The Equipment Leasing and Finance Association announced the agenda for its 2023 Legal Forum and recognized the members who are serving on the 2023 ELFA Legal Committee. The forum will be offered both in-person from May 7 to May 9 in Fort Myers, FL, and virtually at a special discounted virtual rate of $295. Attendees will receive 12 continuing legal education (CLE) credit and one ethics credit.

“Whether you’ve been to every Legal Forum or if this is your first, you won’t want to miss the excellent programming and opportunities to learn and develop with other colleagues from the equipment finance industry,” R. Scott Adams, chair of the Legal Committee at the ELFA, said. “This is a welcoming group that will help newcomers deepen their knowledge and relationships. The amount of change facing our industry continues to compound with respect to regulation and complexity of transactions, and the Legal Forum helps attendees address those challenges together.”

The 2023 Legal Forum will provide attorneys serving the equipment finance industry with critical updates on legal issues, practical takeaways for their daily practices and comprehensive discussions of key market segments. Breakout sessions and roundtables will cover a wide range of hot topics, from UCC filings to clean energy to bankruptcy and more. General sessions will include the popular legal update, as well as focus on Section 1071; ethics; diversity, equity and inclusion; and more. In addition, a variety of networking opportunities and a trivia competition are being planned.

The members of the ELFA’s 2023 Legal Committee who are helping to plan the Legal Forum include:

• Scott Adams, Vice President of Legal and Compliance in North America, Volvo Financial Services (Committee Chair)
• Vincent Borst, Shareholder, Robbins DiMonte
• Jennifer Crastz, Partner, Hemar, Rousso & Heald,
• Jeanette Dannenfelser, Senior Vice President and General Counsel, Summit Funding Group, a First Financial Bank Company (Immediate Past Chair)
• Alexandra Dressman, CLFP, Counsel and Senior/Assistant Vice President, Huntington Equipment Finance
• Julia Gavrilov, Partner, Moritt Hock & Hamroff
• Arlene Gelman, Shareholder, Vedder Price
• Barbara Goodstein, Partner, Mayer Brown
• Robert Hornby, Member of the Firm, Chiesa Shahinian & Giantomasi
• Brian Kestenbaum, Senior Vice President and General Counsel, LEAF Commercial Capital
• Alexis Levine, Partner, Blake, Cassels & Graydon
• Dominic Liberatore, Deputy General Counsel, DLL (Subcommittee Chair)
• David Miele, Esq., Chief Administrative Officer, Citizens Asset Finance, a division of Citizens Bank
• Molly Simon, CLFP, Senior Legal Counsel, DLL
• Mary Ann Stathopoulos, Esq, Senior Corporate Counsel, Cisco Systems Capital