Tennessee

Shutdown orders, shuttered industries and an uncertain future due to COVID-19 have left many municipalities with a diminishing revenue base and significantly increasing costs as they strive to protect the health and safety of their residents. The era of COVID-19 is also the era of protests and renewed demands for racial justice in small and larger cities, historic wildfires and weather events due to climate change, and economic-relief packages in Congress at a stalemate as we approach the November election.

This session will discuss the impact of extraordinary and unforeseen changes in the economy; feasibility in a COVID-19 world; the split between § 1141 analysis and traditional opt-in/opt-out provisions for third-party releases; the best-interest test in connection with third-party releases; the fate of Till and cramdown; valuation issues such as what happens when projections are totally wrong; exclusivity termination; attempts to put assets beyond the reach of lenders; plan voting/§ 1129(a)(10) and artificial impairment; and estimation for voting purposes.

This session will highlight several of the Rules of Professional Conduct, including RPC 1.5 (Fees); the Alix/McKinsey litigation; RPC 3.3 (Candor to Tribunal); RPC 4.1 (Truthfulness to Others); the U.S. Trustee guidelines concerning retainers; RPC 7.1 (Communications Concerning a Lawyer’s Services); overbilling, RPC 8.4 (Misconduct); fee examiners, RPC 1.3 (Diligence); disclosures, Bankruptcy Rule 2014; RPC 1.7 (Conflict of Interest); and RPC 7.3 (Solicitation of Clients).

IWIRC sponsored this October 14, 2020, session as part of the Insolvency 2020 Summit. The expert panel discusses trustees' powers in various foreign courts and the challenges they face. The panlists also provide tips for hiring foreign counsel and recovering offshore assets.

This October 22, 2020 session from the Insolvency 2020 Summit addresses the use of technology by bankruptcy professionals inside and outside of the courtroom. The panel covers practicing in court in a pandemic, lawyers behaving badly, use of technology, lawyers and law firms as bankruptcy debtors, and best practices in fee applications.