Bankruptcies and Workouts

The firm has extensive experience counseling unions and trust funds as creditors, in bankruptcies and other insolvency scenarios. Our work in this area commenced with airline bankruptcies in the 1980s and continues in that troubled industry today. We have developed skills and industrial knowledge applicable in many fields, particularly in the entertainment industry. Although the Bankruptcy Code is in many ways antagonistic to union interests in general and continuing responsibility for future obligations in particular, we have executed strategies and techniques through which we have facilitated collection of tens of millions of dollars in accrued and future residuals and pension and health contributions for directors, performers, writers and trust funds covering virtually all organized vocations and crafts in the motion picture industry. Our experience in this area has resulted in developing expertise in intellectual property concepts and Article 9 of the Uniform Commercial Code as we have assisted clients in obtaining and enforcing security interests in motion pictures as collateral for performance of collective bargaining obligations. We increasingly utilize these skills in a proactive manner through non-bankruptcy workouts, and anticipate continuing success in using commercial law concepts to further the interests of unions and their members.

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