S. Advanced Bankruptcy: Deals and Issues in the Current Environment

The Seminar explores the interplay between law and business in large chapter 11 cases, and the legal and business rationales underlying dealmaking in those cases. To the extent time permits, it will introduce students to some of the cutting edge issues that they are likely to see after graduation. And it will examine why and how investors choose to invest in the debt of insolvent entities, and how distressed debt investing has become a major feature of modern chapter 11 life.

Asset dispositions, under section 363 sale and reorganization plan regimes, will be examined in depth, along with their legal and financial underpinnings. Use of debt as a means to exercise control in a chapter 11 case, and to accomplish Loan to Own strategies, will also receive major attention. Seminar participants will be asked to engage in a variety of negotiation and drafting exercises, including the development of restructuring and investment strategies, recommendations for investments in distressed entities, and advising on current chapter 11 legal issues as a practitioner or bankruptcy judge's law clerk would. The objective is to develop students' abilities to better understand not just the Bankruptcy Code and caselaw, but also the use of the bankruptcy process as a business matter, and to enable Seminar participants to make immediate contributions upon entry (or return) to the legal and business worlds.

Students will be required to turn in written assignments in advance of class. Final evaluation by written exercises and class participation.