Check Your Partners’ Rates: The “Intra-Firm” Rate Cap Of
In Re Fleming Companies, Inc.
Written by Robert J. Keach

At first blush, the recent decision of the Delaware Bankruptcy Court in In re Fleming Companies, Inc., 2003 WL 23018828 (Bankr. D. Del. 2003), appears to be just another example of a not-terribly-pleased bankruptcy judge exercising discretion to reduce fees in yet another mega bankruptcy case. However, chapter 11 practitioners in cases large and small should avoid dismissing the result and look carefully at the rationale. Certain language in the decision should trouble us all, suggesting, as it does, that our own partners’ hourly rates may provide a cap on what we can charge for even complex chapter 11 work.
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Securities Trading Orders Questioned
Written by Laurie Selber Silverstein

A decision out of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York raises questions about what many have considered to be a routine order in large chapter 11 cases. In In re: Spiegel, Inc., 2003 Bankr. LEXIS 435 (May 7, 2003), the bankruptcy court while not outright denying the application, declined, on the record in front of it, to enter a “Securities Trading Order,” and generally expressed reservations about such orders.
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Business Reorganization and Financial Advisors Committees to Present Joint Panel on “Cutting-edge” DIP Financing

The Business Reorganization Committee and the Financial Advisors Committee will present a joint program entitled “Cutting-edge Structures in DIP Financing” at the ABI Annual Spring Meeting in Washington, D.C., on April 17, 2004 at 8:00 a.m. The panel of experts will explore “purchaser financing” of the DIP, DIP financing with built-in exit financing, “plans within DIP financing” and other structures for financing the debtor-in-possession, as well as the legal issues raised by these structures. Scheduled panelists include Colleen Palmer of GECC, Mark Polebaum of Hale & Dorr, Boston and David Wax of Rothschild. Issues to be discussed include “good faith” and appellate protection issues under §§363(m) and 364(e), de facto plan considerations, and issues arising before and during confirmation under §§1125 and 1126.

This is a “must-attend” event for committee members and other attendees and promises to be a lively and interactive panel. Committee members are also invited to send examples of “cutting-edge” DIP financing structures (including examples of term sheets or pleadings) to Business Reorganization Committee co-chair Robert J. Keach at rkeach@bssn.com and, to the extent time permits, we will attempt to address such structures at the panel discussion.

Further information on the full ASM program is available at ABI World. Register for the Annual Spring Meeting today!