FITTING “INN” WITH THE ABAIC
EB is delighted to have two bright interns working with us this spring! Saahithi Sreekantham and Ashley Kim are seniors at Basis Chandler High School and are interning at Engelman Berger learning about litigation, bankruptcy, and client services. As part of their work here, we asked them to report on the affiliation between one of our associate attorneys and the ABIC.
By Saahithi Sreekantham & Ashley Kim
Celeste Tabares is an accomplished attorney at Engelman Berger PC, and is part of the Creditor's Rights and Litigation groups. In 2017, she graduated from Northern Arizona University with a B.A. in Politics, Philosophy, and Law, and graduated from the University of San Francisco School of Law in 2020. This short piece will dive into her current work with the Arizona Bankruptcy American Inn of Court (ABAIC), a professional organization through which attorneys, judges, legal educators, law students, and other legal professionals can network with various legal actors in the system, expand their expertise in the field of bankruptcy, and build their knowledge of modern bankruptcy issues.
Celeste Tabares: Fostering Excellence in the Legal Community
The ABAIC’s mission is to foster connections between the attorneys, legal educators, and law students whom they select. According to Ms. Tabares, “once selected, [applicants] are put into groups with whom they learn about new issues and current events.” From there, these groups are given choices from specific topics to learn and present about at monthly meetings, which are accompanied by a sit-down dinner. “[ABAIC] provides significant interaction and engagement with other members of the community, and even opportunities to work with bankruptcy judges,” Ms. Tabares explains. “It’s been instrumental to me in meeting and networking with other people face-to-face.”
In Ms. Tabares’s second year with the ABAIC, she has put together various presentations on modern bankruptcy issues. This year, her group presented on the relation of federal and state exemptions to Proposition 209. Proposition 209 amended Arizona statutes pertaining to exemptions and debt collection practices. “Essentially, creditors can garnish [a debtor’s] wages or bank account, and use court orders to [obtain these funds],” she explains. “Some states enact ‘exemptions’ to protect debtors and allow them to keep a certain amount of money allowing debtors to maintain essential property. Using a Let’s Make a Deal presentation game show format, Ms. Tabares and her group presented on the relationship between federal and state exemptions, as well as the status of Proposition 209. “This topic affects everyone,” Ms. Tabares reasons. “No one is immune to it, because it impacts the likelihood of people giving out loans. Everyday people, consumers, banks, and businesses are all having to reconsider their debt collection practices.”
WHAT IS THE ARIZONA BANKRUPTCY AMERICAN INN OF COURT (ABAIC)?
ABAIC is an organization dedicated to connecting legal actors in the bankruptcy field through in-person networking and collaborative projects. Ms. Tabares’s experience and work with it displays the importance of this mission to lawyers in every related practice.
