Perhaps the most obvious shift in day-to-day legal practice in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic is the “new normal” of virtual meetings and court proceedings.  While these can present some degree of challenge, video conferencing mediation instead of face-to-face mediation is perhaps one of the most challenging

This post sets forth fundamental tips to navigate a virtual mediation – and importantly – provides a reminder that many of the aspects of a successful mediation remain constant even during a time when so much of daily life feels variable.

Preparation:  Several elements should be considered and discussed when preparing for a mediation session in order to achieve the most successful result.

• Goals: Consider and understand your goals.  Clients and their counsel often discuss economic goals and alternatives, but should also identify non-economic sources of value.   Sources of non-economic value may open up ways of satisfying opposing parties’ goals.  For
  

Way back in 2015, we published our first edition of the most comprehensive set of opening questions for your next deposition, including follow up matters, common procedural mistakes in depositions, and the 41 questions to ask about any pertinent document.  The response was positive, which we appreciate!  In light of other depositions of ours over the past three years, and changing practices among business people (including the pervasive use of texts for everything), and more recently, the use of text-and-email-destroying-applications, we gave this list an upgrade, and decided it to publish it again for your use.

We hope you find this useful, time saving, and helpful in getting to the truth of things in your next deposition – it is located here in MS Word so you can drop it into your next deposition script in as much detail as you want.

Check back again in a few weeks –

While significant energy here at the Bankruptcy Cave is devoted to substantive bankruptcy matters, not all aspects of a general insolvency practice are always fun and litigation.  Oftentimes insolvency lawyers add the most value by helping clients avoid a bankruptcy filing, or by successfully resolving a case through a consensual transactional restructuring.  Below are a few key issues diligent counsel for creditors and debtors should think through in connection with a transactional restructuring.[1]

1. Notice and Demand After Default. As anyone reading this knows, a lender often sends a notice of default and maybe even a demand for payment after its borrower defaults.  However, simply sending a notice of default and demand for payment may not always be sufficient or have the intended effect.  Most loan documents provide a cure period before a breach becomes an actionable default.  Some loan documents will only permit a lender to accrue

Editor’s Note:  Ok, we know, this is waaaay to long for a blog post.  But this is just too good not to share!  In our continuing effort to avoid re-inventing the wheel, getting the easy stuff down to checklists, and helping us lawyers impress our virtually-impossible-to-impress clients, we offer our most recent post: everything you need (actually, must) to do to get ready to defend a deposition (including the critical steps to take to prepare your witness).  We have previously posted in our A++ Forms and Resources (TM), great checklists on the timeline of all steps to prepare to take the perfect deposition, the script you should always have in your lit bag to make a perfect record for a no-show deposition (it happens!), and the super-comprehensive list of opening questions to get to everything a witness could know.  All of these, and the post below,

Editor’s Note: While we at The Bankruptcy Cave always enjoy writing about new cases or legal developments, we really love using our posts as an opportunity to pass along tips, easily forgotten rules, and things that make the client think you are a rock star (and avoid a client’s distrust in your ability to captain the Chapter 11 ship).  (For prior A++ Forms and Resources on taking depositions, see here; on preparing for a deposition, see here; and on preparing for and handling the no-show deposition, see here.)  Here is our latest, focusing on the petition package, filing the case, and first days.  Coming in a few weeks is a post on preparing the list of creditors, and the tips and traps of giving proper notice to creditors and avoiding foibles (or worse, accusations) relating to notice of the case and the 20 largest