Decide or Decline? Bankruptcy Court Jurisdiction: When Does It Start — And When Does It End?
Thursday, October 8th, 2026 – 11:45 AM – 12:45 PM
Moderator:
Hon. Scott Clarkson
Speakers:
Hon. Karen B. Owens
Chris D. Hampson
Anup Sathy
Description:
This audience interactive panel will explore numerous factual circumstances surrounding when a bankruptcy court should or must step back from adjudicating matters. The panelists – spanning the bench, the bar, and the academy – will discuss lack of jurisdiction, mandatory and permissive abstention, remand of removed proceedings, transfer of cases under FRBP 1412, and retention of jurisdiction after plan confirmation. The audience will vote on what the court should or must do in a wide range of circumstances.
Bios:
Judge Scott C. Clarkson has served as a United States Bankruptcy Judge for the Central District of California since January 20, 2011. His undergraduate degree is from Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana and his J.D. degree is from George Mason University School of Law, Arlington, Virginia. He has been a member of the California, Commonwealth of Virginia and District of Columbia bars, was admitted to the 4th Circuit and 9th Circuit Court of Appeals and remains a member of the bar of the United States Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces.
Chief Judge Karen B. Owens was appointed United States Bankruptcy Judge for the District of Delaware in 2019. She is responsible for overseeing complex commercial bankruptcy cases and related litigation.
Professor Hampson is an award-winning scholar of bankruptcy, insolvency, and the ethics of debt at the University of Florida Levin College of Law. His research focuses on how legal institutions can best serve our shared values during times of financial distress. He has written on a wide range of topics, from social enterprises and small businesses to debtors’ prisons and harsh debt collection practices.
Anup Sathy is an internationally recognized practitioner who advises companies, boards, investors, sponsors and lenders on balance sheet and capital structure solutions, workouts and corporate restructurings, including liability management transactions, refinancings, exchanges, out-of-court restructurings and court-supervised reorganizations. Over a career that spans more than 30 years, Anup has been involved in many of the country’s largest and most complicated transactions and has restructured well over $100 billion of debt obligations across virtually every industry and business segment.