Venue/Jurisdiction

With so many tiers of global supply chains and multinational investments being connected to China, financial risk is magnified when there is a widespread interruption, such as the current coronavirus pandemic. Extended disruption of supply chains could lead companies to financial distress and possible bankruptcy. The resulting distress from the disruption could also activate insurance-related claims and litigation, further complicated by interpretations of "force majeure" (unforeseeable circumstances) clauses in insurance policies. A recent Wall Street Journal article detailed how plunging shipping volumes out of China due to shutdowns in the wake of the outbreak have crimped industrial production worldwide. As the coronavirus continues to spread in China and other parts of the world, it is critical for businesses to reassess their connections to global supply chains, evaluate workforce-related issues, and examine risk-minimization and quantization brought about by the pandemic.

This panel will focus on obtaining successful chapter 11 results in certain jurisdictions while analyzing why you should or shouldn’t file in a particular jurisdiction. The panel will discuss advantages and disadvantages of filing in certain jurisdictions, including local rule advantages (i.e., Texas) and case law advantages or disadvantages.

Taking in the perspectives of the debtor and secured lenders, including the appropriateness to decline to support a filing in a jurisdiction that one believes is “unfavorable” in terms of permitted financing terms and covenants, how does a practitioner decide where to file? What goes into the decision? Why are the Sixth Circuit courts not as popular for selection? When should a venue be challenged?

Hosted by the Asset Sales Committee This webinar will discuss the benefits and disadvantages of conducting a sale of assets pursuant to section 363 of the Bankruptcy Court compared to an out of court sale. The webinar will provide a general introduction to these issues as well as provide experienced practitioners with a nuanced high level discussion regarding applicable case law, hot button issues, pitfalls to avoid and war stories from the trenches. Speakers: Dawn M. Cica Mushkin Cica Coppedge; Bruce I. Goldstein Amherst Partners; Matthew J. LoCascio Equity Partners HG View Materials

In this roundtable format, attendees can visit with leading judges (each presiding at their own table) to discuss and debate the nation’s most important recent business and consumer bankruptcy decisions.

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 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.

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.

Two sitting judges and a professor of bankruptcy law will offer an overview on the sources of authority for the issuance of sanctions and holding persons or entities in contempt, the nature of the remedies available, applicable standards and the appropriate procedures. The discussion will cover sanctions available under various provisions of the Bankruptcy Code and the Bankruptcy Rules, including Rule 9011, failure to make discovery and bankruptcy court authority to discipline counsel. Also discussed will be the court's sources of power of contempt, limitations on that power, and procedures the court should consider before exercising such power.