American Bankruptcy Institute's 2019 Annual Spring Meeting

Adrienne Walker will be speaking on a panel entitled "Breaking the Log Jam: The Trend Toward Pre-Plan Mediation of Case-Dispostive Disputes in Chapter 11" at American Bankruptcy Institute's 2019 Annual Spring Meeting. This panel is hosted by the Bankruptcy Litigation and Mediation Committees.

Panel Description: 

Mediating disputes is not new to bankruptcy litigation, but recent years have seen a trend toward pre-plan mediation of key issues in chapter 11 cases that pave the way for asset sales, plan confirmation and an efficient emergence from bankruptcy. Some examples of this include “bet the farm” litigation necessary to fund plan distributions, lien challenges/avoidance claims, claim objections, plan treatment, sale objections, third-party releases and insider claims, and structured dismissals. This panel will discuss the role of UCCs, confidentiality of mediation discussions(especially important on case-dispositive issues if the matter is not resolved), impact of the changing composition of senior lenders from institutions to private-equity and hedge funds, and judicial acceptance and/or encouragement of mediation of key disputes, including the authority to order mediation.