Business

A prospective client tells you that they need to file bankruptcy. This panel will help you navigate all the basic decision-making processes that you might need to consider, including alternatives, when to get a financial advisor involved, why you might pick a workout instead, and when to file and not forbear.Learning Objectives:Identify alternatives to bankruptcy and understand when those options may be more appropriate for a client.Evaluate a client's financial circumstances to determine whether bankruptcy or a non-bankruptcy workout strategy is the most effective path forward.Recognize when to involve outside professionals — such as financial advisors or restructuring specialists — and how their expertise can inform the decision-making process."

Higher education institutions face distinct challenges when financial trouble hits — from governance structures to accreditation concerns to the impact on students and faculty. This panel covers the early warning signs of distress, key restructuring alternatives, and the fiduciary duties a governing body faces once an institution is in trouble.Learning Objectives:Attendees will identify the unique legal, regulatory, and accreditation-related challenges facing distressed higher education institutions.Attendees will evaluate restructuring and wind-down strategies tailored to colleges and universities, including considerations specific to students, faculty, and other stakeholders.Attendees will recognize recent trends and case studies shaping the treatment of distress in the higher education sector.

This panel will explore strategies and pitfalls in distressed lease and asset sales, both in and out of court. Panelists will address key issues in negotiating lease workouts and structuring asset sales, highlighting how tactics shift depending on asset class. Discussion will cover recent trends, including repeat bankruptcies and the rise of lease-only and stand-alone asset sales, with practical insights for stakeholders navigating today’s restructuring challenges.Learning Objectives:Attendees will learn to:Draft and negotiate lease workout agreements and structure asset sales in both in-court and out-of-court distressed scenarios.Distinguish between tactical approaches for different asset classes and identify common pitfalls in distressed lease and asset sale transactions.Analyze emerging trends, including repeat bankruptcy filings, lease-only sales, and stand-alone asset dispositions, to develop effective stakeholder strategies.

This panel will address the expectations for professionalism and civility in the conduct of litigation in and out of court, examining the different perspectives of the U.S., U.K. and Colombia in regards to their respective ethics rules and cultural frameworks.

This panel offers an overview of current economic trends, market conditions, and financial indicators shaping the restructuring and bankruptcy landscape. Experts will discuss how shifts in interest rates, credit markets, industry performance and other developments may impact businesses and inform strategic decision-making for practitioners and stakeholders alike.Learning ObjectivesAttendees will analyze current economic trends and financial indicators impacting the restructuring and bankruptcy landscape.Attendees will evaluate how changes in interest rates, credit markets, and industry performance influence business distress and restructuring strategies.

This panel provides an update on key threats affecting restructuring and credit markets. William Rule discusses the current economic environment, especially the federal deficit, private credit stress, potential bubbles in the stock market, the concentration of wealth and other threats.Learning Objectives:Attendees will identify key macroeconomic threats currently affecting restructuring and credit markets, including federal deficit dynamics and emerging stress in private credit.Attendees will analyze the potential impact of taxes and tariffs on economic stability, corporate capital structures, and distressed investment opportunities.Attendees will evaluate indicators of asset bubbles and wealth concentration trends, and assess their implications for restructuring practitioners and credit market participants.

Work/Life Balance: Is it really a thing? This session explores the critical connection between attorney well-being, the duty of competence and professional liability, examining how stress, burnout and impairment can affect ethical decision-making and client representation. Participants gain practical strategies to support personal well-being, reduce malpractice risk, and fulfill their professional and ethical obligations while maintaining a sustainable legal practice.Learning Objectives:Attendees will identify the connection between attorney's well-being, burnout, and impairment, and recognize how these factors can compromise the duty of competence and increase professional liability exposure.Attendees will apply practical strategies for managing stress and maintaining personal well-being that support sound ethical decision-making and effective client representation.Attendees will evaluate risk-management practices that reduce malpractice exposure while fulfilling professional and ethical obligations within a sustainable legal practice.

This advanced panel explores the complex ethical landscape surrounding artificial intelligence implementation in bankruptcy and legal practice. Moving beyond basic AI introductions, the panelists examine real-world AI functionality, use cases and usage statistics, judicial perspectives on AI compliance, and practical ethical challenges facing practitioners today. Through interactive polling, case studies, and expert insights, attendees gain actionable guidance on navigating AI ethics within existing professional conduct frameworks.Learning Objectives:Attendees will identify key ethical considerations arising from the use of artificial intelligence in bankruptcy and legal practice, including issues related to competence, confidentiality, supervision, and professional responsibility.Attendees will evaluate real-world AI functionality, use cases, and emerging judicial perspectives to assess the benefits, risks, and limitations of AI tools in legal workflows.Attendees will apply existing professional conduct frameworks and AI compliance principles to address practical ethical challenges and develop responsible AI implementation strategies within their practices.

This panel will focus on the ethical issues that can surround taking on an engagement — everything from evaluating conflicts, mandatory and recommended disclosures, and what it really means to be disinterested.Learning Objectives:Attendees will identify common ethical issues that arise when considering whether to accept a new engagement, including how to evaluate potential conflicts of interest.Attendees will understand mandatory and recommended disclosure requirements and how they apply when determining whether a professional can serve in a matter.Attendees will examine the meaning of "disinterestedness" in practice and apply practical strategies for assessing and maintaining compliance with ethical standards when taking on a case.

This panel examines the ethical and procedural framework governing inadvertent disclosures of privileged materials in bankruptcy practice. The discussion explores the bankruptcy-specific complications (from compressed discovery timelines and multi-party productions to trustee succession issues) that arise when privilege is breached and offering practical guidance for preventing and managing these disclosures.Learning Objectives:Attendees will understand the ethics rules and procedural framework (Model Rules 1.6(c) and 4.4(b), FRCP 26(b)(5)(B), and FRE 502(b)) governing inadvertent disclosure of privileged materials and the duties triggered.Attendees will recognize bankruptcy-specific complications that heighten inadvertent disclosure risk, including compressed case timelines, multi-party document flows among debtors, committees, and trustees, and privilege succession issues following trustee appointment.Attendees will identify practical strategies for preventing inadvertent disclosures and effectively managing a clawback dispute once one occurs, from FRE 502(d) orders and tiered review protocols to crisis-response steps for producing and receiving counsel.