Sky Blog
Corporate directors inevitably must make real-time decisions on complex and nuanced matters that impact not only the company, but also the company’s various stakeholders—e.g., shareholders, creditors, and employees. The pressure cooker that often is the corporate boardroom is not for …
On January 4, 2016, the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York (the “Bankruptcy Court”) deviated from SDNY precedent and held that, despite the absence of clear Congressional intent, the avoidance powers provided for under Section …
After languishing relatively disused for nearly eighty years, municipal bankruptcy is part of the new normal. The eyes of the nation were riveted on Detroit, and smaller filings across the country have proliferated in recent years. As Warren Buffett has …
Group bankruptcies tend to be large (e.g., Global Crossing, Maxwell, MG Rover, Parmalat) and affect a significant number of stakeholders. Business groups constitute a common way for ultimate owners to exercise control over a large number of companies while containing …
It is confounding that futures customers currently receive a lower level of protection than cleared swaps customers under US law. This legal phenomenon has occurred because the law in the US derivatives markets developed in a piecemeal fashion over several …
What unites Atlantic City, the Chicago Public School System, and Puerto Rico’s electric company? They are financially distressed government entities facing various legal and political barriers to using the United States bankruptcy system. Negotiations over those barriers are, in part, …
The Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act (“BAPCPA”),[1] enacted in 2005, has been the subject of extensive commentary over the effects that the Act might have on the chapter 11 landscape and the debtor’s reorganization chances.
In my …
On May 21, 2015, the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit affirmed a decision of the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware, which had approved the structured dismissal of the chapter 11 cases of …
On May 4, 2015, the District Court for the Southern District of New York affirmed Bankruptcy Judge Robert D. Drain’s ruling confirming the chapter 11 plan of MPM Silicones, LLC. The holdings of the District Court and the Bankruptcy Court …
Law schools have become poster children for market dysfunction. As the Great Recession decimated the demand for new lawyers, a functioning market would have led most schools to reduce enrollments. Instead, the overall number of admitted students increased to more …
To listen to the Chamber of Commerce, one would think that class actions are the most significant scourge on business ever conjured up by man. In brief after brief to the Supreme Court, the Chamber of Commerce and other business …
Law firms don’t just go bankrupt – they collapse. Dewey & LeBoeuf; Heller Ehrman; Howrey; Thelen. All of these firms and many others have disappeared with extraordinary swiftness and finality. Large law firms often go from apparent health to liquidation …
The last twenty-five years have brought about widespread changes in the organizational forms through which individuals organize economic activity. Once momentum built, the creation of hybrid entities such as limited liability partnerships, limited liability companies and even limited liability limited …
There is a buzz in the air concerning bankruptcy examiners. Recently in such cases as ResCap, Dynegy and Tribune, and perhaps now in Caesars, examiners have played a decisive role in resolving major chapter 11 cases that …
With the adoption of the Single Resolution Mechanism (SRM) the European Union (EU) established the second crucial pillar of the European Banking Union (EBU), further promoting the financial stability and efficiency of the European …
Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code strives to rehabilitate distressed companies and maximize creditors’ recoveries. After its enactment in 1978, the Code served those purposes well, saving companies such as Federated Department Stores, Laidlaw International, Texaco, and multiple U.S. …
Thomas Jackson famously described the role of all bankruptcy law as reducing the incentive for individual enforcement against the assets of a distressed company.[1] Although scholars have debated other aspects of Jackson’s thesis, most have continued to identify with this …
On December 17th, the FDIC issued guidance for the 2015 resolution plans of the covered insured depository institutions (CIDIs) of large bank holding companies (BHCs). The guidance (applicable to 36 CIDIs) adds welcome clarification around regulatory expectations, but also raises …