law professor

Mallinckrodt’s Second Bankruptcy ‘Flagrant’ Case of Bad Plan

Drugmaker Mallinckrodt Plc‘s return to bankruptcy, where it will substantially reduce payments to opioid claimants, comes after it fell short of overly optimistic projections from its first Chapter 11.

Opioid claimants will now see their $1.7 billion settlement fund established through Mallinckrodt’s first bankruptcy slashed to $700 million as a result of the flawed financial forecasts embedded in the company’s prior restructuring plan, which faced little formal pushback in court.

The proposed reduction in settlement funds will be “devastating” to opioid claimants, said Joseph Steinfeld, an opioid victim lawyer with ASK LLP.

The company’s Chapter 11 filing on Monday comes slightly more than a year after it emerged from its first bankruptcy with a deal resolving litigation from individuals and state and local governments that accused it of contributing to the national opioid crisis.

The first bankruptcy was supposed to be final. All corporate debtors are required to show a judge they can meet the obligations of their restructuring plans and are unlikely to restructure again, a standard known as “feasibility.” The bankruptcy code says a plan can be confirmed if it is “not likely” to be followed by further restructuring or liquidation.

Still, Chapter 11 refilings are

… Read the rest
September 4, 2023 by ATTORNEY

J&J’s first attempt to escape cancer claims with bankruptcy failed. Now it’s trying again

Johnson & Johnson’s first attempt at using bankruptcy to escape claims that its popular baby powder caused cancer was an expensive gamble that drew public scorn and ended in failure.

But on Tuesday, just hours after a judge officially ended that first effort, J&J tried the gambit again. The company put the same subsidiary that had been tossed out of bankruptcy court back into Chapter 11, this time with a plan to pay $8.9 billion to resolve the decades-old cancer claims. The move has already drawn the ire of some victim lawyers and raised eyebrows among legal scholars, who are asking why this time will be any different.

“They are taking a massive gamble here,” said Lindsey Simon, a University of Georgia law professor who has studied how corporations use the U.S. bankruptcy rules to resolve mass-tort suits. “This Chapter 11 case could very well go the same way as the first one did — kicked out of court.”

People are also reading…

J&J faces two major hurdles: it must survive any new legal challenge from opponents who are likely to argue the second case is just as flawed as the first,

… Read the rest
April 9, 2023 by ATTORNEY

Crypto meltdown a boon for bankruptcy lawyers

Dec 2 (Reuters) – Turmoil in the cryptocurrency industry has rattled major exchanges and sent the value of digital assets tumbling, but at least one group stands to gain: bankruptcy lawyers.

High-profile bankruptcies involving crypto exchange FTX, hedge fund Three Arrows Capital and crypto lenders BlockFi, Celsius Network and Voyager Digital Ltd are generating new opportunities – and big fees – for law firms that counsel troubled companies.

Large law firms can rake in more than $100 million in legal fees during a long-running bankruptcy, experts said.

“You’ve got to pay the gravedigger,” said Adam Levitin, a law professor at Georgetown University who specializes in bankruptcy law. “These are complicated cases with a bunch of novel issues, and it shouldn’t be surprising that they are going to require a lot of attorney involvement.”

The value of bitcoin has dropped 65% so far this year, dragging down other crypto assets and leaving investors reeling. The spectacular implosion of FTX last month sent fresh shock waves through the cryptocurrency industry.

One U.S. law firm, Kirkland & Ellis, is representing BlockFi in its bankruptcy case filed on Monday and is also lead counsel for Celsius Network and Voyager Digital, which both filed

… Read the rest
December 4, 2022 by ATTORNEY

Nikolas Bowie, constitutional law and legal history scholar, named professor of law at Harvard
Man in a black sweater standing in front of a tree.

Credit: Lorin Granger

Nikolas Bowie ’14, a scholar of constitutional law, local government law, and legal history, is being promoted to professor of law at Harvard Law School, effective July 1.

Bowie joined the Harvard Law faculty as an assistant professor in 2018. He was previously the Reginald Lewis Law Teaching Fellow at Harvard, while completing a Ph.D. in history at Harvard University.

“Niko Bowie brings creativity and brilliance to developing new and compelling ways of understanding constitutional law and legal history,” said John F. Manning ’85, the Morgan and Helen Chu Dean and Professor of Law at Harvard Law School. “Professor Bowie is also an inspiring and dedicated teacher and a generous colleague whose energy and love of ideas have added so much to the Harvard Law School community.”

A historian who teaches courses in federal constitutional law, state constitutional law, and local government law, Bowie’s research focuses on critical legal histories of democracy in the United States.

“The workers and students of Harvard Law School have an incredibly important responsibility to help establish justice in the world around us,” said Bowie. “I am honored to have the confidence of the faculty that I will do my

… Read the rest
June 16, 2022 by LAW

Law professor targets Johnny Depp’s attorney Camille Vasquez in ‘offensive’ tweets
Law professor targets Johnny Depp’s attorney Camille Vasquez in ‘offensive’ tweets
Law professor targets Johnny Depp’s attorney Camille Vasquez in ‘offensive’ tweets

Internet is bashing a well known law professor for writing “offensive and disparaging” tweets about Johnny Depp’s lawyer, Camille Vasquez.

According to New York Post report, a Stanford law professor Michele Dauber took to Twitter last Thursday and shared a screenshot of Vasquez and accusing the superstar attorney of “sucking up to male power.”

He further continued, “Of all the women who suck up to male power, women lawyers are the absolute worst of the bunch.”

“Desperate to prove they are ‘real lawyers’ and understanding that being a woman undermines their identity as lawyers, they throw women under the bus as hard and fast as they can,” Dauber wrote.

The law professor was bashed for her harsh words about Vasquez. Reacting to his tweets, one follower wrote, “If your son was falsely accused of domestic violence, I bet you would love for that woman to help vindicate him.”

Dauber subsequently snapped back and replied, “If my son was accused of DV [domestic violence] he would have a lot more to worry about than some Pick Me Girl lawyer. But that isn’t going to happen because

… Read the rest
June 11, 2022 by ATTORNEY
May 2024
M T W T F S S
 12345
6789101112
13141516171819
20212223242526
2728293031