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...

We present strong evidence of supra-competitive pricing of debtor-in-possession (DIP) loans to large firms in Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Over-collateralized and with super-priority, strong covenants, rollups, and debtor-funded monitoring costs, these loans are almost risk-free. Nonetheless, loan...

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...