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Today's Approach to Distressed Situations: A Lessor's Guide
Back in 1985, one of us contributed to an industry publication an article titled Strategies for Recovery in Lessee Bankruptcy. Twenty-two years later, the landscape of bankruptcy law and the leasing industry have changed dramatically, and issues and problems faced by the equipment lessor today have much different priorities. As the equipment leasing community contemplates the landscape today, some new approaches and decision drivers face the leasing executive when his lessee files Chapter 11, or threatens to do so.
Whether bankruptcy professionals blame it on a continuously robust company, too much liquidity in the credit markets, or some other cause, the financial community recognizes that corporate Chapter 11 filings are way down. While these stated reasons are doubtless valid and contributory, the bankruptcy bar and turnaround professionals sometimes fail to recognize and admit that they have been, to some extent, agents of their own distress. Chapter 11 has simply fallen out of favor as a cost-effective and expeditious remedy for debtors and creditors, in part, because every lender and lessor has cultivated an in-house restructuring group ' non-lawyers who can see business solutions in distressed situations and then reach consensus with the customer and other creditors to achieve an end result without the trauma of an intervening bankruptcy case. This private process, however, is more often than not conducted in the looming shadow of the Chapter 11 filing, which will follow if the private restructuring does not come together. To understand and effectively negotiate his position, the equipment lessor's restructuring executive has to grasp the downsides and upsides of a failed negotiation and an ensuing Chapter 11 filing. Here, we briefly point out the important points that have become so much more central to pre-bankruptcy workouts and many of the Chapter 11 cases filed today.
The DOJ's Corporate Enforcement Policy: One Year Later
The DOJ's Criminal Division issued three declinations since the issuance of the revised CEP a year ago. Review of these cases gives insight into DOJ's implementation of the new policy in practice.
Use of Deferred Prosecution Agreements In White Collar Investigations
This article discusses the practical and policy reasons for the use of DPAs and NPAs in white-collar criminal investigations, and considers the NDAA's new reporting provision and its relationship with other efforts to enhance transparency in DOJ decision-making.
How AI Has Affected PR
When we consider how the use of AI affects legal PR and communications, we have to look at it as an industrywide global phenomenon. A recent online conference provided an overview of the latest AI trends in public relations, and specifically, the impact of AI on communications. Here are some of the key points and takeaways from several of the speakers, who provided current best practices, tips, concerns and case studies.
The DOJ's New Parameters for Evaluating Corporate Compliance Programs
The parameters set forth in the DOJ's memorandum have implications not only for the government's evaluation of compliance programs in the context of criminal charging decisions, but also for how defense counsel structure their conference-room advocacy seeking declinations or lesser sanctions in both criminal and civil investigations.