who has purchased some merchandise.

• “Organic Bankruptcy”
  
  • Posters – now available for purchase at http://www.zazzle.com/organic_bankruptcy_poster-228436080470459990
  • Mugs – now available for purchase at http://www.zazzle.com/organic_bankruptcy_mug-168854911088962234




• To receive updates for new postings: E-mail bill@bankruptcybill.us with the word “update” in the subject field, or get the RSS feed.

• Here are links to see more of Gideon Kendall’s creative artwork as well as his Sketch Journal and a recent profile of Gideon in the Kensington Brooklyn Blog.

Thanks!

-Bill & Struck

p.s.  Regarding copyright issues, our legal counsel, IP Aileen, says:  “Other bloggers/websites/publications:  You are more than welcome to post Strip #10 on your sites as long as you also include all of the text, links and images in this post, including this paragraph.  If you don’t, then we’ll find you and feed you to a flock of free range chickens.”

Bankruptcy Wave posters now available at:

http://www.zazzle.com/poster_bankruptcy_surfing_print-228883731818165270