Widener Law to Host Financial Distress Panel

The Widener University School of Law's Harrisburg, Pa., campus and its student-run Widener Law Journal will host a daylong conference on April 14 that explores municipal financial distress.

"Bankruptcy and Beyond: Solving the Problem of Municipal Financial Distress," scheduled to start at 8 a.m., will feature several panel discussions on the topic.

Detroit in July filed the largest-ever U.S. municipal bankruptcy case. Harrisburg, on the cusp of bankruptcy, has petitioned for an end to its state-sponsored receivership. Overall, 27 Pennsylvania cities are in the Municipalities Financial Recovery Act program known commonly as Act 47.

"This is a financial problem of enormous importance," said Weidner professor Juliet Moringiello, who specializes in bankruptcy law and who is coordinating the program.

Harrisburg receiver William Lynch will be the keynote speaker. His predecessor, attorney David Unkovic, will also talk.

Other speakers include Mark Kaufman of McKenna Long & Aldridge, the lead attorney for the Harrisburg receivership team; Mary France, the federal bankruptcy judge who nullified the Harrisburg City Council's Chapter 9 filing in November 2011; and University of Pennsylvania law professor David Skeel.

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