The Continuing Mystery of the “Bankruptcy Estate”: Three Cases Seek to Define What the “Estate” is, If It Continues (In Another Form) Post-confirmation, and When it is "Reborn"

Three recent cases have explored the definition of the bankruptcy “estate”—the entity created by §541 of the Bankruptcy Code. In succession, these cases explore what the estate is for the purposes of when an action “benefits” the estate; whether a matter affects the estate sufficiently so as to create jurisdiction in the bankruptcy court; and whether and when assets from a prior chapter 11 estate “revest” in a chapter 7 estate following a post-confirmation conversion.
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Professor LoPucki Blasts “Corrupting” Competition for Big Cases by Bankruptcy Courts: Debate to Follow
By:Robert J. Keach

If you have not read the transcript of Prof. Lynn LoPucki’s recent remarks before Congress, you may wish to secure a copy, as the remarks are likely to be the stuff of heated debate in the very near future. In recent testimony before the Congress, on July 21, 2004, briefly reported in some of the mainstream and financial press, the law professor stated that “The Bankruptcy Courts of the United States have inadvertently been thrown into competition for big bankruptcy cases. That competition is changing bankruptcy law and practice in ways not contemplated by Congress and corrupting those courts.
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Business Reorganization, Young Members Committees to Present Joint Program at 2004 WLC

The Business Reorganization Committee and the Young Members Committee will present an education program at the ABI’s Winter Leadership Conference in Scottsdale, Ariz., Dec. 2-4, 2004. The program, “Valuations in Chapter 11 Cases: What You Want Depends On Where You Sit (And When You Are Sitting There),” will explore common methodologies for determining the value of reorganizing businesses and, more critically, the use of valuation as a tactical tool by various key constituencies in the chapter 11 case at various points on the chapter 11 timeline, including confirmation proceedings. The panel will discuss when valuations are used, why they may be needed, what they may be used for, and what parties can and should do with valuation information when they have it. The panel will also explore how changes to certain key assumptions can affect valuation conclusions, and how such changes might be used (or opposed) by the competing parties. This last point will be illustrated by individual panelists assuming the role of advisor to the various key players: senior secured debt, junior or unsecured debt and equity. Scheduled speakers include Scott Lang, Senior Managing Director, Brown Gibbons Lang & Company; Stephen S. Gray, TRG; Jonathan Rosenthal, Saybrook; and Miles Molyneaux, Corporate Recovery, KPMG. The moderator of the panel will be Melissa Kibler Knoll, co-chair of the Young Members Committee.

E-Newsletter Authors Wanted

The editors of the Business Reorganization Committee’s e-newsletter are once again searching for willing authors to contribute on a regular basis to the newsletter. The articles will generally be short case notes or articles of current interest on reorganization subjects. Authors need not be lawyers of course, and articles would be appreciated and accepted from any of ABI’s varied disciplines, including financial advisory services, accounting, investment banking, appraisal services, claims administration, communications, and the like. If you would like to be a regular author, please send an e-mail with your contact information to aschnelling@bridgellc.com or rkeach@bssn.com.