Media Teleconference to Focus on Study Examining Professional Compensation in Chapter 11 Cases

Date:

Tuesday, December 11, 2007

Issue:

Professional fees associated with business bankruptcies have often been a source of interest and controversy. A recently completed study funded by the American Bankruptcy Institute Endowment Fund examines the issue of professional compensation in chapter 11 cases. As the most comprehensive, independent study of professional fees to date, the study’s reporter and two members of its steering committee will discuss conclusions drawn from the study as well as potential ramifications for chapter 11 cases and the bankruptcy bar.

Audio:

Click Here to Listen:

Speakers:

Study reporter Stephen J. Lubben is the Daniel J. Moore Professor of Law at Seton Hall University School of Law.

Claude “Chip” Bowles Jr. is an attorney at Greenbaum Doll & McDonald PLLC (Louisville, Ky.) and chairman of ABI’s professional fee study advisory board and practitioner advisory board.

Deirdre Martini is the managing director with CIT National Restructuring Group, Inc. (New York) and a member of the fee study advisory board.

Background:

The results of a ground-breaking study funded by the American Bankruptcy Institute Endowment Fund revealed that numerous factors, such as the presence of creditors’ committees, influenced the total professional costs of chapter 11 bankruptcy cases. While previous studies have primarily focused on a company’s asset size, number of firms involved in the case and the duration of the proceeding as the primary factors influencing the total cost of professional fees, study reporter Stephen J. Lubben, Daniel J. Moore Professor of Law at Seton Hall University School of Law, looked at numerous factors in examining more than 1,000 chapter 11 bankruptcy cases that were filed in 2004.

Previous studies of professional fees in chapter 11 cases over the past 20 years had examined significantly smaller sample sizes, ranging from nearly 25-75 cases. These studies primarily evaluated asset size, number of professionals and duration of the proceeding as the primary factors in determining the costs of professional fees in chapter 11 cases. Taking those previous studies into account, Prof. Lubben’s research incorporated regression models that found the addition of other variables, such as looking at a bankrupt firm’s assets and debts, presence of official committees and whether there were “first-day motions” filed in a case, to be better predictors of the costs involved in a chapter 11 case.

Find out more from the study’s primary researcher and leading experts as they discuss the results and implications of the chapter 11 professional fee study.

Click here to purchase a CD-Rom copy of the ABI Fee Study

For questions about the ABI Fee Study Webinar, please contact John Hartgen at [email protected] or (703) 739-0800 x115.

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ABI is the largest multi-disciplinary, nonpartisan organization dedicated to research and education on matters related to insolvency. ABI was founded in 1982 to provide Congress and the public with unbiased analysis of bankruptcy issues. The ABI membership includes more than 11,500 attorneys, accountants, bankers, judges, professors, lenders, turnaround specialists and other bankruptcy professionals providing a forum for the exchange of ideas and information. For additional information on ABI, visit ABI World at http://www.abiworld.org. For additional conference information, visit http://www.abiworld.org/events/newevents.html.