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Howdy,

I'm starting biglaw in NY this fall (before you tell me to quit worrying and focus on the bar: I'm clerking and already admitted in NY). The firm has convinced me to start in the bankruptcy group in part, but I have no experience in BR and didn't even take a class in it. I know almost nothing beyond doing maybe one or two assignments during my SA and minimal research on the subject on the Googles.

This might be reminiscent of the age-old annoying-0L question "what do I read to prepare for law skool??" but I thought it could be different in this situation because the learning curve might be steeper and I need to hit the ground running instead of having to look up every other word that I encounter once I start. Are there any books that I should read in advance to get a sense of the subject and the practice? Are there any bankruptcy biglawyers on here that knew next to nothing going in who could advise on what to do to prepare?

I guess I would also appreciate general advice for BR since there aren't a ton of threads on the subject. I'm aware that it's a hybrid of lit and transactional (and some in-betweeny stuff), so that's also an interesting dynamic since my experience is all lit.

Also, kind of same question for finance and securities stuff. During my SA and even when I interned for a bit at a financial regulatory agency, I felt like I was just bullshitting my way through every conversation or assignment, and learning on the job. Seriously my first day as an SA you could have said, "hey anon, what's a security?" and I would have been clueless. That was terrifying and I think maybe I should actually learn some stuff beforehand this time around. Going on investopedia is nice and helpful, but does anybody have any other advice?

Thanks!

This has been getting press coverage but I haven't read it or anything:

When Gushers Go Dry: The Essentials of Oil & Gas Bankruptcy by Deborah D. Williamson

That may not be relevant depending on your firm, but lots of NY offices are pitching for O&G bankruptcies.

unlicensedpotato wrote:This has been getting press coverage but I haven't read it or anything:

When Gushers Go Dry: The Essentials of Oil & Gas Bankruptcy by Deborah D. Williamson

That may not be relevant depending on your firm, but lots of NY offices are pitching for O&G bankruptcies.

Nice, that looks pretty interesting. Maybe too specific at this point though?

Eat What You Kill: The Fall of a Wall Street Lawyer by Milton C Regan is an entertaining book about a bankruptcy lawyer's demise. It explains in some detail about the bankruptcy process and the ethical implications/obligations that bankruptcy lawyers face. The first section on the history of modern biglaw is also pretty interesting. HTH

Anonymous User wrote:

unlicensedpotato wrote:This has been getting press coverage but I haven't read it or anything:

When Gushers Go Dry: The Essentials of Oil & Gas Bankruptcy by Deborah D. Williamson

That may not be relevant depending on your firm, but lots of NY offices are pitching for O&G bankruptcies.

Nice, that looks pretty interesting. Maybe too specific at this point though?

Probably depends on how you learn best I guess. Really, if you haven't taken any classes, you should probably just get like a secured credit E&E/Supplement at first.

DE/SDNY BK Clerk here.

For a general overview:

The Elements of Bankruptcy - Baird - https://www.amazon.com/Elements-Bankrup ... 1599417251

The Law of Bankruptcy - Tabb - https://www.amazon.com/Law-Bankruptcy-U ... bankruptcy - (there is a newer edition , but if you are just looking for a general overview it probably isn't worth the price difference, the older version just won't talk much about Stern or the subsequent cases)

I would also recommend subscribing to a few new sources/blogs that way you know what is going on in the bankruptcy world:

law360 - http://www.law360.com/bankruptcy
Weil Bankruptcy Blog - http://business-finance-restructuring.weil.com/
Reuters - http://www.reuters.com/news/archive/bankruptcyNews
ABI - http://www.abi.org/newsroom/daily-wire
wsj - http://blogs.wsj.com/bankruptcy/
Westlaw and Bloomberg are also pretty good

I would also recommend trying to figure out some of the big stuff that your firm is working on and the type of work they do. May be helpful to just have an understanding of those cases and what that type of work is like.

Finally, as terrible as this may sound, I would just read the code (specifically chapters 3, 5 and 11). This is what you'll be working on so the more you are comfortable with it the better.

Ill also add that if you have a Lexis Advanced account, Colliers on Bankruptcy is great. Provides both general overviews of bk law and gets into the nitty gritty

generaltoast wrote:Ill also add that if you have a Lexis Advanced account, Colliers on Bankruptcy is great. Provides both general overviews of bk law and gets into the nitty gritty

unlicensedpotato wrote: Ill also add that if you have a Lexis Advanced account, Colliers on Bankruptcy is great. Provides both general overviews of bk law and gets into the nitty gritty

Anonymous User wrote:DE/SDNY BK Clerk here.

For a general overview:

The Elements of Bankruptcy - Baird - https://www.amazon.com/Elements-Bankrup ... 1599417251

The Law of Bankruptcy - Tabb - https://www.amazon.com/Law-Bankruptcy-U ... bankruptcy - (there is a newer edition , but if you are just looking for a general overview it probably isn't worth the price difference, the older version just won't talk much about Stern or the subsequent cases)

I would also recommend subscribing to a few new sources/blogs that way you know what is going on in the bankruptcy world:

law360 - http://www.law360.com/bankruptcy
Weil Bankruptcy Blog - http://business-finance-restructuring.weil.com/
Reuters - http://www.reuters.com/news/archive/bankruptcyNews
ABI - http://www.abi.org/newsroom/daily-wire
wsj - http://blogs.wsj.com/bankruptcy/
Westlaw and Bloomberg are also pretty good

I would also recommend trying to figure out some of the big stuff that your firm is working on and the type of work they do. May be helpful to just have an understanding of those cases and what that type of work is like.

Finally, as terrible as this may sound, I would just read the code (specifically chapters 3, 5 and 11). This is what you'll be working on so the more you are comfortable with it the better.

These answers are all awesome and I really appreciate it. On the news source/blog point: how do you use those resources? I feel like when I subscribe to things like that, I'm inundated with information and don't end up knowing how to actually glean useful stuff from it (or I just don't have time to keep up).

These answers are all awesome and I really appreciate it. On the news source/blog point: how do you use those resources? I feel like when I subscribe to things like that, I'm inundated with information and don't end up knowing how to actually glean useful stuff from it (or I just don't have time to keep up).

I read this as part of my morning routine. Get to work, grab coffee, check my email, flip through the WSJ, read a few bk articles, then get on with my day. I wouldn't rely on it to learn the law. Rather, just to know what is going on in the bankruptcy world, to know what the big cases are and what the interesting issues are. This way when somebody asks you "hey did you see that X company filed" or "hey did you see that the 2nd Circuit ruled on Y case/issue" you won't look at them and have no idea what they are talking about.

Anonymous User wrote:
These answers are all awesome and I really appreciate it. On the news source/blog point: how do you use those resources? I feel like when I subscribe to things like that, I'm inundated with information and don't end up knowing how to actually glean useful stuff from it (or I just don't have time to keep up).

I wouldn't worry about understanding everything. The response above is exactly right - you get the gist of it and the same issues will keep coming back around. It's not a matter of you being able to write a 20 page memo on the subject. Learning the basic terminology, etc. will help you but all 1st and 2nd years are BSing to a degree. And that's because they have to - it doesn't really matter what you learned in law school or from clerking, you will know almost nothing when you start about how to perform well on your day-to-day assignments.

Agree with what's been said above, especially wrt to the code.

Chapter 11: Reorganizing American Businesses by Elizabeth Warren is a pretty legit basics guide to chapter 11.

JenDarby wrote:Agree with what's been said above, especially wrt to the code.

Chapter 11: Reorganizing American Businesses by Elizabeth Warren is a pretty legit basics guide to chapter 11.

I totally forgot Elizabeth Warren was a bankruptcy law professor. I thought maybe you were kidding or that the name was a coincidence. I'll definitely look into that one.

Also was a DE/SDNY clerk and now doing biglaw BK work.

The Wachtell distressed mergers and acquisitions is really solid and gives an overview of how a lot of these concepts work in practice. His some securities points as well. Link:

http://www.wlrk.com/files/2016/Distress ... itions.pdf

Another thing I found to be helpful is to read non-fiction books that are almost interesting enough to read like fiction--for example: Barbarians at the Gate, Too Big to Fail, Predator's Ball, The Big Short, Liar's Poker, King of Capital, Den of Thieves, and the list goes on. Basically any books on amazon related to those books that look interesting. These will all help you to learn at least some private equity/finance lingo. Learning about how the deals come together (and often destruct) is helpful context.

Otherwise, I'm sure a lot of the materials referenced above are helpful. Colliers is the gold standard for BK reference materials. I'm sure that is a good nutshell out there as well. Singing up for Law360 bankruptcy daily updates and maybe joining ABI (American Bankruptcy Institute) and signing up for their daily blasts would help as well.

Also, I believe clerks can get a subscription to Reorg Research for free--you should reach out to them and ask. Reorg Research is far and away the best chapter 11 resource--basically up to the minute information on every major chapter 11 in the country.

emciosn wrote:Also was a DE/SDNY clerk and now doing biglaw BK work.

The Wachtell distressed mergers and acquisitions is really solid and gives an overview of how a lot of these concepts work in practice. His some securities points as well. Link:

http://www.wlrk.com/files/2016/Distress ... itions.pdf

Another thing I found to be helpful is to read non-fiction books that are almost interesting enough to read like fiction--for example: Barbarians at the Gate, Too Big to Fail, Predator's Ball, The Big Short, Liar's Poker, King of Capital, Den of Thieves, and the list goes on. Basically any books on amazon related to those books that look interesting. These will all help you to learn at least some private equity/finance lingo. Learning about how the deals come together (and often destruct) is helpful context.

Otherwise, I'm sure a lot of the materials referenced above are helpful. Colliers is the gold standard for BK reference materials. I'm sure that is a good nutshell out there as well. Singing up for Law360 bankruptcy daily updates and maybe joining ABI (American Bankruptcy Institute) and signing up for their daily blasts would help as well.

Also, I believe clerks can get a subscription to Reorg Research for free--you should reach out to them and ask. Reorg Research is far and away the best chapter 11 resource--basically up to the minute information on every major chapter 11 in the country.

Nice, I like that advice. I need to get into Michael Lewis because I haven't read any of his books yet. I have Flash Boys but haven't read it yet. Maybe I should do that instead of reading fiction... anyway thanks! I'm putting some of these in my Amazon/Audible queue right away.