Business

This panel will explore claims for substantial contribution claims in connection with asset sales, involuntary petitions and other contexts in light of the expansive reading given to 11 U.S.C. 503(b)(3) by the Sixth Circuit in [Connolly title]. The panel will also address other hot topics in commercial bankruptcy cases related to claims.

"This panel will address emerging professional responsibility issues in commercial cases, including a recent Seventh Circuit decision involving the duty to advise of alternative transactional structures and other competency issues that affect fee awards and liability, standards for fee awards, disclosure and disinterestedness problems, and conflict problems in retention and the curative limits of use of conflicts and special counsel.
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Our panel was there at the beginning with the National Bankruptcy Review Commission (Brady Williamson Chair) through the drafting of the law, its passage and, of course, the implementation of the final product in 2005. The panel will discuss the history of the process, what might have been intended by the proponents, and what unintended consequences were created in the process. We expect a lively discussion of this seminal law and the implications for future reform.

How are cash-collateral orders and adequate-protection packages being fashioned in E&P bankruptcies, and what intercreditor issues can arise as a result? This panel will discuss questions relating to lender collateral that may surface in E&P cases, such as (1) the absence of blanket liens, liens on reserves and cash as security; (2) the impact of state law defining property rights in such assets as royalty streams and leasehold interests; and (3) contract interpretation issues involving prepayment agreements and other arrangements.

This panel will focus on three current topics: (1) discovery, with an emphasis on the impact of the new federal discovery rules regarding “proportionality”; recent developments in e-discovery, including questions of possession, custody and control in discovery disputes; the Model Protocol for Discovery of Electronically Stored Information (ESI); and limitations on e-discovery (ResCap); (2) litigating with “common interests,” covering all about what a “common interest” is, whether an agreement is needed and court approval should be sought, the limits compared to attorney/client and work-product