Law Practice Management
Hot: Bankruptcy in NY & Delaware; Cooler: Bankruptcy Practice Elsewhere
Posted Sep 18, 2008, 03:43 pm CST
By Martha Neil
How hot is bankruptcy practice in New York City right now?
"Similar to the cleanup crews descending on Texas in the aftermath of Hurricane Ike, financial cleanup crews are mobilizing around the wreckage of Lehman Brothers," reports Crain's New York Business."Within minutes of Monday’s bankruptcy announcement, the cell phones of hundreds of lawyers, accountants and consultants started chirping."
And the stock market debacle is also likely to keep white-collar criminal defense lawyers busy, says partner Marc Mukasey of Bracewell & Giuliani. He heads this practice group at his firm, which is actively looking for more lawyers right now. "If you even think you might need a lawyer, you probably needed one two weeks ago," he tells Crain's.
But bankruptcy practice is cooler in other geographic areas, says David Neff, a partner in the Chicago office of Perkins Coie.
"Outside of New York and Delaware, 90 percent of the corporate bankruptcy lawyers in the country have not seen a significant uptick in Chapter 11 work," he tells ABAJournal.com in an e-mail. "However, they are wondering—perhaps hoping—that this is the calm before the storm."
Alternatively, an eventual rise in interest rates could also be good news for bankruptcy practitioners, he says. "Interest rates are our historical driver of Chapter 11 work."