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Business Bankruptcy Basics

Maja Zerjal Fink, a partner with Clifford Chance US LLP, discusses causes of business distress, including macroeconomic downturns, supply chain disruptions, rising interest rates and regulatory issues. She explains out-of-court workouts as a preferred method due to lower costs and less disruption, emphasizing the need for creditor support. Fink details the role of professionals like restructuring counsel and financial advisors in the process. She also covers the benefits and drawbacks of bankruptcy, including the automatic stay and the potential loss of management control. The discussion highlights the uses of and requirements for chapters 7, 11, 12 and 15 of the Bankruptcy Code.

Tags:
Keywords:

business distress, economic downturn, supply chain disruptions, liquidity issues, disruptive technologies, regulatory issues, management issues, out-of-court workouts, bankruptcy filing, restructuring support, automatic stay, debtor in possession

Duration:

24 minutes 29 seconds

Maja Zerjal Fink is a partner with Clifford Chance US LLP in New York, where her practice focuses on all aspects of corporate reorganizations, distressed situations and bankruptcy and insolvency proceedings in the U.S. and across the globe. Her experience includes advising private-equity sponsors, debtors, foreign debtors and representatives, lenders, official creditor committees, creditors and equityholders in bankruptcy proceedings and in-court and out-of-court restructurings. Ms. Zerjal Fink was honored as an ABI 40 Under 40 in 2020 and has been recognized by Law360 (2020), Super Lawyers (2020) and The Legal 500 (2019) as a Rising Star, and she was inducted in the International Insolvency Institute’s NextGen Program in 2020. She has guest-lectured at Harvard Law School, the University of Michigan Law School and the University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School, and she writes extensively on restructuring topics, including in Bloomberg Law and Debtwire. She also is a member of the Editorial Board of International Corporate Rescue, a corporate restructuring and insolvency journal, and serves as the co-secretary and board member of the International Insolvency Institute’s Model Laws@Work Thought Leadership Project. Ms. Zerjal Fink received her B.A. from the University of Ljubljana in Slovenia, where she was first in class, and her LL.M. from Harvard Law School, where she was Dean’s Scholar in Corporate Reorganization and senior editor of the Harvard Business Law Review.

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