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The Ethics of Networking--Social and Otherwise, and Other Ethical Issues of the Day
This program will address ethical issues unique to the practice of bankruptcy law. With the increasing use of social networking sites, such as Facebook and Linked In, what ethical issues arise? What constitutes advertising and, therefore, under ethical restrictions must be disclosed as such? What constitutes client solicitation and is therefore prohibited? In related topics, how far can an attorney go in attempting to obtain committee representation, and what crosses the ethical boundaries? Finally, what duties do lawyers owe to the court and to the profession if they learn of somebody's crossing the line in any of those activities? Does it matter how they learn of them ("Facebook stalking")?
Crisis Communications--Both Legally Required and Strategically Wise
When companies file Chapter 11, they communicate on a number of fronts and through a number of means. Pleadings are fashioned to convey a particular message to the court, creditors and anybody else who might read them. Public companies have certain mandatory disclosures in the form of 8Ks. More importantly, and more interestingly, communications strategies are undertaken by debtors to inform but reassure their customers, vendors and the public. This program will be led by experts in the field of communications in the face of a bankruptcy. Issues include securities law compliance prepetition, avoiding improper plan solicitation, the role of communications professionals in messaging even in filed documents and in case proceedings, such as the first day declaration and at the 341 meeting and, post-petition when court approval is necessary or advisable.
Debtor Migration--Intercontinental, Inter-District and Back
Recent cases have evidenced one form of jurisdictional migration and two forms of venue migration. As to the jurisdictional migration, international companies with virtually no U.S. connection seek to, and generally succeed at, establishing a sufficient U.S. presence to file a Chapter 11 in the United States because, if there are reorganization proceedings in the countries that are their COMIs, they are perceived as inadequate (Marco Polo, Omega, GenMar). What has worked for non-U.S. companies seeking to invoke U.S. Bankruptcy Court jurisdiction, and what is the legal authority? Venue migration is nothing new--debtors file in their place of incorporation rather than the venue in which their headquarters or primary operations are. What are the factors that go into that decision? Finally, sometimes debtors are forced to migrate back. What factors have resulted in a change of venue? (Houghton Mifflin and Patriot Coal).
The Ebbs and Flows of a Chapter 11 War: the Planet Fitness Reorganization, a Case Study
This program will focus on the legal and business challenges that faced counsel to a debtor, secured lenders and franchisor in a hotly litigated, modest-sized Chapter 11 in Massachusetts involving a two-tiered ownership of six Planet Fitness franchisees. Filed in 2010 and ending with a confirmed plan in 2012, the case involved shifting allegiances, successive plans, alternative considerations of an asset sale vs a change in equity ownership depending on litigation with the franchisor, and a plethora of challenging issues, including (i) the contested settlement of litigation challenges to one secured creditor, (ii) the potential cram-down of a second secured creditor, (iii) the treatment of leases intended as security, (iv) disputed feasibility, (v) the ability to assume (and assign) the franchise agreements, (vi) whether the franchisor’s right of first refusal was enforceable, (vii) whether de-branding is a real alternative to a continuation of the franchise, (viii) whether the franchisor’s rights were waived during the case, and (ix) claims estimation. See In re Chicago Investments, LLC, 470 B.R. 32 (Bankr. D. Mass. 2012).
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