Moderator

Alane A. Becket is a managing partner at Malvern, Pa.-based Becket & Lee LLP, where she specializes in representation of creditors in bankruptcy matters, primarily consumer lenders and debt purchasers. She is admitted to practice in Pennsylvania and New Jersey and has represented creditors and debt purchasers in commercial and bankruptcy matters and Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) defense. Ms. Becket is a member of the Conferences of Chapter 13 Trustees, Bankruptcy Trustees, Consumer Bankers, DBA International, Retail Collection Attorneys and ABI, serving as a contributing editor for the ABI Journal's Consumer Corner and Last in Line columns, editor of ABI's Consumer Committee's electronic newsletter and an advisor to the Consumer Education Center on ABIWorld. She has written and lectured extensively on consumer collection and bankruptcy practices, and, most recently, on the effect of the Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act of 2005 on unsecured creditors. Ms. Becket graduated from Pennsylvania State University and Widener University School of Law.

Speakers

Hon. David Winston Houston III is a U.S. Bankruptcy Judge for the Northern District of Mississippi in Aberdeen. Prior to his appointment, Judge Houston was employed as a special agent with the Federal Bureau of Investigation, was a partner at Houston, Chamberlin and Houston in Aberdeen, was a former assistant district attorney for the First Circuit Court District of Mississippi, and a former municipal judge. He is a member of ABI and previously served on its Board of Directors, and is a member of the Mississippi State and First Judicial District Bar Associations. He is also a Fellow of the Mississippi Bar Foundation Inc. and the American College of Bankruptcy. Additionally, Judge Houston has been a visiting bankruptcy judge in Southern District of Mississippi, Northern, Southern and Western Districts of Texas and the Middle District of Louisiana. He earned his B.B.A. at the University of Mississippi and his J.D. at the University of Mississippi Law School.

Debra L. Miller is the appointed standing chapter 13 bankruptcy trustee for the Northern District of Indiana's Fort Wayne and South Bend Divisions in South Bend, Ind. Prior to her appointment in 2000, she served as the staff attorney for Gary D. Boyn, the chapter 7 panel trustee at Warrick and Boyn LLP in Elkhart, and as a law clerk for the Hon. Sanford Brook. She is active in the National Association of Chapter Thirteen Trustees (NACTT) and serves as treasurer of NACTT's executive board and chair of its Mortgage Liaison Committee. Ms. Miller served as a special agent for the U.S. Secret Service in the Cleveland Field Office, where she specialized in credit card and white collar fraud.

Tara Twomey is of counsel to the National Consumer Law Center in Carmel, Calif., and the Amicus Project Director for the National Association of Consumer Bankruptcy Attorneys. She has also served as a lecturer in law at Stanford Law School, Harvard Law School and Boston College Law School. Ms. Twomey is a former clinical instructor at the Hale and Dorr Legal Services Center of Harvard Law School, where her practice focused in part on sustainable homeownership for low- and moderate-income homeowners, including foreclosure prevention and chapter 13 bankruptcy. Ms. Twomey is a contributing author of several books published by the National Consumer Law Center, including Foreclosures: Defenses, Workouts and Mortgage Servicing. She also contributes to the Collier Bankruptcy Practice Guide. Ms. Twomey earned her J.D. from Boston College Law School summa cum laude and received her undergraduate degree from the University of California, San Diego. After law school, she served as a law clerk for Chief Justice Herbert P. Wilkins of the Massachusetts Supreme Court. Subsequently, she received a two-year Skadden Fellowship to work at the Legal Services Center of Harvard Law School.