When lenders decide whether to extend credit to a prospective borrower they pay careful attention to how their loan would fare relative to other lenders should the borrower encounter financial difficulties during the life of the loan. They consider the borrower’s existing capital structure and...

The COVID pandemic put unprecedented pressure on all economies around the world. Many foretold that this economic dislocation would lead to an unprecedented number of corporate bankruptcies. This did not happen. The American government and other governments responded with extraordinary measures....

Many scholars and courts have championed a plain meaning approach to interpreting commercial contracts between sophisticated parties. These parties are assumed to carefully draft contracts to make their rights and obligations clear and knowable if the language is enforced as written. However,...

It is common to observe that investors receive both cash flow rights and control rights against a borrower. The crucial differences between these two “rights” is rarely focused on. Cash flow rights are rights in that they are legal entitlements. Outside of bankruptcy, failure to pay entitles...

Financial distress has hit higher education. More and more universities and colleges are facing existential challenges as the competition for a dwindling number of students has put a strain on revenues. Unlike leaders in other industries, the presidents and chancellors of a financially...

Puerto Rico has incurred debt well beyond its ability to repay. It attempted to address its fiscal woes through legislation allowing the restructuring of some its debt. The Supreme Court put a stop to this effort, holding that Congress in the Bankruptcy Code barred the Commonwealth from enacting...

This paper articulates a framework both for assessing the various government bailouts that took place at the onset of Great Recession and for guiding future rescue efforts when they become necessary. The goals for those engineering a bailout should be to be as transparent as possible, to...

The End of Bankruptcy, published in 2002, set forth a view of corporate bankruptcy based on a theory of the firm. It argued that, for a traditional Chapter 11 proceeding to be necessary, it had to be the case that a firm had going concern surplus, that the firm's investors cannot realign the...

The on-going financial distress of Puerto Rico seems to be accelerating, with no clear resolution in sight. This essay takes stock of the current situation, and suggests a path forward. It recounts the economic stress the territory has experienced in recent years, and delineates the complex...

A meeting of international finance and insolvency experts was held on November 2, 2013 at the Annenberg House in Santa Monica, California. The meeting was co-hosted by the USC Law School and the Annenberg Retreat at Sunnylands. The goal was to solicit the views of experts on the implications of...