CONFERENCE
SCHEDULE
Bankruptcy Taxation
“Making Insolvency Music under the Tax Cuts and (Accounting) Jobs Act”
During this all day bankruptcy tax program, our panel of insolvency tax experts will assess how the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act will create many planning opportunities and how it will impact insolvent corporations and bankruptcy estates of individuals and pass through entities. We will also explore tax planning and compliance, including paperless filing and wage claims; computing, paying and filing post-petition payroll taxes; the bankruptcy estate’s ability to recover payments to tax authorities; and opportunities and risks created by tax liens, including a 10 year reach back when standing in the shoes of the IRS. Our panel will also provide insights and an overview for filing bankruptcy estate income tax returns, and how to advise clients to minimize taxes under the new tax law.
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Financial Advisors' Toolbox
This all day session is geared towards educating an intermediate practitioner on the skills needed to prepare and analyze a bankruptcy Plan of Reorganization or Liquidation. Throughout the day, discussions will include the need for, and preparation of, various components of the Plan, including the disclosure statement, claim classes, liquidation analysis and feasibility projections. Session topics include Class Determination, Feasibility, Disbursing Agent and Administrative Issues and Concerns, Litigations, and Post-Confirmation Corporate Structure.
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The Healthcare Industry: Problems Impacting Providers
This plenary session offers a panel of professionals and a judge with extensive experience dealing in the healthcare industry, including distressed situations. The panel will discuss the ongoing and new challenges that providers today face including, changes to Obamacare, Qui Tam/Whistleblower Litigation, Consolidation, Alliances/Joint Ventures, Technology Designation.
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Insolvency and Cyber-related Claims: A Brave New World
The panel will discuss potential pre-petition and post-petition cyber-related claims, recoveries and practical considerations for insolvency and restructuring advisors in the brave new world of data security and cybercrime.
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Excursions
"Walk-Eat-Nashville" Food Tour
Don’t miss this walking food tour that offers a taste of the people, places and dishes that make Nashville the new culinary capital of the South. The tour includes 5 tasting stops over 3 hours and a 1.5–mile moderate walk, and behind–the–scenes interactions with chefs and food industry experts. Tasting locations include a mix of restaurants and specialty food shops and each include savory and sweet items. No alcohol is provided as part of the cost of the tour.
East Nashville Tour – East Nashville put Music City on the culinary map, and it continues to wow with an ever–expanding food–and–drink scene two miles across the river from downtown Nashville. Eat like a local at chef–owned restaurants and specialty food shops in this creative, historic neighborhood.
Cost: $125
Sponsored by:
Sporting Clay Shooting with Lunch
This excursion begins with a catered lunch by Jim ‘n Nick’s famous Bar-B-Q at the Nashville Gun Club. After a safety briefing, you’re off with your team for an afternoon of shooting 50 sporting clays targets. Sporting clays shooting is a form of clay pigeon shooting often described as "golf with a shotgun" because a typical course includes from 10 to 20 different shooting stations laid out over natural terrain. No two sporting clays courses are alike, and terrain and background have a lot to do with how targets are presented. Sporting clays courses are designed to simulate the hunting of ducks, pheasants, other upland birds, and even rabbits. Since there is no set season and it can be shot at any time, many hunters shoot sporting clays to further their wingshooting skills during the off-season. This excursion was the most popular last year so reserve your spot now!
Cost: $150
Sponsored by:
iRide Nashville Segway Tour
In the heart of Music City USA, a Segway tour gives you the most unique and relaxing way to enjoy downtown Nashville. Within two and a half hours, you'll learn how to ride a Segway and get a guided tour around the most popular sites in Nashville. On your Segway, you will travel approximately 5 miles through downtown Nashville covering such landmarks as the Schermerhorn Symphony Center, Country Music Hall of Fame, Bridgestone Arena, Fort Nashborough, Bicentennial Mall, Farmer's Market, and the Tennessee State Capitol. We'll even cover some areas that most tours can't get to, because you're on your very own Segway!
Cost: $115
Sponsored by:
Self-guided Tour of The Hermitage
General Jackson welcomed many important visitors to The Hermitage throughout his life. Join AIRA for this tour of Andrew Jackson’s Hermitage – Home of the People’s President – which includes a guided tour of the mansion and a self-guided tour of the gardens, grounds and other historic buildings. Your ticket also provides access to the exhibit gallery and gift store.
Cost: $45
Sponsored by:
Avoidance Actions and Valuations
During this session, the panel will address the recent Supreme Court case, Merit Management Group, LP v. FTI Consulting, Inc The question presented in this case is narrow: does section 546(e) of the Bankruptcy Code prohibit avoidance of a transfer to a financial institution when the financial institution acts only as an agent in receipt of the payment and is not the ultimate beneficiary of the payment? While the issue presented may be narrow, the case may have broader applicability in the context of litigation over failed leveraged buy-outs and whether a bankruptcy trustee will be able to succeed in litigation over the failure. The panelists will address the case from both a transactional and litigation perspective, considering the impact of the case on leveraged transactional structures moving forward. Our distinguished panel includes the lawyer who originally brought the underlying case and argued it up through the 7th Circuit.
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Generation X, Gen Z, Millennials and Baby Boomers: The Sector Wreckers—Demographic Demise of Napkins, Golf, Shopping Malls, and …?
Which generation’s buying habits will create restructuring opportunities in the next decade? Which market sectors will ride the demographic wave to success? Using each generation’s motivations and drivers, this panel will debate the consumption that moves markets and worries municipalities. Our panelists will help you bridge the generation gap between industry winners and losers, and make a few predictions of their own about the source of future business in a generational economy.
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The Art of the Turnaround - Advising the Lender
Advising a Lender prior to or during a restructuring is critical. While some Lenders want to rush in and immediately exercise their rights under the loan agreement, that may not always be the best option. The panel will discuss strategies for advising the Lender with reasonable/multiple options to achieving their maximum return.
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Wage and Other Employment Issues Facing Troubled Companies (SBMM*)
This panel will discuss how wage and hour laws and employment issues can influence or even trigger a bankruptcy filing. State employment laws and employee classifications can significantly hinder an operating company's ability to reorganize and can add additional uncertainty to an already challenging process. The panel will address the impact of these types of claims on the bankruptcy process, including the decision of a company to file a bankruptcy, how these claims are handled by the debtor, jurisdictional issues, the role of a creditors committee, the treatment of these claims in a chapter 11 plan, and the impact on other creditors and case administration. The panel will also touch on industries that are ripe for employment law types of claims and recent pertinent cases.
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The Art of the Turnaround - Advising the Debtor
Advising a Debtor prior to or during a restructuring is critical. While some Debtors want to grasp onto the only remaining authority they have by delaying or ignoring the lenders and/or creditors, this may not always be the best option. The panel will discuss strategies for advising the Debtor with reasonable/multiple options for transparency and working with lenders and/or creditors to achieve the best outcome for the Debtor.
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Valuation of Distressed Closely Held Companies (SBMM*)
This session is designed to give a brief overview of how to value a distressed closely held company. During the session, the panel will cover traditional valuation methods as well as the particular complexities in valuing a closely held and distressed company, including key case law that has addressed valuation in the bankruptcy context.
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Luncheon & Keynote: Unique Challenges of Running a Department of Justice
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Sponsored by:
Healthcare Receiverships: Emerging Issues and Alternative Solutions (SBMM*)
Healthcare workouts are often complex with many competing legal and economic interests involved. Restructuring professionals must employ the right structure to maximize value and recovery for creditors. The structure must address the collection of receivables and licensing issues that can derail a turnaround. This panel will focus on the use of receiverships in healthcare cases and explore the emerging issues in state court receiverships involving multi-state healthcare businesses. The panel will look at federal receiverships as a viable option and discuss when you ultimately need to bear the cost for a chapter 11 bankruptcy filing.
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Best Practices from the Bench, Bar, Boardroom and Bean Counters
This distinguished and experienced panel will bring decades of experience in law, business and finance together to provide a unique perspective of how it all comes together in troubled company environments. From what works and does not work in retaining professionals, all the way to how the court may perceive the professionals and issues during the resolution of a case, this panel will engage in a collaborative discussion giving attendees an exceptional learning experience, plus take home tips and best practices to enhance and grow their career and business.
Speakers:
Please Release Me - Let Me Go!
Releases are an important part of getting deals done in bankruptcy. This panel will discuss recent developments (including the Millennium decision out of Delaware), the current status of the law and differences among jurisdictions in obtaining approval of debtor releases, third-party releases and exculpation provisions in Chapter 11 plans. The panel will also discuss the extent to which releases can be obtained through debtor-in-possession financing orders, 9019 settlements and structured dismissals (post–Jevic).
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Restructuring Companies Dependent on the Federal Government
This panel will explore the nuances of restructuring companies that derive a large portion of its revenues from the federal government. The panelists will share their real-world experiences to discuss restructurings from a regulatory, litigation and financial perspective related to the higher education (both Non-profit and For-profit institutions), mortgage servicing and student loan debt collection sectors.
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Unprecedented Times in the Municipal Market
Historically, the municipal market has enjoyed very few and infrequent governmental defaults, let alone bankruptcies. However, there have been several notable recent governmental bankruptcies and fiscally distressed municipalities are becoming much more commonplace. Market participants and their advisors are increasingly confronting the reality that there are common elements of municipal stress around legacy pension and health care obligations, aging and/or declining populations, post-Great Recession lagging revenue growth, and reductions in federal program funding. The panel will discuss the interplay between legacy obligations and municipal credits, increasing investor preference for dedicated tax revenue credits versus general obligation bonds and how these issues differ from corporate finance practices.
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Restructuring Businesses Impacted by Natural Disasters (SBMM*)
Unfortunately, natural disasters are a part of everyday life. The year 2017 unleashed a wrath of devastating fires, horrific storms and unprecedented flooding that has affected the U.S. and its territories. This panel will discuss the challenges and unique issues inherent when assisting and restructuring businesses impacted by natural disasters. The panel will explore the positives: access to FEMA and SBA loans, and insurance claims, and the negatives: lack of electricity, gasoline, clean water; difficult access to customers and vendors; denial of insurance coverages; public infrastructure that is unusable, and more. This panel will address options to help companies in financial and operational distress, despite often insurmountable hurdles, like access to bankruptcy courts, while providing insight and direction that will help restructuring professionals navigate these challenging situations.
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Dinner at Wildhorse Saloon
Don’t Walk The Line – Dance It!
Don’t miss an evening at the World–Famous Wildhorse Saloon, a live music and dance destination with three floors of action-packed fun! It’s a restaurant, bar, concert site, dance venue and TV studio–all under one roof. More than 1.5 million music lovers stampede through their doors annually to catch the hottest in live entertainment, learn the newest dance steps and dine on their award-winning Southern smokehouse cuisine. The likes of Darius Rucker, Lady Antebellum, Little Big Town, Rascal Flatts, Etta James, Gladys Knight, Heart, Pat Benatar, Foreigner, 38 Special, Rick Springfield, Big & Rich, Ringo Starr and many more have graced their stage.
HERE there’s a strict no–holds-barred–policy, where you have permission to forget the world outside and get lost—IN the music, ON the dance floor, or WITH the taste of award–winning BBQ.
HERE you’ll become part of the show, not just part of the audience. Because HERE there’s little distinction between dance floor and stage door. We’re one of those places where you’re encouraged to dance the line, not walk it.
AIRA will have our own space with hors d’oeuvres, a buffet dinner, open bar and access to the live music and dancing!
Cost: $150
Sponsored by:
Auctions: Law, Tips and the Cutting Edge
Listen to industry leaders give their views on the law and the latest trends in auctions. The program will provide insights and tips on the dos and don'ts of running an auction.
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Recent Developments on Conflicts and Compliance Duties
During this session, our panel will address a number of mini case studies presenting dilemmas insolvency and restructuring practitioners may encounter. These include issues involving multiple party representations and developments related to evolving responsibilities for certain professionals to report non-compliance with laws and regulations.
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*Small Business / Middle Market Session
Cancellation/Refund Policy
Written cancellation for the conference or any social activities, including excursions, must be received by Monday, May 14, 2018 for a full refund, less a $75 cancellation processing fee. No refunds will be made after May 14, 2018 however substitutions will be allowed.
Sponsorship Opportunities
Sponsorship with the AIRA provides exposure and visibility to the decision making experts in the insolvency and restructuring field. To discuss available opportunities contact Cheryl Campbell at (541) 646–9261 or ccampbell@aira.org.
National Registry of CPE Sponsors
"Association of Insolvency and Restructuring Advisors" is registered with the National Association of State Boards of Accountancy (NASBA) as a sponsor of continuing professional education on the National Registry of CPE Sponsors. State boards of accountancy have final authority on the acceptance of individual courses for CPE credit. Complaints regarding registered sponsors may be submitted to the National Registry of CPE Sponsors through its website: www.learningmarket.org.