ABI Podcast

Did BAPCPA Cause the Foreclosure Crisis ABI Executive Director Samuel J. Gerdano talks with Dr. Donald Morgan, Research Officer at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, about the latter's research arguing that BAPCPA shifted risk from credit card lenders to mortgage lenders, partially helping to trigger the surge in home foreclosures. The conclusions of Morgan and his colleagues echo earlier findi...

Interview with NACBAs President Carey Ebert ABI Deputy Executive Director Felicia S. Turner talks with Carey Ebert, the current president of the National Association of Consumer Bankruptcy Attorneys (NACBA) and a partner with Ebert Law Offices, P.C. in Forth Worth, Texas. A consumer and small business bankruptcy practitioner for over 20 years, Carey discusses NACBA's 2009 agenda as well as propose...

Examining the Effects of the Economic Crisis on Higher Education ABI Executive Director Samuel J. Gerdano talks with Dr. Karen Gross, the president of Southern Vermont College (Bennington, Vt.). A former bankruptcy law professor at New York University Law School, Gross is also the founder and former president of the Coalition for Consumer Bankruptcy Debtor Education. Providing her unique perspecti...

ABI Interview with Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney on the Credit Cardholders Bill of Rights The latest ABI podcast features a discussion between ABI Executive Director Samuel J. Gerdano and Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.) about legislation that Maloney is sponsoring titled the Credit Cardholders' Bill of Rights Act. H.R. 627 would prohibit issuers from raising rates on existing balances retroactively,...

Scholars Rethink the Government Muscular Role in Chrysler Bankruptcy The latest ABI podcast features a discussion between ABI Executive Director Samuel J. Gerdano and a panel of bankruptcy scholars examining the government's role in Chrysler and what it suggests about the coming GM bankruptcy. Profs. Mark Roe of Harvard Law School, David Skeel of the University of Pennsylvania Law School and Todd...

Dr. Robert Manning on the New Credit Card Law The latest ABI podcast features a discussion between ABI Executive Director Samuel J. Gerdano and Dr. Robert Manning, the Director of the Center for Consumer Financial Services at Rochester Institute of Technology, author of Credit Card Nation and founder of the Responsible Debt Relief Institute. One of the leading experts on household debt, spending a...

Equity Stripping Led to Foreclosures According to New California Study A new study of more than 4,000 California foreclosures suggests that borrower behavior, such as equity stripping and multiple liens, is a principal culprit, even more than market forces. Prof. Michael LaCour-Little of California State University-Fullerton, discusses his findings in a podcast with ABI Executive Director Sam Gerd...

Securitization Not to Blame for Servicer Reluctance to Modify Mortgages A new study by Federal Reserve researchers found that government initiatives to stem the country's mounting foreclosures are hampered because banks and other lenders in many cases have more financial incentive to let borrowers lose their homes than to work out settlements. ABI Executive Director Sam Gerdano discusses the study...

Americas Addiction to Debt As high levels of household debt look to push over 1.4 million Americans into bankruptcy in 2009, ABI Executive Director Sam Gerdano discusses consumer addiction to debt with Dr. Charles Geisst, the author of the recently published Collateral Damaged: The Marketing of Consumer Debt to America. Professor of finance at Manhattan College and author of seventeen books, Dr. G...

A Preview Of Chapter 11 At The Crossroads ABIs Legislative Symposium In November Providing a preview of ABI's upcoming Legislative Symposium to examine the future of corporate restructurings on a policy level, ABI Executive Director Sam Gerdano speaks with the architect of the event, ABI President Bob Keach of Bernstein, Shur, Sawyer & Nelson PA (Portland, Maine). The Chapter 11 at the Crossroads:...

Examining the Intersection of Bankruptcy Law and Sports Franchise Rules As the Phoenix Coyotes recently emerged from bankruptcy ABI Executive Director Sam Gerdano discusses some of the unique aspects of the case with the Coyotes lead attorney Thomas J. Salerno of Squire, Sanders & Dempsey LLP. With Bankruptcy Judge Redfield Baum's approval of the Coyotes' sale to the NHL on Nov. 2, Salerno talks a...

Economic Lessons for Today from the Great Depression The newest ABI podcast is a conversation with economic historian and Bloomberg columnist Amity Shlaes, author of the best-selling book, The Forgotten Man: A New History of the Great Depression. Shlaes discusses the parallels between FDR's economic policies and the current administration, each reacting to crises of historic proportions. Shlaes wa...

Discussion on Proposed Bankruptcy Rules Changes with Judge Eugene Wedoff The latest ABI podcast features a conversation between ABI Executive Director Sam Gerdano and Bankruptcy Judge Eugene Wedoff (N.D. Ill.), a member of the Bankruptcy Rules Committee, discussing the rules process and some of the rationale for the important new proposals affecting Rules 2019, 3001 and 3002. The comment period fo...

Further Discussion On Proposed Changes To Bankruptcy Rule 3001 The latest ABI podcast features a conversation between ABI Executive Director Sam Gerdano and Alane Becket of Becket & Lee LLP discussing the some of the rationale for the important new proposals affecting Bankruptcy Rule 3001, such as why the Bankruptcy Rules Committee proposed it and the effect the proposal would have on creditors su...

Examining Small Business Financial Distress The latest ABI Podcast is a conversation between ABI Resident Scholar Juliet Moringiello and Prof. Robert Lawless of the University of Illinois School of Law discussing Lawless' research on small business owners in bankruptcy and the implications of his findings for bankruptcy policy.

Can Chapter 11 Work for Large Financial Firms The latest ABI Podcast is a conversation between ABI Resident Scholar Juliet Moringiello and Prof. Stephen Lubben of Seton Hall University School of Law discussing the use of Chapter 11 to deal with the failure of systemically significant financial institutions.

Why Walkaway Defaults are Growing The latest ABI podcast examines the growth in the 'walkaway' phenomena, as underwater home borrowers simply give up on paying their mortgage, even in so-called recourse states. Executive Director Sam Gerdano discusses the rise in 'strategic default' with California-based lender Richard Zahm and why it's here to stay.

The Critical Role of Private Equity ABI Executive Director Samuel G. Gerdano talks with Peter S. Kaufman and Henry F. Owsley, the co-founders of the Gordian Group LLC, an investment bank specializing in distressed investments. Kaufman and Owsley discuss some of the current challenges for private equity firms looking to invest in distressed companies during the current economic downturn.

Chapter 9 Experts Discussing Municipal Distress The latest ABI Podcast features a panel discussion led by ABI Resident Scholar Prof. Juliet Moringiello and Patrick Darby of Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP, Daniel Egan of DLA Piper LLP, Marc Levinson of Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP and George South of DLA Piper LLP to discuss municipal distress. As four of the five authors of Municipalities...

Reforming Small Business Bankruptcy The latest ABI Podcast is a conversation between ABI Resident Scholar Juliet Moringiello and Melissa Jacoby, the George R. Ward Prof. of Law at the University of North Carolina School of Law, discussing potential reforms to small business bankruptcy. Prof. Jacoby discusses why chapter 11 is a difficult fit for many financially distressed small businesses and som...

Beware Labor Law Traps When Restructuring a Workforce Prominent management-side labor lawyer Mark DeBernardo (Jackson Lewis; Washington) provides tips for restructuring professionals needing effective and legally sound ways to downsize a workforce. He identifies the most common and costly mistakes made by employers in implementing layoffs and describes the evidence needed to make a business justif...

Examination of the Poverty Business ABI Executive Director Sam Gerdano talks with Gary Rivlin, the author of BROKE, USA: From Pawnshops to Poverty, Inc. – How the Working Poor Became Big Business. Rivlin's book features his research into the 'poverty business,' examining how payday lenders, check cashers and other subprime lenders target those consumers that are most economically susceptible to fi...

Foreclosures Rise Despite Govt Programs The massive Wall Street and Consumer Protection Act is billed as Washington's solution to prevent a recurring financial meltdown. But the law doesn't do much to address the housing finance nightmare at the root of the weak economy. In the latest ABI Podcast, Executive Director Sam Gerdano discusses what's next for the mortgage industry with Gibran Nicholas,...

Examining Distress in the Commercial Real Estate Market With $1.4 trillion in commercial property loans coming due over the next four years, lenders are expected to face overwhelming demand to refinance existing borrowings. ABI's Executive Director Sam Gerdano talks with Paul Melville and Sandy Reese, both principals in Grant Thornton LLP's Corporate Advisory & Restructuring Services and authors o...

Does Debtor Financial Education Matter ABI Resident Scholar Laura Bartell (Wayne State University Law School) visits with Prof. Katherine Porter (University of Iowa College of Law) and Prof. Deborah Thorne (Ohio University) about their recent empirical study concerning debtors' perception of the financial management course requirement mandated by BAPCPA. The study found that while many debtors exp...