Dumb and Dumber: A Bankruptcy Stay Story

Elisabeth M. Von Eitzen is a partner with Warner Norcross Judd LLP in Grand Rapids, Mich., where she focuses her practice on real estate development and financial services. She is admitted to practice before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, the U.S. District Courts for the Eastern and Western Districts of Michigan, the Northern and Southern Districts of Illinois, and the Northern and Southern Districts of Indiana.

Ms. Von Eitzen is a member of the American and Federal Bar Associations, the State Bar of Michigan, the Grand Rapids Bar Association and the Kalamazoo Bar Association, and she has been named a Michigan Super Lawyer Rising Star since 2013.

Ms. Von Eitzen received her undergraduate degree with honors from Hope College in 2003 and her J.D. in 2006 with honors from Wayne State University Law School, where she was a member of the Order of the Coif and the national moot court team.

Hon. Beth E. Hanan is a U.S. Bankruptcy Judge for the Eastern District of Wisconsin in Milwaukee and Green Bay, appointed in May 2015. Previously, she was an appellate lawyer and litigator in Wisconsin, and served several terms as managing member of a trial practice boutique, Gass Weber Mullins.

Judge Hanan was chair of the Wisconsin Judicial Council and president of the Milwaukee Bar Association, and she remains a Fellow in the American Academy of Appellate Lawyers. Since joining the bench, she has been the judicial co-chair of ABI’s annual Wedoff Consumer Conference (in 2020 renamed the Consumer Summit) and has served as the bankruptcy representative to the Seventh Circuit Judicial Council (2019-2021). She also chairs the Public Outreach committee of the National Conference of Bankruptcy Judges (NCBJ) and is a member of NCBJ’s International Judicial Relations committee.

Judge Hanan received her undergraduate degree from Marquette University and her J.D. in 1996 from the University of Wisconsin Law School.

Sumner A. Bourne is a partner with Rafool & Bourne, P.C. in Peoria, Ill., where he represents debtors, creditors and trustees on all sides of bankruptcy matters. He also currently serves a subchapter V pool trustee in the Central District of Illinois.

Mr. Bourne is a frequent author and lecturer on bankruptcy issues and has made presentations for ABI, the National Association of Bankruptcy Trustees and the Illinois State Bar Association (ISBA), for which he served as a past chair of its bankruptcy section counsel. He also is a chapter author in the IICLE practice guides on Illinois Business Bankruptcy Law and Illinois Consumer Bankruptcy Law, and he has handled bankruptcy litigation in many Illinois courts including before the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals.

Mr. Bourne received his B.S. from the University of Illinois in 1990 and his J.D. magna cum laude in 1994 from Boston University School of Law.

Kimberly Bedigian is an attorney with Stevenson & Bullock, P.L.C. in Southfield, Mich., where her practice focuses on representing consumer debtors in bankruptcy cases. She has been Board Certified in Consumer Bankruptcy Law by the American Board of Certification since 2004.

Ms. Bedigian is admitted to practice in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan. She is a member of ABI and the Consumer Bankruptcy Association.

Ms. Bedigian received her undergraduate degree from the University of Michigan and her J.D. from the University of Detroit-Mercy.