AIRA’s 40th Annual Bankruptcy & Restructuring Conference

AIRA is a nonprofit professional association serving the bankruptcy, restructuring, and turnaround professional community with members who are among the most trusted and sought-after professionals in matters dealing with limited capital resources and deteriorating operating performance. Each year, AIRA hosts a Bankruptcy & Restructuring Conference (BRC), this year marking its 40th annual event taking place in Baltimore, MD. BRC offers two optional all-day preconference seminars, three keynote presentations, and 16 panel presentations on the latest developments and trends in bankruptcy and restructuring. The ArentFox Schiff team will speak on the programs below.

Financial Advisors’ Toolbox

Wednesday, June 5, 2024 | 8:45 AM – 5:15 PM ET

M. Douglas Flahaut and Matthew Bentley will speak at the preconference seminar, “Financial Advisors’ Toolbox.” The 2024 program, co-chaired by Matt, continues AIRA’s annual offering of practical sessions, the learning objectives of which are to educate an intermediate practitioner about the intersection of finance and bankruptcy law and practice. The six sessions will explore:

• Building and Confirming a Disclosure Statement and Plan

• Pre-Bankruptcy Distress Management

• Contract Issues in Chapter 11

• Navigating Chapter 7 Liquidation

• Strategic Restructuring for Nonprofits Facing Bankruptcy

• Technology in Bankruptcy: Preservation, Platforms, and Digital Currency

Challenging Transactions: Perspectives on Creditor Violence

Friday, June 7, 2024 | 1:45 PM - 2:45 PM ET

Beth Brownstein will moderate the panel, “Challenging Transactions: Perspectives on Creditor Violence.” Chapter 11 is often viewed through the lens of the debtor and its plan to reorganize or liquidate its business through an agreement with its creditors. From a creditor’s perspective, however, a successful outcome in Chapter 11 requires not only an effective negotiation with the debtor but also a strategy to optimize the creditor’s position vis-à-vis other creditors. Creditors may hold one or more positions of unsecured debt, prepetition secured debt (junior and senior), and post-petition super-priority debt—each jockeying for maximum value in the restructuring. In this session, the panel will include perspectives of a judge, financial advisor, and attorneys, who will discuss trends, strategies, and recent examples of creditors exercising rights against other creditors before and during a Chapter 11 case, with the following learning objectives: (i) understanding the mechanics and responses to up-tier, drop-down, and double-DIP transactions; (ii) conducting or responding to an effective investigation and challenge of senior debt and liens, and (iii) the outlook on the credit environment and potential ramifications for creditor-on-creditor violence in bankruptcy court.