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Join this panel of experts from across the country as they discuss and analyze the latest issues and recent important bankruptcy and insolvency decisions from the Supreme Court, circuit courts of appeals and lower courts, and what issues could soon be addressed by the appellate courts.

This panel will discuss some accounting basics in terms of what trustees and creditors can learn about the debtor early in a case from various financial documents, information gleaned from tax returns beyond just refunds pending, when and why valuations are needed and the methods and assumptions to consider, and the use of cash collateral budgets and projections.

This panel will explore the effectiveness (and, sometimes, lack thereof) of creditor strategies to restrict by contract a borrower’s ability to obtain bankruptcy relief, whether by limiting the ability of a corporate borrower to seek bankruptcy relief without certain stakeholder approvals, limiting the type of available bankruptcy relief, choosing which country’s bankruptcy laws will apply to an insolvency proceeding involving the borrower, bankruptcy-remote structuring techniques, and other means. For example, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit recently upheld a “golden share” arrangement whereby a creditor was able to prohibit the debtor limited liability company from filing bankruptcy; and in the international realm, choice of law clauses have at times limited a debtor’s ability to obtain relief under the Model Law for Cross-Border Insolvency. This panel will also explore variations in international public policies with respect to restrictions on a borrower’s ability to seek bankruptcy relief.

This panel will examine the effects thus far of the Puerto Rico Oversight, Management, and Economic Stability Act (PROMESA), as well as Puerto Rico’s economy, including where it came from, where it is now and where it is going.

This panel will explore the roles, responsibilities, benefits, and liabilities in using independent directors through multi-jurisdictional insolvency proceedings and will discuss using directors strategically throughout the life of a company. The panelists will explain the three typical stages of a company where directors could be instructed — going concern, insolvency, and emergence from a restructuring — then explain the roles and responsibilities at each of these appointments. The session would also overlay the jurisdictional distinctions among various administrative proceedings, including offshore liquidations, U.S. bankruptcy, U.S. receiverships, and common law receiverships. The panelists will offer real-world examples to show the differences and how the role of the director is utilized, as well as what is at stake for them, the company, the creditors and the investors.

What are critical-access hospitals, and why are they important? This panel will discuss alternative solutions to producing additional cash flow for failing hospitals, which need to be closely scrutinized by health care professionals familiar with licensing, reimbursement, anti-kickbacks and patient-brokering limitations. The panel will also cover violations of the False Claims Act, Stark Law and Anti-Kickback Statute, as well as state law cases on patient-brokering and the questioning of medical necessity, clinical laboratory outreach programs, physician employment arrangements involving telemedicine, prescription programs and compounding, criminal statutes and DOJ/state regulator issues, how to reorganize legally, dealing with CMS (Medicare/Medicaid), nongovernmental and third-party commercial payers during a restructuring, and general rules on pass-through billing for outreach programs.

Recent developments in offshore law have increased the effectiveness of the tools available to trace and recover assets through the offshore insolvency process. This panel will be conducted in a formal debate style, using the format of first proposition followed by first opposition, then second proposition followed by second opposition. The debates will look at the illegality defense, clawback claims, the dishonesty test and foreign officeholder recognition, among other issues. Each debate will be seven minutes with a four-minute closing, followed by a vote.

This panel will discuss recent Chapter 15 and cross-border cases, including those involving the scope of discovery available to foreign representatives, § 109 eligibility, venue issues, and parallel case concerns. The panel will also discuss logistical and practical solutions in running chapter 15 cases.

This session will discuss both prosecuting and defending § 523 exceptions to discharge adversary proceedings. Rather than cover the substantive law governing what is dischargeable, this session will concentrate on strategies for prosecuting and defending these adversary proceedings, including what must be pled to state a claim for relief, strategies for filing motions to dismiss and motions for summary judgment, understanding when collateral estoppel or res judicata from prior litigation has an effect, strategies regarding settlement and mediation, advising clients on options for settlement vs. litigation, and discovery issues and trial strategies.