About | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline

89 B.U. L. Rev. 1609 (2009)
The Shadow Bankruptcy System

handle is hein.journals/bulr89 and id is 1621 raw text is: THE SHADOW BANKRUPTCY SYSTEM
JONATHAN C. LIPSON*
IN TRODUCTION    .............................................................................................  1612
I. STANDING IN THE SHADOWS - THE TRANSPARENT SYSTEM
CONGRESS THOUGHT IT CREATED .................................................... 1620
A .  Transparency   Events ................................................................. 1621
B.   Structural Transparency ............................................................ 1624
C.   Nonbankruptcy Restructurings .................................................. 1629
D. Past as Prologue - William 0. Douglas and the Roots of
Transparency   .............................................................................  1632
II. CASTING THE SHADOWS: THREE CHALLENGES TO SYSTEM
TRANSPARENCY      ................................................................................  1638
A.   Who Goes There? - Claims Trading ......................................... 1638
1. Non-Statutory Committees - The Return of the
Protective  Com mittee?  ........................................................ 1639
2.  C laim s  Trading  .................................................................... 1645
3.  Em  pty  Creditor Voting  ........................................................ 1648
4. Committee Manipulation and Information Arbitrage .......... 1649
5. The Costs of Shadow Identity ............................................. 1651
B.   W hat D o  They  Want? ................................................................. 1653
1.  H edging  Strategies ............................................................... 1653
2.  Buy  Low  , Sell H igh  ............................................................. 1656
C.   When   D o  They  Want It?  ............................................................ 1661
III.  SHEDDIN  G  LIGHT  ............................................................................... 1663
A. Regulatory Reform: A Growth Industry .................................... 1664
1.  System ic  Proposals .............................................................. 1665
2. Bankruptcy-Specific Proposals ............................................ 1667
B .  Solutions  ....................................................................................  1668
1.  Positional D isclosure  ........................................................... 1668
a.   Triggering Events and Scope ........................................ 1669
Peter J. Liacouras Professor of Law (2009-2014) Temple University - James E.
Beasley School of Law. Earlier drafts of this article were presented at workshops at the law
schools of the University of Wisconsin and Tsinghua University. It has benefited from the
comments of, or discussions with, Jane Baron, Hon. Robert Drain, Ed Ellers, Dave
Hoffman, Darian Ibrahim, Bob Lawless, Rich Levin, Kathleen G. Noonan, David Skeel,
Ray Warner, and Bill Whitford. Noa Kaumeheiwa, Sarah Damiani, Chris DiVirgilio,
Tatyana Platonova, and Justin Youkey provided valuable research assistance, and Erica
Maier provided excellent administrative support. Some of the observations made here first
appeared on Concurring Opinions, http://www.concurringopinions.com (last visited Oct. 10,
2009). This project received generous financial support from the Clifford Scott Green Chair
and Research Fund in Law, and Temple University - James E. Beasley School of Law.
Errors and omissions are mine.
1609

What Is HeinOnline?

HeinOnline is a subscription-based resource containing thousands of academic and legal journals from inception; complete coverage of government documents such as U.S. Statutes at Large, U.S. Code, Federal Register, Code of Federal Regulations, U.S. Reports, and much more. Documents are image-based, fully searchable PDFs with the authority of print combined with the accessibility of a user-friendly and powerful database. For more information, request a quote or trial for your organization below.



Short-term subscription options include 24 hours, 48 hours, or 1 week to HeinOnline.

Contact us for annual subscription options:

Already a HeinOnline Subscriber?

profiles profiles most