Investment firm 777 Partners has hired a clutch of lawyers from Gray Reed & McGraw LLP to help it navigate the bankruptcy it began with nearly $3 billion of debt after a creditor's involuntary Chapter 7 petition expedited its Chapter 11 plans.
A newly minted bankruptcy lawyer can come out of law school prepared for many things, but attorneys say there are a considerable number of details not covered in a classroom, from the importance of learning how a bankrupt business works to how to talk a client out of a bad idea.
While First Brands sought to follow a Chapter 11 plan strategy like the one employed by Steward Health Care that aimed to pay professionals out of recoveries from future litigation, experts — and the judge himself — said the speculative nature of the strategy was a step too far for confirmation.