Texas State Approved Sessions

Sponsored by Business Reorganization Committee Over the past decade, companies burdened with significant asbestos and other tort liability have utilized the so-called “Texas Two-Step” strategy to separate those tort liabilities from core assets and resolve them through the chapter 11 bankruptcy process. The “Texas Two-Step” involves a “divisional merger” permitted under the Texas Business Organizations Code and has garnered renewed national attention when it was used by Johnson & Johnson last month as the means to address tort liability arising from its talc products. Please join us for a webinar where our esteemed panelists will provide an overview of the Texas Two-Step, including key rulings, as well as important features and considerations in large tort bankruptcy cases generally, and discuss their reactions to and predictions for the J&J bankruptcy cases.

The health care industry is plagued by fraud and abuse issues. What have we seen already, what do we anticipate seeing in the future, and what do health care providers need to know going forward?

In the past year, ending June 30, 2021, there have been 6,871 number of chapter 11 filings nationwide, and only 149 of them were of health care companies. Is there still distress in the industry, or did the U.S.’s stimulus funding correct the distress?

As America’s largest grocer, Kroger knew it had a great responsibility to act from the earliest days of the COVID-19 pandemic. With a half-million employees and millions of customers coming through its doors each day, Kroger established a COVID-19 task force so that it could react swiftly to ensure the safety of its associates and customers. As businesses across the country were forced to close their doors temporarily — and in many cases indefinitely — it became imperative that Kroger find a way to keep its doors open. Don't miss this fascinating keynote discussion on how Kroger adapted its strategy to the unique circumstances each new day presented, from instituting PPE requirements to testing and vaccination sites, and the data it used to guide its decisions along the way.

The SBRA has been in effect for a year, and for most of that time it has been operating on an increased debt limit of $7.5 million due to the pandemic. How is the SBRA currently being used, what issues have arisen, and has it been effective overall for restructuring small businesses?

Hosted by the Commercial and Regulatory Law and Health Care Committees This panel will address issues that have recently arisen at the intersection of health care and commercial/regulatory law, including regulation and ownership of cloud-based/electronic records, state regulation of nonprofit debtors, and recent developments in Medicare/Medicaid recoupment rights.

Hosted by the Business Reorganization and Unsecured Trade Creditors Committees This panel of legal experts and indenture trustees will discuss current insolvency-related corporate trust issues, including pre- and post-default rights, standing to pursue litigation claims, disparate treatment among bondholders and other creditors of equal priority, conflicts between majority and minority bondholders, and settlement mechanics inside and outside of bankruptcy.

This important plenary session will set the stage for the Annual Spring Meeting by discussing the economic, scientific and behavioral influences that will, at least in part, shape the restructuring landscape in the coming year. Led by a major international media organization, the panel discussion will include leaders from key constituent groups in the restructuring arena, including law firms, investment bankers, lenders and other financial leaders. The panelists will focus on macroeconomic predictions for 2021, industry expectations and risks, and how the COVID-19 pandemic and vaccines will impact the economy in 2021 and beyond.

Insolvency professionals work in a multitude of environments, including firms of all sizes, in-house and at financial advising companies. Not every job will have a dedicated DEI department or director. This panel will address how legal professionals can still encourage diversity within the insolvency profession and promote the inclusion of diverse legal professionals at every level.

This panel of ABC-certified judges will discuss the applicable rules of professional conduct and other authority implicated in electronic filing, the use of email, “phishing” scams and hacking, and technology issues raised by today’s pandemic practice. The panelists will also consider issues raised by the requirement that many professionals must file public fee applications in bankruptcy cases, as well as fee issues stemming from converted cases, insufficient content in the applications, and problems that arise when the results achieved and the fees sought bear little relationship to each other. Finally, the panelists will consider unique professionalism issues raised by attorneys and law firms as bankruptcy debtors, particularly involving clients and the use of IOLTA accounts, along with more general do’s and don’ts about practicing in bankruptcy court before, during and (hopefully) after the pandemic.