Utah

This panel will review the implications — both good and bad — of the new plan and Rule changes from the debtor, creditor and trustee perspective and discuss what is working, what is not, workarounds, and what further reform is needed.

Recent court decisions will impact future commercial restructuring. The panel will provide an overview of the four most pressing issues in commercial restructuring over the past year, including debt recharacterization, third party releases, cram down interest rates, and rights of dissenting bondholders in out of court workouts. In each instance, our expert panelists will provide an overview of the issue at hand, recent case law developments, and considerations of their impact on future restructurings.

Is the legal profession’s vision for the law firm of the future already outdated? Can the law firm of today cope with the incredibly dynamic and changing competitive legal services environment, or will it go the way of the dinosaur? Greater and new competition in the forms of artificial intelligence, disruptive technology, the Big Four accounting firms, enlarged in-house legal staffs, and alternative legal service providers are eating law firms’ lunch. Clients are demanding service, efficiency and transparency in a way that puts tremendous pressure on the traditional law firm model.

This panel will feature a roundtable discussion with bankruptcy judges from the Ninth Circuit and across the country. The judges will share their thoughts and perspectives, as well as take questions from the audience, on topics of current interest in both business and consumer cases.

With low energy commodity prices the new reality, E&P companies are being forced to restructure their balance sheets — both in and out of court. This panel will discuss legal issues that are crucial to advising a client in E&P restructurings and how those issues may shape your strategy, including oil and gas leases as absolute conveyances and the protection of royalty-holders; ORRIs, NPIs and production payments; plugging and abandonment liability; M&M liens; borrowing bases under RBL credit facilities; and joint operating agreements.