In fact, bankruptcy practitioners tend to be both specialists and generalists. Certainly, a seasoned bankruptcy practitioner must be conversant in the nuances of the Bankruptcy Code and the Bankruptcy Courts and in advising corporate and individual debtors with respect to a potential bankruptcy filing. In that respect, they are specialists in the field of bankruptcy law. At the same time, they are generalists in a multitude of areas of the law seeking to address finance, securities, corporate, tax, real estate, sales, class actions, claims, creditor rights, environmental laws, and a vast array of litigation issues, many of which arise well before a bankruptcy filing is even broached.

In the first instance, bankruptcy attorneys, like those at Barton, seek to assist an entity avoid the need to even consider a bankruptcy filing. As generalists, they generally should have extensive experience communicating with creditors, both secured and unsecured and of all sizes, negotiating workouts, forbearances and forgiveness of debts. They can work with a distressed company, and other parties, in working through both uncontested and contested out-of-court restructurings; while at the same time providing crisis management advice.

Bankruptcy attorneys are also advisors to the various layers of creditors of a particular debtor. When a debt falls into distress a wide array of options and rights come into play which many times is based on whether a creditor has some form of security or priority to their claim as opposed to being a general unsecured claim. Agreements and filings, among other documents, need to be reviewed and analyzed to determine what rights truly exist in a given distress situation as well as what a creditor's state and federal rights are under the law. Most bankruptcy attorneys spend almost as much time advising creditors as they do debtor clients.

Acquisition-minded individuals and companies, as well as venture capitalists, also look to bankruptcy attorneys and frequently have done so over the past couple of decades when more and more distressed situations have been deemed to provide significant investment opportunities. The sale and purchase of distressed assets has become big business in and of itself during the past several decades and to the point of where almost anything has the potential for being monetized and sold to the benefit of distressed debtors and their creditors. Bankruptcy attorneys are in the forefront of advising the many parties involved in the world of distressed asset acquisitions and liquidations.

Additionally, companies use the bankruptcy process to restructure onerous contracts, intellectual property rights and real estate portfolios. The Bankruptcy Code provides avenues for restructuring, renegotiating, selling and/or terminating contracts and rights that do not exist outside of bankruptcy.

The above is just a sampling of the many facets of a bankruptcy practice. However, one thing is clear, it is a practice to which a bankruptcy filing is generally a path of last resort and instead involves so much more that may be of benefit to both companies and individuals well before the word "bankruptcy" even comes into play. If you have questions regarding bankruptcy and its many areas, please contact Eric W. Sleeper.