No CLE

What is consent, and how do you infer consent? This panel will discuss jurisdictional issues with third-party releases, as well as recent cases (Millennium Health, Gawker, SunEdison).

Towards a Eurocentric Model Law by the International Insolvency Institute

This panel will consider how to plan for and resolve disputes in family businesses/closely held partnerships/limited liability companies when there is a deadlock or unplanned event. What happens when the business is in financial distress, senior management suddenly dies, or ownership/management are in disagreement on the next steps for the business? The panelists will debate from various perspectives how best to navigate the corporate form to keep a good business model as a going concern. Issues may arise when the company’s president dies/walks away without a succession plan. How can the company continue? What about where the entity is a single-purpose one and commencing bankruptcy requires unanimity — are there fiduciary duties to consider? Different factual scenarios will be explored from the perspective of both secured lenders and company counsel, ranging from governance issues to enforcement issues (e.g., no succession plan, deadlocks on voting, no life insurance on president, and lender’s collateral). The panel will focus on considerations on voting, transactional and other governance issues both in and out of court.

Former American Airlines General Counsel Gary Kennedy and journalist Terry Maxon recount the challenges and crises American faced during the years following the tragic attacks of 9/11, during which American Airlines lost billions as it struggled to avoid bankruptcy. The company finally had to file for bankruptcy, but merged with US Airways and concluded one of the most successful bankruptcies in U.S. history.

When a client comes to you with a small business in trouble, do you fully understand the financial information they are sharing with you so that you can properly advise them? This session will discuss how to read and understand that financial information, covering such issues as the difference between a financial statement and a balance sheet, the difference between a financial statement that is audited and one that is reviewed or compiled by management, profit-and-loss statements and how does they differ from cash-flow statement, and the levels and types of financial information your client needs to assemble, and you need to understand, for your client to be successful in reorganizing.

Join this panel of experts from across the country as they discuss and analyze the latest issues and recent important bankruptcy and insolvency decisions from the Supreme Court, circuit courts of appeals and lower courts, and what issues could soon be addressed by the appellate courts.

Speakers and attendees will cover such topics as the 10-year look-back period, valuation of a constructive fraudulent transfer, objective vs. subjective valuation, the § 546(e) defense and issues involving deposit accounts.

This panel will discuss automatic stay and discharge injunction violations arising from withholding property to collect, statutes of limitations, and exceptions to discharge after Husky.