Business

Hosted by the Ethics & Professional Compensation and Emerging Industries & Technology Committees This panel will dive into the Model Rules of Professional Conduct, which require lawyers to be competent in technology. The panelists will review today’s hot ethical technology pointers, as well as pitfalls that every insolvency professional should be aware of in their practice.

Bankruptcy discharges go to “honest but unfortunate debtors,” but creditors (because they want their money!) don’t always give up their quests to extract money, even after a bankruptcy case concludes. These useful case examples will guide practitioners through a survey of the most common quarrels over discharges and exceptions.

Insolvency professionals work in a multitude of environments, including firms of all sizes, in-house and at financial advising companies. Not every job will have a dedicated DEI department or director. This panel will address how legal professionals can still encourage diversity within the insolvency profession and promote the inclusion of diverse legal professionals at every level.

You’ve read the headlines: hacked databases, stolen information, all becoming increasingly commonplace. Unfortunately, the question now is not whether your information is going to be accessed or stolen, but when. This session will inform attendees of current developments in the digital underground, and will provide realistic advice for cyberprotection. Included in the discussion will be recent high-profile cybercrime events, including website breaches impacting a variety of organizations and sectors, and particularly dangerous types of threats that might affect individuals involving the so-called dark web, the internet of things, phishing and wi-fi attacks, and the value of leveraging digital evidence and ESI in bankruptcy proceedings.

The panelists will discuss the recent reemergence of SPACs and will elaborate on the public policy and restructuring implications associated with them. This discussion of creative financing structures will focus on financing in a distressed environment, including three mini-case studies and emerging issues in litigation financing.

This panel discussion will delve into a plethora of ethical issues pulled from today’s headlines, including litigation funding, professional compensation, protection and use of material nonpublic information, “connections,” Alix v. McKinsey litigation, and issues created by the pandemic and our remote-work environment.

This panel discussion will delve into a plethora of ethical issues pulled from today’s headlines, including litigation funding, professional compensation, protection and use of material nonpublic information, “connections,” Alix v. McKinsey litigation, and issues created by the pandemic and our remote-work environment.

Join us for a robust discussion concerning Ethics in Healthcare Insolvencies, where the panel will explore a myriad of issues, including: ethical implications in the context of valuing healthcare companies or providers in the age of COVID-19 (where we were, where we are, where we may be going); the concomitant impact on valuation of healthcare companies or providers vis-à-vis increasing the minimum wage and providing the required level of care; capital allocation between patients’ medical needs and fiscal responsibility and management as healthcare companies or providers face restructuring or liquidity issues; steps directors and officers of healthcare companies or providers should consider when they are insolvent (e.g., deciding whether to restructure or file bankruptcy; to whom do the fiduciary duties flow (e.g., to creditors, still to patients, etc.); duty to transfer patients of closing healthcare business and restrictions on transfers; termination of provider agreements or assumption and assignment; and lender issues.

You’re leaving your firm, but what do you need to know before you go? This panel will discuss what to do and what not to do to make sure you meet your ethical obligations to your clients and your old firm, while avoiding problems for you and your new firm.

We often forget that what we say and how we say it can signal more than we intended. One of the primary ways in which "what we say"/"how we say it" creates such signals is with the wording of time entries, whether or not those time entries are ever reviewed by a bankruptcy court. Clients read bills, too, so if one wants to communicate that their work was valuable and efficiently performed, the fable of Goldilocks comes to mind: The time entries need to be "just right." When they're not, clients and courts can draw conclusions that we never intended them to draw. This panel will discuss these issues and more.