No CLE

Featuring Students from the Memphis University Duberstein Moot Court Team

Featuring Students from the Memphis University Duberstein Moot Court Team

This panel will address recent developments in chapter 11 cases for individuals.

The assets of professional services firms ride the proverbial elevator every day. What happens when they stop riding? This session will address the insolvency of professional service firms, including the causes of professional service firm insolvencies, the status of partner capital, and the risks to the professionals who once rode the elevators, including potential preference and fraudulent transfer liability. This program will also review recent cases relating to the “unfinished business” doctrine in the context of law firm insolvencies. Finally, the program will examine challenges in effecting a distressed merger of professional services firms.

No bankruptcy lawyer can represent a high-tech debtor or a business that licenses consumer brands without understanding the interplay of intellectual property law and the Bankruptcy Code. For reorganizations with intellectual property issues, choice of venue is a critical early decision that can determine the outcome of a case. This program will review the circuit-level split over the Catapult doctrine and discuss contractual and litigation solutions for the reorganization of debtor businesses that are dependent on critical patent inbound licenses. The program will review the limits of protections for nondebtor patent and copyright licensees under Bankruptcy Code § 365(n) and will discuss the recent circuit-level split over the effect of contract rejection on the rights of nondebtor trademark licensees.

Collateral Protection and Competing Priorities: Secured Credit in the International Arena

Chaos erupts when a bankruptcy case collides with different spheres of the law. Bankruptcy lawyers continuously have to consider other legal areas in the course of their practice. Your clients routinely seek your guidance because of legal problems arising from other legal matters, ranging from divorce to real estate to commercial litigation. This presentation will assist you in rendering proper legal advice.

Just what is and is not property of the estate? This panel will present a thorough review of § 541 and its application in real-world situations.

This panel will discuss bankruptcy-related issues affecting private equity funds, including fiduciary duty and corporate governance issues, WARN Act and pension issues, and fund liability for portfolio company obligations, as well as issues affecting hedge funds, including recent decisions interpreting the Indenture Trust Act, claims trading, restriction and disclosure issues.