Business

Hosted by the Ethics & Professional Compensation and Mediation Committees The panel will provide an overview of certain bankruptcy laws and rules relevant to mediation, using vignettes or hypotheticals to set the scenes for in-depth discussions of the relevant rules of professional responsibility and ethical concerns.

Three cases in the last year have demonstrated that § 363 does not fix everything. In Dean Foods, § 363 did not protect the purchaser from the Sherman Antitrust Act; the purchaser was forced to divest itself of purchased assets in a U.S. DOJ antitrust action. In GNC, CFIUS interposed (unsuccessfully) to try to prevent the sale of assets to a Chinese company owned by the PRC government. Finally, in Exide, CERCLA rendered four contaminated properties unsalable, resulting in abandonment (arguably in contravention of the SCOTUS Midlantic decision, appeal pending). This panel will discuss these issues and more.

Chapter 11 doesn’t work for every corporate liquidation. This panel of experts will discuss other ways a corporation can be liquidated, including out-of-court liquidations, receiverships, ABCs, the Delaware Dissolution Statute and chapter 7.

The day-to-day life of restructuring professionals has changed as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Lots of us learned that we can effectively complete our most challenging work from our home offices. This panel of CEOs, COOs and managing partners of firms with significant restructuring practices will discuss what has worked and what hasn’t worked during the pandemic, along with current trends and future issues.

NO CLE Lunch with the judges and faculty from the morning’s panels, with new facilitators leading the discussions. Sponsored by BakerHostetler and Pachulski Stang Ziehl & Jones Confirmation: Brave New World? Damian S. Schaible Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP; New York Confirmation: The Rest of the Story Dan T. Moss Jones Day; Washington, D.C. The Changing Real Estate Landscape Lorenzo Marinuzzi Morrison & Foerster LLP; New York

This panel takes a look at PPP forgiveness issues, the PPP’s effects on M&A transactions and bankruptcy cases, and what comes next.

Three bankruptcy judges present difficult issues they have faced and ask you to step into their shoes; to discuss the issues in small groups discussions; and to decide what you might have done in their shoes. What you learn from your colleagues and what the judges then reveal will be interesting, educational, and revealing.

This panel will discuss whether liens are available on unencumbered assets like avoidance actions, credit bidding issues, equitable subordination/ recharacterization concerns, committee challenges to liens and bidding procedures.

Presented by the Real Estate and Unsecured Trade Creditors Committees This panel will explore the myriad legal conundrums landlords have been facing in bankruptcy cases across the country since the COVID-19 pandemic took hold. Discussion points will include landlord rights to assumption/rejection and timing, the ability of debtors to defer rent payments to landlords for lengthy periods of time, and the impact of force majeure clauses in these disputes.

For two years this group has studied the influence of a judge’s gender on the processing and outcomes in bankruptcy cases. Leveraging several studies in non-bankruptcy cases on whether gender influences judicial decision making, this study has looked at 837 student loan discharge opinions and compared the outcomes of those cases based on the gender of the judge and the gender of the debtor. The results demonstrate a statistically significant difference in the way men and women decide such cases. The study now expects to examine survey results from male and female judges to assess discernible patterns. This panel will present the results of this study and will discuss some or all of the following questions: Does gender affect case management? Does gender affect the perception of witnesses? Implicit bias and gender Should counsel tailor case, trial and argument based on the gender of the judge? If so, how can counsel do so? Does the gender of a party ever play an appropriate role in judicial decision making? What can judges do to ensure that gender plays an appropriate role in case determination?