Accountants, financial consultants and more than 500 attorneys from across the nation will come together at the 36th Annual Seminar on Bankruptcy Laws and Rules - an event led by judges, professors and experienced attorneys.

Presented by the Southeastern Bankruptcy Law Institute, the seminar will be held at the InterContinental Buckhead in Atlanta from March 18 to March 20.

"The seminar will help you keep up to speed on some of the latest trends in the bankruptcy arena," said Robert Williamson, president of the SBLI. "We try to really deliver top educational material. ...We think it provides some of the best content out there."

Rather than focusing on networking opportunities, the seminar relies more heavily on education, Williamson said. The event is designed for attorneys who have already had some experience with bankruptcy law, he added.

"We try to assume a certain level of sophistication," Williamson said, adding that the event was established in 1974 and is one of the oldest bankruptcy seminars in the country.

He said this year's seminar will cover an array of timely topics arising from bankruptcies or receiverships involving Ponzi schemes.

The seminar will also address evidence necessary to prove fraudulent transfers to recovering investors, other causes of action available to recover funds, claim priorities, and claims against professionals for advising or abetting.

Other hot topics will include the past year's big cases, including the Chrysler and General Motors cases; securitization; representing multiple debtors; credit default swaps and "market-to-market" accounting in creating banks "too big to fail"; and the effect of the Troubled Asset Relief Program and Term Asset-Backed Securities Loan Facility in rescuing banks and stimulating lending.

"I think in a lot of ways, the banking system crisis is leading to the loss of jobs," Williamson said. "Businesses aren't able to get leading capital or financing to amp up their business. ...If they can't get the loans to fund them through the (slow) times, they can't grow."

Additionally, he said, the seminar will cover "bread and butter" topics - basic tricks of the trade, handling consumer cases, and trying motions within consumer cases.

Williamson said several prominent professionals will be presenting at the seminar, including Margaret Dee McGarity chief bankruptcy judge for the Eastern District of Wisconsin; Michael Williamson, a bankruptcy judge in the Tampa Division of the Middle District of Florida; and Michael Sabbath, a professor at the Mercer University School of Law since 1978.

Reggie Jackson, a local attorney with Vorys, Sater, Seymour and Pease LLP, will be speaking March 18 about sub rosa plans, including mootness, settlements and sale structures to avoid statutory priorities, successor liability and asbestos issues, and how to structure 363 sales to avoid sub rosa plan challenges.

Jackson will also be speaking in a seminar session dealing with trade creditors in bankruptcy.

The cost to register for the seminar is $795, which includes a cocktail reception for registrants and spouses, two lunches and three breakfast meals. Those interested in registering for the Seminar on Bankruptcy Laws and Rules can do so online at www.sbli-inc.org.