Happy new year! I am honored to enter my second year as president of this esteemed organization. The cdcbaa remains steadfast in its commitment to provide up-to-date legal education, best practices, and a community for those who strive to help debtors in our district. 

Bankruptcy filings of all chapters in the Central District of California during 2020 were down almost 30% from 2019, to 27,886. This provided time and opportunity for our organization to update its infrastructure, and focus on how we accomplish our goals.

While local and state government stay-at-home Covid-19 pandemic-related orders provided challenges to our mission, the leadership of cdcbaa was up to the task and quickly adapted from in-person MCLE programs to provide online-only Zoom webinars. Thanks to the efforts of our program committee chairs Roksana Moradi-Brovia and M. Jonathan Hayes and our amazing volunteer panelists, we held eight two-hour MCLE  programs, including programs covering the CARES Act and SBRA just after their implementation.

Similarly, many thanks to website committee chair Marcus Tiggs. Due to his stalwart efforts, cdcbaa was able to migrate to a new listserv platform. There were a couple of curveballs, but we again adapted and adjusted, and the result is far better than what we left behind. This new platform enables us to provide the ability to mentor, instruct, teach, and answer and support one another in a community of legal professionals focused on helping people.

The cdcbaa and our membership stepped up and wrote letters in a campaign to our governor urging him to sign AB 1885 for a long-overdue increase to the California homestead exemption, which he did sign, taking effect this month. This will help many of our clients and neighbors stay in their homes during this health and economic crisis, and beyond.

I give my thanks to our entire board of directors - a team that helps serve cdcbaa’s members as you help your clients. Daniela Romero edited this newsletter and will be working on publishing at least one more this year. If you have an idea for an article or want to brief a case, please contact Daniela.

The year ahead looks to be rewarding. In January 2021, Professor Hayes is leading our 15th Annual Ninth Circuit Review program with Judge Neil Bason and BAP Judge William Lafferty, who will discuss and dissect the most important cases in the past year from the Supreme Court, appellate cases in the Ninth Circuit, District Court, and bankruptcy court cases. 

In February 2021, we plan on having two programs: one will be discussing Subchapter V cases one year after implementation. The other will have Chapter 13 Trustee Kathy Dockery’s Lead Counsel Aki Koyama, along with cdcbaa board member and tireless treasurer Jeff Hagen, discussing the changes to the bankruptcy statutes in the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021, signed into law on December 27, 2020. 

Later this year, we have also scheduled a webinar on evidence and bankruptcy law with Judge Barry Russell, who literally wrote the book on the subject. In addition, we have slated two bankruptcy crossover programs: family law and an estate planning program. 

While these programs will all be streamed online as webinars, it is our goal to also meet and present in person at Southwestern Law School again if/when it's allowable, prudent, and safe.

If you haven’t renewed yet, please join or renew your cdcbaa membership. You'll be part of a robust community, and despite the pandemic, we’re not slowing down, but picking up speed and our membership is expected to grow. So whether filings drop again in 2021, stay steady, or we get the much anticipated surge, the cdcbaa is poised to help, educate, support and advocate for the consumer law professionals who assist the debtors who need it most.

Hale Andrew Antico is President of the cdcbaa, and has practiced bankruptcy law in Palmdale and Santa Clarita for over 15 years.