LAWS8823 · Law

Life Cycle of a Chapter 11 Restructuring Case

Boston College Law School

Chapter 11 cases require lawyers for troubled companies and related parties ( creditors, employees, vendors, customers, shareholders and others) to evaluate alternative strategies to maximize value and to minimize losses ( or to push those losses onto others). In this inter-active course, we'll use an actual case ( in which the professor represented the debtor) to allow students to set and critique strategy; write recommendations to the Board and motion papers from opposing sides; argue positions; negotiate a chapter 11 plan outcome; and try to reconcile some of the competing legal and social implications of corporate restructuring (for example, should poorly managed companies be left to fail? What if that means the loss of the best employer in a small town? Should 'vulture funds' be allowed to take advantage of distressed situations?).