I don’t know about you, but I enjoy taking harmless online quizzes. “Test your knowledge of this week’s headlines” or “See how many of these movies you can recognize.” Well, I bet some of you Type A lawyers, judges, professors, and potential clients (who Googled everything about Chapter 11) fancy yourselves bankruptcy experts and want
Happy New Year! – Looking Back on 25 Years of Professional Websites – Part 3
It’s finally time to wrap-up this New Year’s series. As I mentioned in Part 1, I thought it would be fun use the Wayback Machine to take a look back at how professional websites—law firm sites, in particular—have evolved over the last 25 years. It’s my way of saying Thank You to those I’ve worked with and those who have supported the blog over the last 8 years.
In Part 1, I focused on the big national firms. In Part 2, I focused on organizations I’ve been a part of since 1994 and firms in Middle Georgia.
In Part 3, I’ll mainly focus on Atlanta firms with bankruptcy departments, large and small.
The larger firms get a longer look in this series only because their sites were generally established earlier (meaning they likely had funnier content) and indexed more frequently than the smaller firms (meaning more content is available). The larger firms were also the starting point for so many of our Georgia friends before they went out on their own.
I must note that there were so many firms that I wanted to cover and I looked into pretty deeply but ultimately couldn’t cover due to indexing issues. If you see your logo in the picture but didn’t see any coverage, then just know I tried really hard.
(As a reminder, many of the website photos below are clickable but warning that the Archive seems to be down intermittently this morning.)
Continue Reading Happy New Year! – Looking Back on 25 Years of Professional Websites – Part 3
Happy New Year! – Looking Back on 25 Years of Professional Websites – Part 2
Welcome back to my multi-part New Year’s post.
As I mentioned in Part 1, as Stone & Baxter was wrapping up its 25th year and Plan Proponent posted its 99th post in 2021, I thought it would be fun use the Wayback Machine to take a look back at how professional websites—law firm sites, in particular—have evolved over the last 25 years. It’s my way of saying Thank You to those I’ve worked with and those who have supported the blog for the last 7 years.
In Part 1, I focused on the big national firms. Naturally, King & Spalding’s 2001 Recruiting Bloopers Reel was the star attraction. That post had relatively broad appeal and was even noticed by the leading legal tech journalist in the U.S.
In Part 2, I’ll leave the big firms, the Atlanta firms, and the cringe behind until Part 3. Instead, I’ll focus on organizations I’ve been a part of since 1994 and firms in Middle Georgia.
Continue Reading Happy New Year! – Looking Back on 25 Years of Professional Websites – Part 2
Happy New Year! – Looking Back on 25 Years of Professional Websites – Part 1
This long overdue New Year’s post, which I actually started in December 2021, will have nothing to do with serious work stuff. Instead, as Stone & Baxter was wrapping up its 25th year and Plan Proponent posted its 99th post, I thought it would be fun to take a look back at how professional websites—law firm sites, in particular—have evolved over the last 25 years.
First, it’s a long, multi-part Thank You to those I’ve worked with and those who have supported the blog for the last 7 years. Second, it’s a nostalgia piece that only the internet can provide. Third, it’s a New Year’s reminder to stay humble. After all, even mega law firms, now with $1 billion in annual revenues each, once thought it was good marketing to display gavels, click counters, guestbooks, recruiting blooper reels, and even a Yahtzee game on their fancy-for-the-times 90s websites. Thanks to the Wayback Machine, I’ve got the receipts!
I hope you enjoy this series even slightly as much as I did. Happy New Year!
Continue Reading Happy New Year! – Looking Back on 25 Years of Professional Websites – Part 1
Judge W. Homer Drake, Jr. (1932-2022)
Judge W. Homer Drake, Jr. (N.D. Ga.), one of the longest serving U.S. bankruptcy judges in history (over 53 years) and who retired on January 31, 2021, died on Friday at his home in Newnan, Georgia. He was 90. I learned about Judge Drake’s passing from fellow LexBlog blogger and Georgia bankruptcy attorney Scott Riddle who posted Judge Drake’s obituary.
It was just this time last year that I wrapped-up a seven-part tribute to Judge Drake, which included a detailed biographical introduction, followed by six posts that covered Judge Drake’s Top 10 most cited bankruptcy plan confirmation opinions (among over 555 indexed opinions).
I, like so many, will miss Judge Drake. In tribute, here is the series all in one place.
As an update, here is the “Celebration of Life” video for the December 14, 2022 service:
Michigan Bankruptcy Court Examines Subchapter V Confirmation Requirements
Mercifully, I’m going to experiment with how short I can make case summaries. Earlier this month, Michigan Bankruptcy Judge Applebaum denied confirmation in Lapeer Aviation’s Subchapter V bankruptcy cases. Lapeer operates the Dupont-Lapeer Airport (D95), which is about 25 miles east of Flint. Before addressing 4 objections, which were raised in a two-day evidentiary hearing , the Court reminds us that, even without objections, it has an independent duty to inquire into the plan confirmation requirements.
Ultimately, the Court denied confirmation for liquidation test and unfair discrimination reasons.
Continue Reading Michigan Bankruptcy Court Examines Subchapter V Confirmation Requirements
A Tribute to Jerome L. “Jerry” Kaplan
“Stand next to Jerry at any bar or statewide CLE event, and you’ll meet everyone.” That’s what my new colleagues told me when I joined Stone & Baxter. They were right. Ward Stone (my mentor) and Jerry Kaplan (Ward’s mentor) picked me up at my house on March 18, 2010—literally my first day at the firm—to attend SBLI in Atlanta. And before the weekend was over, I had met more judges and lawyers in three days than I had met in my prior three years of practice combined.
Sadly, Jerome Lewis Kaplan died earlier this year on January 26, 2022. He was 86.
Clearly, I took my time with this. I wanted to get it right, and I hope it is right. Here goes.
Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays from Stone & Baxter!
As Stone & Baxter wraps-up its 25th year in business, we wanted to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays. We hope this finds you well, safe, and with as much of your family as these crazy times will permit.
The Burys are headed to see Jessica’s parents in D.C. this week, but stay
SDNY Rejects Third-Party Releases in Purdue Pharma Bankruptcy Appeal
Late yesterday, Judge Colleen McMahon (SDNY), in a 142-page (!) opinion, reversed the plan confirmation order in the Purdue Pharma Chapter 11 appeal on the basis that its non-consensual third-party releases are improper under the Bankruptcy Code.
As quick background, Purdue Pharma manufactures OxyContin. It sought Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in September 2019 in response
Is it Ever Plagiarism to Use Other Attorneys’ Work Product?
Coming off our month long Judge Drake Series, I sat down this morning to comb through Westlaw for new Subchapter V opinions. I found a couple, but they can wait. What really got my attention was an opinion from Bankruptcy Judge Scott Clarkson (C.D. Cal). The case is In re Summit Financial, Inc., 2021 WL 5173331 (Bankr. C.D. Cal. Nov. 5, 2021). You can find the opinion here.
We attribute Judge Clarkson as having issued the very first substantive Subchapter V opinion. Technically, his November opinion relates to a Sub V debtor, but the issue is far more universal, and kind of scary, too: Is it ever plagiarism or, at least, unethical to copy/paste from other attorneys’ pleadings? Possibly.
Continue Reading Is it Ever Plagiarism to Use Other Attorneys’ Work Product?