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Annual Meeting and Induction Ceremony As you know by now, this year’s Induction Ceremony will see a return to the hallowed halls of the U.S. Supreme Court Building. Dennis Archer, Past President of the American Bar Association, former Mayor of Detroit and Justice of the Michigan Supreme Court, will be the keynote speaker at that event. We have an array of outstanding educational programs and meetings also scheduled. Hon. Ralph Mabey will receive the Distinguished Service Award at the all-Fellows luncheon on March 28. It is not too late to register via the College website: www.amercolbankruptcy.org. – Shari Bedker Thank You to Our Patrons and Sponsors Our members and their firms have really stepped up to the plate this year. Our fundraising efforts will generate about $260,000, significantly more than the previous record. This is a clear demonstration of the commitment that our members have to supporting the College’s activities, and, most importantly, it will help us to expand our educational and pro bono priorities. Thank you to all for your generosity. – Dave Heiman – Paul Singer Circuit/Regional Meetings As you know, the Circuits meet separately at each of our Annual Meetings, with the objective of encouraging more regional participation. But we also encourage regional get-togethers between Annual Meetings. The 1st Circuit has already had theirs this year with a great turnout in Boston on January 24. The 5th and 11th Circuits had a spectacular weekend together in New Orleans on February 6 and 7. Evelyn Biery has pulled together a special dinner in conjunction with the VALCON conference in Las Vegas on February 25. The dinner will be at the Mandalay Bay. Contact Evelyn at ebiery@fulbright.com if you would like to attend. Each of the Circuits will also meet over lunch in Washington on March 27. We hope you will join your Circuits then and at other events during the year. – Bill Cohen Bankruptcy and the Supreme Court The long-awaited comprehensive, historical review of bankruptcy decisions in the U.S. Supreme Court, authored by Fellow Ken Klee, will be distributed to each Fellow without charge within the next few weeks. The College is proud to sponsor this extraordinary piece of work and proud of Ken for producing it. I am sure you will find it to be a valuable addition to your own libraries. Even better and not to be missed, Ken will be covering highlights of the book at our Education Session on March 28 in Washington. – Dave Heiman International Bankruptcy Course The College-sponsored International Bankruptcy Course, led by Prof. David Epstein, is now in full swing with live lectures at NYU and classroom video links to students at Berkeley, Brooklyn, Emory, Penn, Tulane and Utah. In its second year, the course now has more than 100 participants. To our knowledge, it is the only program of its kind. We expect its popularity to grow even more as multi-national businesses experience financial distress. Fellows may obtain the password and instructions to access the archives of the actual lectures and the materials by notifying Shari Bedker at sbedker@amercol.org – Sally Neely Judge’s Outreach The number of judges among our ranks has consistently grown, so that we now have 83 Judicial Fellows. As a result, the Board determined last year to explore ways to encourage broader participation by Judges in the activities of the College. It formed a committee and set aside funds to that end, and the initiative appears to be gaining traction. We expect a large number of Judges to attend the March meetings in Washington. A special meeting for Judges will be held on March 28, 8-9 a.m. in the Rhode Island Room. – Barbara Houser
New Fellows We will be inducting 33 new Fellows to the College in March. It is not too early to begin thinking of nominees for the 21st Class. So if you are aware of a good candidate, please contact your Regent to get the ball rolling. – Paul M. Singer 
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