We examine chief executive officer (CEO) career and compensation changes for large firms filing for Chapter 11. One-third of the incumbent CEOs maintain executive employment, and these CEOs experience a median compensation change of zero. However, incumbent CEOs leaving the executive labor...

This paper studies the presence of hedge funds in the Chapter 11 process and their effects on bankruptcy outcomes. Hedge funds strategically choose positions in the capital structure where their actions could have a bigger impact on value. Their presence, especially as unsecured creditors, helps...

Drawing on a large sample of defaulted corporate debt from 1996 to 2007, we find that the debt recovery estimated using the Leland-Toft endogenous bankruptcy model has strong explanatory power on the debt recovery observed in the market. Our results hold after firm characteristics, industry...

Linking the trading price of distressed debt after Chapter 11 filing to the ultimate recovery for a large sample of Chapter 11 cases in the past decade, this paper finds that senior bonds realize large returns while junior bonds realize losses during bankruptcy reorganization. This study then...

Drawing on a large sample of defaulted corporate debt from 1996 to 2007, we find that the debt recovery estimated using the Leland-Toft endogenous bankruptcy model has strong explanatory power on the debt recovery observed in the market. Our results hold after firm characteristics, industry...

Exploiting a setting in which lead counsel lawyers are selected before the random assignment of bankruptcy judges, we examine if past interactions between lead counsel lawyers and judges influence corporate bankruptcy outcomes. Debtors' counsel who are familiar with the judge speed up the...