Bankruptcy Regime For Nations Urged

Per www.globalinsolvency.com:

Tue., January 8, 2013

 

Argentina’s messy legal battle with hedge funds over its 2001 sovereign default has heightened calls to resurrect plans for a bankruptcy regime for countries, under the auspices of the International Monetary Fund, the Financial Times reported. Many senior lawyers, fund managers and former policy makers say recent court rulings against Argentina highlight the weaknesses of the current approach to government debt workouts, and argue that it is time to revisit the “sovereign debt restructuring mechanism” proposed by the IMF in 2002. The SDRM, envisaged as a kind of voluntary Chapter 11 for countries, never took off after US opposition. The initiative has received renewed interest since the eurozone debt crisis highlighted the weaknesses of the current ad hoc, contractual approach to sovereign debt restructurings.

Dewey & LeBoeuf: The Trouble with Tribbles

The docket in Dewey & LeBoeuf's Chapter 11 proceedings is starting to look like the classic Star Trek episode, The Trouble with Tribbles.

Tribbles are little furry animals that purr a sound so relaxing that even Vulcans find it soothing.  As wikipedia explains: The "trouble" with the tribbles is that they reproduce far too quickly and are capable of eating a planet barren if their breeding is not controlled; in the words of Chief Medical Officer Dr. McCoy, "they are born pregnant" and threaten to consume all the onboard supplies.

The Dewey docket invokes memories of this episode because it is riddled with retention applications seeking to employ professionals to work on the case.  Yesterday, a motion was filed for an order establishing procedures for interim compensation, and then several motions were filed on behalf of a variety of professionals whose services are purportedly needed to clean up the mess Dewey left behind when it collapsed.