How we work
Committees study the questions, the full Conference decides by consensus, and every position goes out on the record.
From a committee’s study to a position on the record.
A position of the National Bankruptcy Conference is not one Conferee’s view, or one committee’s. It is the product of study by the members who know an area of the law best, and of deliberation by the full Conference, which reaches its positions by consensus. Its members represent a broad spectrum of political and economic perspectives, and every position is weighed against the stated goals of the bankruptcy system: debtor rehabilitation, equal treatment of similarly situated creditors, preservation of jobs, prevention of fraud and abuse, and economical insolvency administration.
Positions are not rushed. A committee that has more to learn continues its study and reports back at the next meeting of the Conference, and large questions can take years: the Conference’s Committee to Rethink Chapter 11 began its work in 2009, and the Conference approved the resulting proposal for bond restructurings at its 2014 annual meeting. That deliberate pace governs the Conference’s own positions. Members of Congress and their staffs can still call on its Conferees as non-partisan technical advisors, without regard to any position the Conference may take.
A committee takes up the question
Standing committees study their areas of bankruptcy law; for larger projects the Conference forms a working group.
The full Conference decides
Reports and recommendations come before the Conference at its annual and mid-year meetings, and positions are adopted by consensus.
The position goes on the record
As a letter or testimony to Congress, or as comments on proposed amendments to the Bankruptcy Rules.
Congress, the rulemakers, and the agencies.
The Conference’s positions go wherever bankruptcy law is being made. Each is issued under the Conference’s name and kept in its public archive.
Letters and testimony
Positions on pending legislation for the Judiciary Committees and congressional leaders, and statements for hearings on bankruptcy law.
Read the latestComments on the Bankruptcy Rules
Comments to the federal rules committees on proposed amendments to the Federal Rules of Bankruptcy Procedure.
Read the latestComments on agency rules
Comments to agencies whose rules reach bankruptcy, including the FDIC, the Treasury, and the Department of Education.
Read the latestNine committees, each on its corner of the Code.
Each committee studies its area of bankruptcy law and brings its work to the full Conference. Alongside them sit the Conference’s Executive, Nominating, Membership, Legislation, Drafting, and Communications and External Relations committees.
Avoidance & Claims Litigation
How a trustee recovers value for creditors — preferences, fraudulent transfers, the avoiding powers of §§ 544–550 — and how claims are then allowed, subordinated, and ranked.
Business Debtor, Chapter 11
Chapter 11 for large and complex enterprises: plan confirmation, valuation and priority, releases, and a proposed new chapter 16 for restructuring bonds under court supervision.
Capital Markets
Safe harbors for securities and derivatives, the resolution of failing financial institutions, and a newer question: whether customer crypto belongs to the estate when a platform fails.
Court System & Bankruptcy Administration
Behind every case is a court system. This committee studies what bankruptcy judges may decide after Stern v. Marshall, where corporate cases are filed, and how appeals and the Rules work.
Governmental Units
Public debtors in distress: cities under Chapter 9 and the special-revenue bonds that finance them, Puerto Rico under PROMESA, and the question of a bankruptcy option for States.
Individual Debtor
Bankruptcy for people and families — whether Chapter 7 debtors can afford a lawyer, who qualifies for Chapter 13, and when student loans should be discharged.
International Aspects
Insolvency across borders: how Chapter 15 recognizes foreign proceedings, what a debtor’s center of main interests should mean, and whether U.S. courts should enforce foreign schemes.
Taxation
What the tax code does to a company in trouble — when cancelled debt becomes income, whether net operating losses survive an ownership change, and how tax claims are treated.
UCC & State Law
Secured lending once a debtor files, crypto under the 2022 UCC amendments, and state fraudulent-transfer claims: the ground the Bankruptcy Code shares with state law.
Officers
A Chair, Vice Chair, Treasurer, and Secretary, with the chairs of the Legislation and Drafting Committees.
Membership by invitation
Membership is by invitation only; new Conferees are elected to membership by the Conference.
The Executive Committee
It approves work such as the Conference’s comments on proposed rules, after the committee that drafted them.
Clients left at the door
Conferees are always mindful of their mutual pledge to “leave their clients at the door” in the Conference’s deliberations.
Put the Conference’s process to work.
Members of Congress, committees, and their staffs can ask the Conference for non-partisan technical assistance on bankruptcy law.