Business

This panel will provide a comprehensive overview of recent developments affecting cross-border insolvency practice. The panelists will include updates on third-party releases and the Credito Real appeal by the U.S. Trustee, recent trends in asset-tracing across offshore jurisdictions, and emerging issues in the Caribbean and Canada, including evolving director duties and disqualification regimes.

Hosted by the Emerging Industries & Technology and Financial Advisors & Investment Banking Committees. This panel will explore the intricate landscape of recent crypto-related bankruptcies through a multi-faceted lens. The panelists will examine the fast-paced world of on-chain tracing and flow-of-funds analysis, the unique valuation challenges posed by highly volatile digital assets, and the shifting regulatory environment impacting insolvency proceedings. Illustrative case studies from prominent bankruptcies will ground the discussion, offering practical insights into how legal, financial and technical teams are adapting to these emerging challenges.

This session explores the issues and implications of managing bankruptcy cases when key assumptions and expectations fail to materialize, and the exit path is no longer available. What happens then? For instances where there is limited liquidity and the case is facing possible dismissal, administrative insolvency and/or conversion to chapter 7, the panelists run through key pitfalls and provide guidance on how to effectively manage bankruptcy cases through these challenges by referencing several recent and high-profile health care cases to illustrate the harsh reality of these issues playing out today.

Section 362 of the Bankruptcy Code is one of the most frequently litigated — and often misunderstood — provisions in bankruptcy practice. This session will take a deep dive into the automatic stay, exploring its scope, application and termination. The panelists will analyze key distinctions among the subsections of § 362 and how they interact with other provisions of the Code. Attendees will gain practical insights into effective strategies for obtaining relief from stay, including grounds for relief beyond lack of adequate protection, and will learn how to navigate the procedural and evidentiary requirements for efficiently and cost-effectively securing or confirming relief from the stay.

The intersection between insolvency and arbitration remains one of the most complex and unsettled areas of cross-border dispute resolution. This panel will examine the ongoing debate within UNCITRAL Working Group V on determining which law governs the effect of insolvency proceedings on arbitration agreements and arbitral proceedings, and how different jurisdictions approach this question in practice.

This session will explore the intersection of artificial intelligence (AI) and digital-asset recovery in cross-border bankruptcy proceedings. The panelists will examine the challenges in making recoveries when digital-asset businesses are the subject of fraud or hacking activity, and discuss how AI-powered tools are revolutionizing asset-tracing, evidence-gathering and recovery processes. They also will cover the practical challenges insolvency professionals face when appointed over businesses in this sector, especially when there is a parallel criminal investigation and/or prosecution, and ways in which practitioners can navigate that landscape to achieve the best outcomes for stakeholders by drawing on real-life examples of cases in which the panelists have been involved.

This panel will discuss current topics and challenges facing boards and other fiduciaries of distressed companies. The panelists will explore risks, pitfalls and best practices for directors, boards and their counsel/advisors in a variety of contexts with unique challenges, including liability management exercises (LMEs) and other distressed corporate transactions, wholly owned insolvent subsidiaries, and dual fiduciary issues in private-equity sponsor companies. The panelists also will discuss key post-Quandrant trends and legal developments, as well as the potential impact of recent Delaware General Corporation Law (DGCL) amendments.

As the retail and real estate markets continue to evolve post-pandemic, is the long-anticipated recovery taking shape, or are new challenges on the horizon? This panel of seasoned experts explores the latest trends, risks and opportunities in distressed retail and commercial real estate. From shifting consumer behaviors to the ongoing transformation of office space demand, the panelists provide practical guidance and strategic insights for investors, landlords and debtor tenants navigating today’s complex market.

The chapter 11 landscape is evolving. This panel will cover current economic headwinds facing debtors, and structuring bankruptcy strategies and feasible chapter 11 plans in this environment.

Corporate restructuring has recently experienced a significant transformation. Traditional business “rehabilitations” (sweeping and lengthy chapter 11 proceedings) have become truncated, and “pre-arranged” cases often follow a strategic liability-management exercise (LME). Jurisprudence that had long constrained debtor-in-possession (DIP) financing (e.g., the sub rosa plan doctrine) has seemingly lost its importance. In many cases, the creditors' committee — as well as the bankruptcy court — are boxed into restructuring support agreement (RSA) terms that are, in turn, embedded into DIP covenants, and those covenants often compel a particular (rightful or wrongful) case outcome. This panel will evaluate whether chapter 11 still reliably delivers on its legislative purpose.