'Megabankruptcies': Changes On the Way?

Certainly, the legal and business communities are not alone in their despair; the bankruptcy judges share it, too, and the more thoughtful of their number would like to solve some of these problems, and thus do their job better. Thus, it comes as no surprise that a working subgroup of the Federal Judicial Center convened a “Conference on Large Chapter 11 Cases,” and recently released a detailed report (See the June 9, 2004 daily edition of the newsletter for ABIWorld, the Web site of the American Bankruptcy Institute at www.abiworld.org). The conference report not only addresses some of the more pressing problems, it makes some suggestions for beneficial change that, even if not enacted into statute or the Federal Rules of Bankruptcy Procedure, could become the foundation for judges' individual rules or set new standards for local or even national “best practices.” Given this potentially far-reaching impact, some analysis and commentary is in order.