No CLE

This is not Contracts 101, but rather a panel discussion of the critical aspects of drafting contract that attorneys often forget. The panel shall discuss rules of contract construction including the last antecedent rule and its grammatical corollary, judicially adopted rules of interpretation. The panel will discuss how to avoid redundancies and ambiguities (including undefined terms) that create uncertainty and lead to costly and avoidable disputes. The program will discuss nuanced concepts which lead to more effective contracts.

Preservation and realization of NOLs through plan structures (Capmark, WaMu, Fremont General); tax-sharing agreements and allocations of tax benefits (Edison Mission); OID (ResCap); excess loss account; fair market exchanges; transfer pricing (Nortel); trading restrictions and more.

This session will focus on a number of highly debated discharge objection issues, including responsibilities and culpability of debtors’ attorneys, procedures and criteria for settling or dismissing a § 727 objection to discharge in an adversary proceeding, and the “selling” of discharges.

This panel will address disclosure issues relating to disinterestedness, compensation and reimbursement requirements, compensation of fees incurred defending fee applications, and flat-fee arrangements between chapter 7 debtors and counsel, and other issues.

Well over a dozen Catholic dioceses and religious orders have filed chapter 11, from Tucson to the Arctic and from Portland to Milwaukee. A panel of attorneys involved in nearly all of these unique proceedings will provide updates on the cases and analyze the paths that have proved successful — and those that have not.

Anytime there are fundamental market changes, there are winners and losers. Find out how the vast supply of U.S. oil and gas discoveries, coupled with stricter environmental regulations, are causing long-term changes. Who are the winners, and who are the losers? Find out how these shifts have impacted coal, renewables, oil and gas, power generation and refineries, and how these changes affect the value of the companies that participate in these industries, as well as the industry as a whole.

Enjoy a breakfast discussion with the judges of the Southeast Bankruptcy Workshop.

This program will explore techniques and issues in the drafting of effective settlement agreements both before and after a bankruptcy filing. Pre-filing drafting issues will include such “bankruptcy-proofing” matters as the risk of a paying party’s filing, including a preference or fraudulent transfer attack, the running of a statute of limitations, “bad-boy guarantees,” and the preservation of nondischargeability. Post-filing and general drafting issues will include governing law, conditions to effectiveness, completion mechanics, penalties, factual recitations, notice, scope of general releases, judicial involvement and follow-up mechanics.