Business Bankruptcy Boot Camp: Chapter 11 Demystified

Faculty:

Mette Kurth is a partner in the Bankruptcy and Financial Restructuring Group.

Mette’s practice focuses on all aspects of financial restructuring, distressed situations, and bankruptcy issues, and she uses her experience to develop pragmatic and creative solutions to protect her client’s interests. Mette has represented a variety of creditors' committees, debtors, unsecured creditors, acquirers of bankrupt companies, and trustees both in out-of-court workouts and in federal bankruptcy cases.

She also regularly represents other parties in bankruptcy-related litigation and handles other insolvency-related matters such as counseling indenture trustees or boards of directors. She has represented parties in numerous industries, including retail, manufacturing and distribution, imports, healthcare, fitness, financial services, real estate, agriculture, transportation, telecommunications, and multi-level marketing.

Mette’s representative work includes:

•  Represented the official creditors' committee of a regional fitness club in connection with the debtor's efforts to sell its business; successfully opposed the debtor's proposal to sell the company to an insider, accompanied by significant contracts and releases, and instead secured the approval of the highest and best bidder for the debtor’s assets, as selected by the committee, over the objection of the debtor and the unsuccessful insider

•  Represented the official creditors' committee of a major apparel retailer in connection with the debtor’s efforts to reorganize or sell its business; successfully opposed the debtor’s proposal to sell the debtor’s assets to an insider without the benefit of an investment banker, and ultimately secured the approval of the sale of the debtor’s assets to a strategic buyer, a publicly traded company, for value in excess of that offered by the debtor’s proposed insider transaction

•  Successfully represented numerous publicly-traded and privately held debtors in all aspects of their Chapter 11 reorganizations, including a multi-level marketing organization that emerged from bankruptcy in less than eight months; a debtor filing a pre-packaged plan of reorganization in California; numerous debtors using the chapter 11 process to conduct orderly going-concern sales, and a debtor that obtained a 105 injunction staying litigation against key management and shareholders to facilitate its reorganization efforts

•  Successfully represented various companies in out-of-court workouts including a publicly traded, national retailer negotiating numerous lease modification and termination agreements that enabled the retailer to avoid a bankruptcy

•  Advised financially healthy companies with respect to bankruptcy-related matters such as the risks associated with potential defaults or bankruptcies by third parties such as vendors, customers and landlords; minimizing preference and credit-risk exposure when dealing with financially distressed business; resolving preference litigation and advising companies regarding the use of complex financial tools such as account receivable put option contracts designed to minimize the credit risk

•  Represented one of the largest commercial banks in the country in its capacity as Indenture Trustee on behalf of holders of over $2 billion in principal amount of senior notes in connection with two separate chapter 11 cases, one in the telecommunications industry and the other in the airline industry

Mette’s professional affiliations include:

•  Turnaround Management Association
   National Board of Directors (2009-Present)
   National Standards Committee for Certified Turnaround Professionals (2008-2009)
   President, Southern California chapter (2006-2008)
   Program Chairman, Southern California chapter (2004-2006)
•  California Bankruptcy Forum, Conference Co-Chairman (2009)
•  Los Angeles Bankruptcy Forum
   Secretary (2007-2008)
   Board of Directors (2005-2007)
•  Financial Lawyers Conference
   Board of Governors (2005-2007)
•  American Bankruptcy Institute
•  American Bar Association, Business Law Section
•  Los Angeles County Bar Association
•  State Bar of California, Business Law Section
•  International Women’s Insolvency & Restructuring Confederation (IWIRC)

Publications, Presentations and Recognitions:

“Best Lawyers in America” recently selected Mette for inclusion in its 2009 rankings and she has been recognized by Los Angeles Magazine as a Southern California Super Lawyer in 2009 in Bankruptcy & Creditor/Debtor Rights. She was previously selected by Los Angeles Magazine as a Rising Star in 2005, 2006 and 2008. Under Mette’s leadership, the Southern California chapter of the Turnaround Management Association was recognized as “The Most Improved Chapter of the Year” for 2007.

Mette has spoken on numerous panels regarding insolvency-related topics.

Mette received her JD from UCLA (Order of the Coif; Chief Articles Editor, UCLA Law Review) in 1996.

Nathan is an experienced financial advisor and management consultant who focuses on providing advisory services and interim management to distressed companies and their constituents, as well as companies in periods of transition. He has significant experience in crisis management, capital structure refinancing, cash and working capital management, cost reduction plan development and implementation, business plan development, valuation, and bankruptcy.

Most recently, Nathan served as interim Chief Financial Officer of Hilex Poly Co. LLC (“Hilex”), which is the world’s largest plastic bag company. In this role, Nathan helped lead the company through a pre-packaged Chapter 11 restructuring and had day-to-day responsibility for managing the company’s accounting, finance, and IT functions. Prior to this role, Nathan served as Hilex’s interim Treasurer. As interim Treasurer, he directly managed the company’s liquidity and working capital activities, and assisted in the implementation of various initiatives, which led to an improvement in the company’s year-over-year EBITDA of almost 50%. During his tenure at Hilex, Nathan assisted in the negotiation and closing of $535 million of debt financing transactions.

Prior to Hilex, Nathan served as an interim accounting Director for Mirant Corporation, a $3 billion competitive energy company. During the company’s Chapter 11 restructuring (the largest filed in the U.S. in 2003), Nathan led a team in the analysis of over $60 billion of inter-company transactions, as well as the resolution of various bankruptcy and litigation claims, which were critical gating items to the company’s emergence from bankruptcy.

Nathan has advised debtors and creditors in various other restructuring matters, and frequently assists in complex bankruptcy litigation, including matters involving fraudulent conveyances, preferential transfers, and substantive consolidation. In addition, he has extensive valuation experience in restructuring, transactional, and litigation contexts.

Prior to joining AlixPartners, Nathan was a Principal Consultant in the Financial Advisory Services group of Price Waterhouse. He was also previously a Senior Associate in the Business Strategy practice of Diamond Management and Technology Consultants, Inc., and a Senior Consultant of Peterson Consulting (now a division of Navigant Consulting). Further, Nathan previously worked at Hewlett Packard (“HP”), where he assisted in the IPO and financial separation of Agilent Technologies from HP.

Nathan holds an MBA in finance and corporate strategy from the UCLA Anderson School of Management, where he served as President of the Management Consulting Association. He holds a BBA in accounting from the University of Michigan Ross School of Business, where he graduated with high distinction. Nathan is a CPA and a Level III CFA Candidate, and is a Board member of the Turnaround Management Association – Southern California Chapter. He is also a member of the American Bankruptcy Institute, Association of Insolvency and Restructuring Advisors, American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, CFA Institute, and CFA Society of Los Angeles.
 

Neil Bason practices in the area of business reorganization and financial restructuring. Mr. Bason's practice encompasses representation of trustees, secured and unsecured creditors, entities contemplating or initiating bankruptcy cases or workouts, persons who seek to purchase assets out of bankruptcy and third parties whose interests need to be protected in distressed debt situations, including parties to contracts and leases with debtors in bankruptcy.

Prior to joining Duane Morris, Mr. Bason served for eight years as a law clerk to U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Dennis Montali in the Northern District of California and Bankruptcy Appellate Panel of the Ninth Circuit.

During his tenure, he worked on approximately 70 BAP decisions and numerous trial court dispositions. Before clerking Mr. Bason was in private practice for a decade in Massachusetts and in the Bay Area, during which time he focused primarily on debtor-creditor disputes.

Following law school, Mr. Bason was a law clerk to Chief Justice Paul J. Liacos of the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts.

Selected Publications

•  "Directors' and Officers' Duties in Troubled Times," Howard Rice Private Client Services Newsletter, 2009
•  "Bankruptcy Sales: A Recent Decision Illustrates Some Risks And Opportunities," Business Law News, a publication of the California State Bar, 2009
•  "Risk Of Losing Your Initial Investment, And Risk of 'Clawbacks'—Having To Pay Back Any Distributions That You Received," Howard Rice Private Client Services Newsletter, 2009
•  "Recent U.S. bankruptcy court decision Highlights In-House Counsel Vulnerability," Howard Rice Client Alert Newsletter, 2008
•  "Recent Developments In Assets Sales," Law360, 2008
•  "Ninth Circuit Deletes Controversial Footnote Questioning Entz-White [In re Future Media Productions, Inc.]," Insolvency Law Committee - Business Law Section of the State Bar of California Bankruptcy e-Bulletin, 2008
•  Co-Author, "Ninth Circuit Rules That Oversecured Creditor Presumptively Entitled to Contractual Default Interest, And Cure Might Not Nullify Default Consequences [In re Future Media Productions, Inc.]," Insolvency Law Committee - Business Law Section of the State Bar of California Bankruptcy e-Bulletin, 2008
•  "California Bankruptcy-Only Exemptions Violate Supremacy Clause," Insolvency Law Committee - Business Law Section of the State Bar of California Bankruptcy e-Bulletin, 2008
•  Co-Author, "Getting Tarred by Others' Wrongdoing," California Lawyer, 2008
•  Co-Author, "In-House Counsel Beware: Miller v. McDonald," Bankruptcy Law360, 2008
•  "Financial Handbook for Bankruptcy Professionals," Thomson West (Principal Contributor, 1996 edition & Supplements 1997-2001)
Selected Speaking Engagements
•  Webinar Panelist , "Directors' And Officers' Duties In The Zone Of Insolvency," 2009
•  "Recent Developments in Bankruptcy Sales," Bar Association of San Francisco, 2008
•  "Clearing the Channel: Navigating The Sale Waters After Clear Channel," Insolvency Law Committee Webinar, 2008
•  "First Day Cash Collateral and Financing Motions: How The Judge Evaluates Them And Approaches Grey Areas," San Francisco Bank Attorneys' Association, 2008
•  "Bankruptcy: An In-Depth Guide," Pincus Professional Education, 2008
•  "Bankruptcy Practice: A Practical Primer," Pincus Professional Education, 2007