2 PerspectivesJune 6, 2009

Settlement Perspectives: The Newsletter, June 2009

A Brief FYI for Readers Seeing This as a Post Online:

This continues the series of Settlement Perspectives Newsletters I started in January, sent occasionally to those who have requested the email version. If you’d like to receive future editions directly, feel free to send me an email or sign up using the space provided on the right and I’ll put you on the list. Future newsletters will be posted here only occasionally. Thanks–

JD

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Dear Newsletter Reader–

Welcome to another issue of Settlement Perspectives’ occasional newsletter, designed to explore even further what we usually discuss — thoughts on how to resolve disputes and get your deal done.

These newsletters are designed to deliver three things:

1. A preview of upcoming posts on Settlement Perspectives;
2. Recent news, comments and miscellaneous information; and
3. Highlights of recent posts on Settlement Perspectives.

A Quick Restructuring Update

As many of you know from my most recent post, BearingPoint, Inc., the company I serve as general counsel, filed a voluntary Chapter 11 Petition before the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York on February 18th.  I have linked to a few of BearingPoint’s press releases issued since then, which should explain why you haven’t heard much from me lately.  Since our initial Chapter 11 filing we:

1. Announced the planned sale of substantially all of our businesses to a number of parties, including our agreement to sell BearingPoint’s Public Sector business unit to Deloitte LLP;
2. Closed the sale of BearingPoint’s Public Sector business unit to Deloitte LLP;
3. Signed and later closed an agreement to sell BearingPoint’s Japan operations to PWC Advisory Co., Ltd.; and
4. Signed an agreement to sell BearingPoint’s Commercial Services business unit to PricewaterhouseCoopers, LLP and obtained court approval for that sale following an all-night auction that was an experience unlike any other.

Other News, Comments and Events

I am happy to report that the ACC Docket featured as its May 2009 cover article a piece that Wendy Toolin Breau of Ernst & Young and I coauthored on managing insurance relationships in the midst of significant litigation, entitled “‘Bet the Company’ Litigation from a Policyholder’s Perspective”.  You’ll see a follow-up post (or two) to this article in August.

I’m also happy to include links to the materials from two of the presentations More…

Categories: Blogging,Mediation,Miscellaneous,Newsletters

4 PerspectivesFebruary 21, 2009

Negotiating a Debt Restructuring: The Out of Office AutoReply

As I write this I’m on yet another plane ride, but this one’s different. I’m flying home following some of the most intense, important negotiations I’ll ever be a part of. This isn’t a post about the details of our negotiations, since it’ll never be appropriate to write about most of those. Today I write simply to ask for your patience, because I won’t be posting much for the next month or two.

The Plan and the Filing

In case you haven’t heard, my company, BearingPoint, Inc., reached an agreement in principle with its senior secured lenders to restructure the Company’s debt on Wednesday. The Company’s press release with further details can be found here and the Wall Street Journal’s coverage of the story can be found here, but the high points are: More…

Categories: Fundamentals,Miscellaneous,Negotiation

7 PerspectivesFebruary 13, 2009

Settlement Advice: Avoid the Assembly Line

The other day I wrote a post about trust. It was a simple post, really. I recounted a story about a recent tire purchase where I asked for four new tires, and my service rep convinced me I only needed three. I trust her more now than I did before, and to most this would hardly be a controversial result. It took a lawyer at Legal OnRamp to turn this ordinary lesson in trust into much more.

An Unexpected Lesson at Legal OnRamp

Soon after publishing my post I stumbled across a reply on Legal OnRamp, More…

Categories: Communication,Fundamentals,Settlement

2 PerspectivesFebruary 6, 2009

Claims for Attorneys’ Fees: How Rule 68 Can (Sometimes) Help

Most lawyers in federal court believe that Rule 68 isn’t much of a threat, and for the most part they’re right. We discussed why this is true previously, but in that same post we highlighted one noteworthy exception: Rule 68 can cut off plaintiffs’ claims for attorneys’ fees in some cases. Today we’ll discuss when that might be, and how you can make Rule 68 work for you.

Rule 68 and Attorneys’ Fees: The Law

The General Rule. As we discussed more fully in Part I of this series, the text of Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 68 imposes a penalty on a plaintiff who refuses More…

Categories: Negotiation,Rule 68,Strategy