Introduction to the Fifth Edition

• Jurisdiction: United States

Introduction to the Fifth Edition

This book is dedicated to our wives, Jamie Guin Bernstein and Donna C. Looper. MLB GWK

Jack Ayer, a law professor and former bankruptcy lawyer and judge, and Mike Bernstein, the chair of Arnold & Porter LLP's bankruptcy and corporate restructuring practice, wrote the first edition of this book in 2002. Our goal was to combine the ability of a gifted teacher to explain complex material in an understandable way with the real-world experience of a practicing bankruptcy lawyer. We sought, as we said in the introduction to the First Edition, "to marry the classroom with the courtroom: to offer a framework for understanding bankruptcy law, along with equipment with which to face the stern practical necessities of the day." Our primary target audience was the new or non-specialist lawyer who needs a jumpstart in understanding the practice of bankruptcy law. We were pleasantly surprised when the book became popular not only among lawyers, but also with accountants, bankers and restructuring professionals, as well as with law and business professors and students. As the law changed, but the demand for a practical introductory text continued, we wrote several updated editions of this book.

This year, we found that the law, and the practice, had changed sufficiently to justify a complete revision, which we present in this Fifth Edition. As Jack Ayer has moved on to emeritus status and a well-deserved semi-retirement, we present this Fifth Edition with a new co-author, George Kuney, Lindsay Young Distinguished Professor of Law and Director of the Clayton Center for Entrepreneurial Law at the University of Tennessee College of Law, and previously a bankruptcy partner at a prominent California law firm. George brings a new perspective, but also has many of the same attributes as Jack: He has a background as a practicing lawyer with teaching experience in both law and finance.

Our goal in this Fifth Edition remains to present a mix of doctrine and practical counsel. We try to brief the reader on the governing law, but also to provide practical guidance on the problems facing the practicing bankruptcy lawyer and restructuring professional day in and day out. We also try to offer some insight into the framework of the bankruptcy system so that the reader may see the forest as well as the trees.

It is our purpose to provide a general overview, but within the limits of a single paperback we have had to exclude a lot of potential material...