This course will provide students with a practical understanding of the role of outside counsel to key stakeholders in complex, high-stakes, and fast-paced business reorganizations and liquidations – including distressed companies and their boards, secured and unsecured creditors, and distressed investors/asset purchasers.  Discussion topics include (i) advising the Board of Directors of a distressed company during periods of significant uncertainty and risk, including as to fiduciary responsibilities; (ii) out-of-court and in-court restructuring alternatives, techniques, and pitfalls; (iii) preparation, commencement, and administration of a case under chapter 11 of the Bankruptcy Code; (iv) “hot button” issues in chapter 11; and (v) cross-border restructurings.

This course will provide students with a practical understanding of the role of outside counsel to a variety of key stakeholders in complex, high-stakes, and fast-paced business reorganizations – including distressed companies and their officers and directors, secured and unsecured creditors, distressed investors, and formal and informal committees.  Discussion topics include (i) advising the Board of Directors of a distressed company during periods of significant uncertainty and risk, including as to fiduciary responsibilities and liability concerns; (ii) out-of-court and in-court restructuring alternatives, techniques, and pitfalls; (iii) preparation, commencement, and administration of a case under chapter 11 of the Bankruptcy Code; (iv) key issues in chapter 11 proceedings, including the automatic stay, DIP financing, cash collateral, plan exclusivity, plan formulation, cramdown, 363 sales, examiners/trustees, third-party releases, and Bankruptcy Court jurisdiction and appeals; and (v) negotiation strategies and the increasing use of mediation in chapter 11.  Discussions will highlight recent chapter 11 case law, and also will touch briefly upon the role of counsel to a distressed municipality and its creditors, with a brief overview of Puerto Rico’s municipal debt crisis.