Please send your papers to my work e-mail:  todd.schwartz@kirkland.com.

I’m available tonight if you have any questions.  Call at either 312.862.7355 or 217.493.7536.

Final Paper

All,

Hope you were able to relax some over the Thanksgiving holiday in advance of finals.  Just wanted to send a reminder that your final paper (worth 60% of your grade) is due this Friday, December 4, 2009, at 11:59 p.m. 

I am in New York and D.C. this week, but given some advance warning, should be available to answer any questions you might have.

Download the zip file for classes 1-5

Download the zip file for classes 6 and 7

http://blogs.wsj.com/bankruptcy/2009/11/05/dear-prudence/

Apologies for the late notice, but I have to cancel class tomorrow.  It will be rescheduled at a date to be determined.  Hopefully this will not force any change to the scheduling of the final, but we’ll just have to see. 

Please let your classmates know.  Also, next week, starting Wednesday, I will have much more time to review paper topics and/or review drafts if you want.

I appreciate your understanding.

Assignments

All,

The dates have been set as follows:

Wednesday, November 11, 2009, 12:00 p.m. to 1:15 p.m (Room H)

Makeup - Thursday November 19, 2009, 12:00 p.m. to 1:15 p.m. (Room J)

Also, this crazy week is bleeding over into next week.  Therefore, please be aware that I may have to reschedule this Saturday’s class.  I will try to let you know as soon as possible.

http://blogs.wsj.com/bankruptcy/2009/10/21/judge-some-lawyers-arent-smart-enough-for-chapter-11/

Assignments

For those of you who may be interested in writing about section 363 sales, check out the story below that discusses both the origin of the label “stalking horse bidder” (very interesting) and how to improve your chances of becoming a successful stalking horse bidder.

http://bankruptcy.law360.com/articles/123995

Quick note on footnotes/endnotes:  Please follow normal citation rules (including the school’s plagiarism guidelines) when determining if a citation is needed.  I will be blue-booking your citations and will assign a reasonable percentage of your total paper grade to proper citation.  I’m OCD when it comes to citation, at least I can admit it.  But, note that the number of citations may vary greatly from paper to paper.  For example, those papers heavy on case analysis will have more citations than a paper arguing for or against a bright-line requirement that a debtor solicit all impaired classes of creditors in all situations (there are few cases on the issue).

Assignments

So, I’m starting to get some inquiries about paper topics (I know my direction has been somewhat lacking).  “Pick any topic for your paper” sounds like a good idea in theory.  In theory, this type of paper assignment provides maximum flexibility.  But in practice, I understand that for those of you not familiar will bankruptcy jurisprudence (or the lack thereof), it is hard to come up with a paper topic out of whole-cloth.

So, over the next couple days, I will try to do a better job of posting interesting articles that could provide a topic on which you can write a 10-15 page paper (and allow enough time to talk about said topic for 7 minutes during class presentations). 

Also, I want to be clear about my expectations.  I will grade your papers using the following, familiar format:  IRAC.  Now, your paper doesn’t have to be so rigid as identifying the issue, explaining the rule, applying the rule to the issue, and offering a conclusion.  I want you to have enormous flexibility when writing about whatever topic you choose.  That being said, I will be looking for analysis and original thinking, which should go without saying.  Even though some of you may lack bankruptcy knowledge, this may allow you to look at bankruptcy issues with fresh eyes.  That is, you are not constrained by years of practice (or academia) into thinking about a topic one way or another.  So I encourage you to think outside the box, and not to be afraid about reaching a right or wrong answer.  Remember, as far academics are concerned, Professor Tabb is completely right about cross-collateralization, but practitioners think his conclusion does not present a realistic solution.  Point is, you can never win, and I’m not looking for the absolute right answer in your papers.

Don’t laugh, but try to have fun with this assignment, try analogizing the bankruptcy issue to something you are familiar with, or come up with an interesting (perhaps off the wall) hypothetical.  I encourage creativity because I completely lack it myself.

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to call me at work or email me at any time (please use my work email as this will guarantee that I receive it). 

Oh, almost forgot.  Below is a link to a recent development in the Charter Communications case (a decision that capped a 19-day trial –don’t worry we had litigators handling the trial part) that I thought could be a good topic for a paper.  Reinstatement of prepetition debt is becoming more common as other viable restructuring alternatives are, well, no longer viable.

https://www.fis.dowjones.com/WebBlogs.aspx?aid=DJFDBR0020091015e5af000jh&ProductIDFromApplication=&r=wsjblog&s=djfdbr

Last thing, if you see your classmates at school, please make sure they are getting these posts.  I do not have your email addresses, so this is the only way for me to pass along information.  Thanks.