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Cooley Bankruptcy Chair Testifies to House Judiciary Committee on 2005 Bankruptcy Code's Impact on Retailers
| Source: Cooley Godward Kronish LLP
NEW YORK, NY--(Marketwire - October 10, 2008) - Lawrence Gottlieb, Chair of Cooley Godward
Kronish LLP's Bankruptcy & Restructuring Group, appeared recently before
the U.S. House Judiciary Subcommittee on Commercial and Administrative Law
to inform key members of Congress about the impact of 2005 bankruptcy code
changes on retailers filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
With the recent changes among investment banks and the banking industry,
Gottlieb was asked to speak about trends in retail restructuring in a
committee hearing about whether Chapter 11 bankruptcies are working.
"The systemic decline of Chapter 11 reorganization has also invaded the
retail sector, where 'hard assets' are no less prevalent today than they
were in the 1990s, a time when many distressed retailers used the
significant powers and protections of the Chapter 11 process to resuscitate
their businesses," noted Gottlieb.
Gottlieb is one of three of Cooley's Bankruptcy & Restructuring Group
partners listed in the top five unsecured creditor lawyers by The Deal,
based on the number of active assignments as of August 27, 2008. Partners
Jay R. Indyke and Cathy Hershcopf are also listed as top bankruptcy
lawyers, based on the number of active assignments as of June 30, 2008.
Gottlieb serves as Chair of Cooley's Bankruptcy & Restructuring Group,
which has received notable accolades recently for its representation in
numerous bankruptcy proceedings. The Firm ranked #2 among top unsecured
creditor law firms with 62 active cases by The Deal in a recently published
quarterly bankruptcy league tables and was the seventh most active firm
advising in bankruptcy proceedings that were active as of June 30, 2008.
Cooley currently has 188 active cases, including high-profile national
retail bankruptcies Steve & Barry's, The Bombay Company, CompUSA, Hancock
Fabrics, Lillian Vernon and The Sharper Image.
"This year has gotten progressively more active in terms of the volume of
bankruptcy matters, although the majority of retail bankruptcies are still
resulting in liquidation events," said Gottlieb. "We expect that the weak
economy will continue to generate a significant amount of representations
for our department."
In addition to a number of national retailer assignments, Cooley is
representing the creditor's committees in regional retail bankruptcies for
companies including Mervyns, Shoe Pavilion, Boscov's and Goody's.
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