Arizona State Approved Sessions

ABI and Reid Collins & Tsai LLP have joined together to present a three-part webinar series focusing on recurring issues that arise in post-bankruptcy litigation involving trustees, and how to set up trustees for success in pursuing litigation claims. The final session of the series will take place on March 9, 2022 at 1 PM ET and will be done in in partnership with ABI's Commercial Fraud Committee. Litigating Claims by Trustees: Avoiding Pitfalls in Litigation and Recurring Legal Issues, will have a panel featuring Peter Kravitz, Province, LLC; Erica Weisgerber, Debevoise & Plimpton LLP; and, Ryan Goldstein and Keith Cohan from Reid Collins & Tsai LLP.

Kirkland & Ellis LLP's Josh Sussberg will join Jessica Steinhagen and Ian Howland of Reorg's First Day team to provide an overview of 2021 chapter 11 filings data and trends, moderated by ABI Public Affairs Officer John Hartgen. They will also provide industry-level insights across various sectors and highlight key takeaways. Following 2020, the busiest year for chapter 11s on First Day record, 2021 was the slowest and is the first in at least six years to record fewer than 300 cases, with 275. All sectors recorded a drop in filings except for real estate and utilities. Real estate matched 2020’s total exactly, and utilities were up 57% because of Winter Storm Uri’s impact on power-producers in Texas. 2021 included five real estate chapter 11s with more than $1 billion in debt; the sector led all others with respect to filings.

Sponsored by ABI's Real Estate Committee The hospitality sector is unique as even before the fundamentals of bankruptcy restructuring come into play, practitioners must first focus on the basic blocking and tackling of the legal of issues that are unique to the hotel business. Examples include brand flag licensing agreements, hotel management agreements, Property Improvement Plans (PIP), and more. This program will focus on these issues to prepare attorneys, financial advisors, and other professionals for future restructuring assignments.

ABI and Reid Collins & Tsai LLP have joined together to present a three-part webinar series focusing on recurring issues that arise in post-bankruptcy litigation involving trustees, and how to set up trustees for success in pursuing litigation claims. This session, the second in the series, is being presented in partnership with ABI's Commercial Fraud Committee.

PwC joins the American Bankruptcy Institute to discuss restructuring activity in 2021 and to look ahead at trends we may see in 2022. Additionally, we will explore industries to watch and host a live audience Q&A.

Sponsored by ABI's Financial Advisors and Investment Banking Committee Although the COVID-19 emergency has battered many industries, it did not mark the beginning of what is currently besieging colleges and universities; issues have been brewing beneath the surface of these proud institutions for a long time. The headwinds of shrinking enrollment, increased competiton and downward pressures on tuition are causing many institutions in higher education to address their economic viability. Increasing costs and decreasing revenues are a reciepe for disaster in any business, and colleges and universities are not immune to such challenges, which are further exacerbated by regulatory obligations and academic culture, especally when it involves restructuting smaller institutions. Learn first-hand from experts in the field how colleges and universities can best be restructured.

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.