Business

Bankruptcy filings fell dramatically during this latest recession and pandemic. The practice of law, especially insolvency law, was (temporarily?) upended. This panel will explore how the past might inform future filings.

Negotiation and litigation regarding the allocation of value become more challenging when the debtor is part of an insolvent conglomerate. Parties must consider the allocation of value among subsidiaries and the presence of intercompany claims, guaranties and other complexities. This panel will discuss lessons learned and best practices for negotiating and litigating value allocation, focusing on recent bankruptcy cases and viewpoints from financial, legal and judicial perspectives.

This panel will briefly review the current state of third-party releases, then discuss/debate different ways and mechanisms to potentially remedy the issues that have been highlighted by (or that have bothered) various courts around the country.

This panel will provide an update on the key technological issues facing practicing attorneys today, including cyberattacks, software needs, Zoom updates, electronic signatures, hybrid hearings and cryptotechnology, as well as decentralized autonomous organizations and tokenized assets (i.e., NFTs, metaverse and DeFi).

Unprecedented levels of government stimulus, record levels of IPOs and an explosion of the SPAC market provided an abundance of liquidity to an already-buoyant market. These factors, combined with historically low interest rates, have fueled record levels of M&A and refinancing activity. This panel will examine the effects that this "easy money" has had on valuations throughout the pandemic, and compare these effects to companies' valuation outlooks for the remainder of calendar year 2022 and beyond.

A discussion on recent case law developments of issues that touch both the Bankruptcy and Chancery Court.