In this episode, Stuart Riback interviews John Coyle, UNC Law School, on the reasons to have a choice of forum clause; how the wording of clause will determine its scope; any restrictions on applicability of applicability of the clause; permissive versus mandatory forum selection; application of forum selection clauses to non-parties; and issues regarding constitutionality of non-party application.

In this episode we introduce the key players in bankruptcy proceedings. Host Ella Vincent and guests Aditi Paranjpye and Laurie Thornton of DBS Law walk you through debtors, creditors, committees, and the U.S. Trustee. We clarify the often-confused distinction between the U.S. Trustee and U.S. Attorney, and explore how case trustees' roles vary between Chapter 7 liquidations and Subchapter V small business cases. Throughout, we explain fiduciary duties and why they matter. This episode is perfect for law students and attorneys seeking to build their bankruptcy knowledge from the ground up! The content of the "Business Bankruptcy Basics" podcast, including any statements made by its hosts or guests, is provided for educational purposes only. This podcast is not intended to be, nor should it be relied upon as, legal advice. Listening to this podcast does not create an attorney-client relationship. The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are solely those of the hosts and guests and do not reflect the positions or opinions of their employers or any organizations with which they may be affiliated. For legal guidance, please consult a qualified attorney.

In this episode of Bad Boys of Bankruptcy, Judge Elizabeth Gunn is joined by Texas-based attorney Amber Carson to dive into the outrageous Chapter 7 saga of Darcy LaPier, a former model and reality TV personality best known for marrying a string of wealthy men, including Jean-Claude Van Damme and the founder of Hawaiian Tropic, and appearing on A&E’s Rodeo Girls. What began as a routine trustee representation turned into a high-stakes hunt for hidden assets and stunning fraud. Amber walks us through the investigation that exposed LaPier’s elaborate attempts to shield millions in luxury assets from creditors. The showstopper was a tip received about a hidden closet in her primary bedroom. This led to a covert, sealed operation with U.S. Marshals, ending in the dramatic recovery of jewelry she claimed didn't exist. The episode covers the legal maneuvers used to uncover and seize assets, the extravagant lifestyle that undercut LaPier’s “no asset” bankruptcy case, and the litigation that ultimately denied LaPier a bankruptcy discharge. It’s a tale of privilege, deception, and the extraordinary lengths trustee’s counsel must go to when fiction overtakes fact in bankruptcy court.

Our speakers will discuss commonly used techniques for impasse breaking in mediation, including but not limited to, bracketing and mediator’s proposal, and will examine when and how to use these tools effectively. Speakers: Noah Hanft, Arbitrator and Mediator at AcumenADR LLC and Jennifer Lupo, Lupo Law, Arbitration & Mediation.

Once upon a time we thought we had privacy. Then came credit cards, which captured the card owner's location and activity with each transaction. Then came the Internet, which made connecting all the dots easy and cheap, and the erosion of privacy accelerated. Large language models, LLMs, like the Generative AI system ChatGPT and its ilk have the potential to make the cost of connecting dots vanishingly small, thus eliminating even the illusion of privacy, especially because large databases are irresistible to LLM developers as training data for their models. In this episode we are fortunate to have as our guest Jane Horvath. Jane is comparatively unique in having earned academic degrees and practiced in both Computer Science and in Law. Before law school, she wrote software that may still be running on the International Space Station. Jane is further distinguished by having served as Apple's Chief Privacy Officer, Google's Global Privacy Counsel, and the DoJ's first Privacy Counsel and Civil Liberties Officer, among other roles.

In a first for the series, this episode of Bad Boys of Bankruptcy explores a decades-long dispute arising in North Carolina that was originally filed as a Chapter XII case under the Bankruptcy Act of 1898. Our host, Judge Elizabeth Gunn (Bankr. D.D.C.), is joined by Judge Joseph N. Callaway (Bankr. E.D.N.C.) and retired Judge J. Rich Leonard (Bankr. E.D.N.C.), who is now the dean of Campbell Law School. In a complicated scheme to defraud their limited partners, George Osserman and his confidant and girlfriend, Zan Galloway, formed an entity which acquired interests in four parcels of real property in North Carolina which were heavily mortgaged. Osserman then formed Tudor Associates Ltd. II, a Nebraska limited partnership, and appointed Galloway as the general partner. Tudor then acquired the properties from Osserman’s other entity, and gave the other entity a note secured by a wraparound deed of trust on all of the properties. In 1977, Tudor filed for bankruptcy under Chapter XII of the Bankruptcy Act of 1898, and in 1979 proposed to sell the properties to an Ohio corporation that, unbeknownst to the bankruptcy court and other parties, was in fact controlled by Osserman. After learning that Osserman in fact controlled the purchaser, Tudor’s limited partners sued in 1983 to set aside the sale on the grounds of fraud. Although Section 511 of the Bankruptcy Act of 1898 and Rule 60(b)(3) meant that the limited partners’ claim was time barred, the bankruptcy court employed a novel theory and avoided one half of the transfer of the notes, totaling $11.6 million, on the grounds of fraud on the court. Judge Callaway recalls the extensive litigation and appeals that were involved in his efforts to collect on this judgment (including a subsequent Chapter 11 case filed by one of the judgment debtors), where he served as the Chapter XII trustee in the Tudor bankruptcy case, and Judge Leonard recounts the novel issues presented in the subsequent Chapter 11 case, including issues related to the bankruptcy court’s “related to” jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1334.

In this episode, Stuart Riback, partner, Wilk Auslander, and John Coyle, UNC Law School, look at the reasons for having a choice of law clause, what cases would look like without one, what the permissible choices are, what sorts of issues the clause can cover, how different kinds of formulations of a clause can affect its scope, special considerations affecting cross-border transactions, and effect of public policy considerations.

The public has been fascinated by the experience of interacting with large language models, or LLMs, like OpenAI's ChatGPT and Google's Gemini. In this episode we will look at current work with LLMs that plays to their strengths and involves a lower risk of inaccurate outputs. In particular we will look at the use of LLMs to translate between languages. Software teams generally operate in their native language. Once they have finished building their system, they often want to make it available in other languages to access other markets. The process of making a program that was originally written for one language usable by people who speak other languages is called internationalization. Historically internationalization has been a slow and expensive process. Today we will be talking with Archie McKenzie, the founder of a Silicon Valley startup that is offering internationalization services to software teams. Archie is atypical in various ways. A Briton, Archie came to the US to study Classics at Princeton. He ventured into a course taught by a famous computer scientist, Brian Kernighan, whose teaching inspired Archie to switch from Ancient Greek and Latin to Java, Python, and Typescript. After graduating from Princeton in 2024, Archie started a company called General Translation to develop and commercialize internationalization automation for software development projects.

Welcome to Business Bankruptcy Basics! In this first episode, we lay the foundation for understanding bankruptcy law. We cover essential concepts every practitioner should know, like balancing the debtor's fresh start and protecting creditor interests. We discuss some of the powerful tools available in bankruptcy proceedings and debunk common myths about the practice area, including why bankruptcy law is far from boring. Perfect for law students and attorneys looking to build their bankruptcy knowledge from the ground up. (The content of the "Business Bankruptcy Basics" podcast, including any statements made by its hosts or guests, is provided for educational purposes only. This podcast is not intended to be, nor should it be relied upon as, legal advice. Listening to this podcast does not create an attorney-client relationship. The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are solely those of the hosts and guests and do not reflect the positions or opinions of their employers or any organizations with which they may be affiliated. For legal guidance, please consult a qualified attorney.)

Host Gary J. Ross discusses the Small Business Investment Company (SBIC) program with Christopher Rossi, a partner at Troutman Pepper. Chris explains how SBICs function as privately managed funds that access SBA-backed leverage. Chris walks listeners through how SBICs are structured, and how SBA-backed leverage can multiply a sponsor’s private capital. He outlines the detailed and technical SBIC licensing process, and the ongoing oversight SBICs face. Chris also explains to Gary that “small business” does not necessarily mean mom-and pop stores. Chris closes by offering practical guidance for lawyers and fund sponsors considering the program.