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About Jack O'Connor
Jack is a corporate and restructuring partner in the Chicago office of Sugar Felsenthal Grais & Helsinger LLP. Jack’s practice covers a range of healthy and distressed business engagements. He is widely recognized for his excellent work as a restructuring attorney including recognition by various organizations for his strategic thinking and tactical expertise, including SuperLawyers Magazine, Leading Lawyers Magazine, and the Turnaround Management Association. Jack leads Sugar Felsenthal’s “Vice,” practice, working with business clients in the Beer, Spirits, and Cannabis industries.
Articles by Jack O'Connor
Subchapter V of Chapter 11: A User’s Guide
President Reagan famously joked that “I’m from the Government and I’m here to help” are nine of the most terrifying words in the English language. Politics aside, few laws are as universally acclaimed as subchapter V of chapter 11 of the Bankruptcy Code. The reason is elegantly simple: it works. It saves businesses. It helps […]
Dealing with Corporate Distress 08: Preventing Forest Fires with First Day Motions in Chapter 11
The ABCs of ABCs, Business Bankruptcy & Corporate Restructuring/Insolvency In this installment, we take you on a tour of the time leading up to the filing of a chapter 11 case and the days that immediately follow. Mostly, we’re referring to first day motions. Before we dive into first day motions, however, you should understand […]
Dealing with Corporate Distress 07: Chapter 11 is Not Always the Answer: Strategic Alternatives For and Against Distressed Businesses
The ABCs of ABCs, Business Bankruptcy, & Corporate Restructuring/Insolvency In Installment 5, we walked through the lifecycle of a hypothetical traditional chapter 11, and in Installment 6 we discussed key concepts you must comprehend in order to understand any chapter 11 case. Now we pull the camera back and turn our focus away from chapter […]
Dealing with Corporate Distress 06: Four Basic Chapter 11 Concepts to Know Before We Go any Further
The ABCs of ABCs, Business Bankruptcy, & Corporate Restructuring/Insolvency In the last two installments of this series, we introduced you to things a company should consider before deciding whether to file chapter 11, and a timeline for understanding how a “typical” chapter 11 case proceeds. In this quick little ditty, we want to make sure […]
Dealing with Corporate Distress 05: The Lifecycle of a Chapter 11 Case
The ABCs of ABCs, Business Bankruptcy & Corporate Restructuring/Insolvency [Authors’ Note: before going any further, read Installment 4: Chapter 11—If You’ve Seen One, You’ve Seen Them All. While you can generally read any installment in this series in any order or even by itself, this one is an exception. . . ] And now, […]
Dealing with Corporate Distress 04: Chapter 11—If You’ve Seen One, You’ve Seen Them All
The ABCs of ABCs, Business Bankruptcy, & Corporate Restructuring/Insolvency This installment of our series is required reading for the next, which attempts the audacious task of describing a “typical” chapter 11. And if you didn’t get it, the title of this installment, “Chapter 11—If You’ve Seen One, You’ve Seen Them All,” is intended to be […]
Dealing with Corporate Distress 03: Welcome to the Jungle: The Animals of the Corporate Restructuring Industry
The ABCs of ABCs, Business Bankruptcy, & Corporate Restructuring/Insolvency Who are you? Maybe your company needs to file chapter 11. Or one of your customers recently filed. Or maybe a competitor is in (or is rumored to be close to filing) chapter 11. Maybe you’re thinking about getting into the corporate restructuring industry yourself. Regardless […]
Dealing with Corporate Distress 02: These Are the People in Our Neighborhood: An Overview of Parties in Chapter 11
A Series on the ABCs of ABCs, Business Bankruptcy & Corporate Restructuring/Insolvency Since a judge presides over a chapter 11 proceeding, one might assume that a chapter 11 case is like any other commercial litigation matter, with one party on each side of the case: a plaintiff and a defendant. One would be wrong (Felix […]
Dealing with Corporate Distress 01: Hello Darkness, Our Dear Friend
A Series on the ABCs of ABCs, Business Bankruptcy & Corporate Restructuring/Insolvency Greetings, dear reader: It seems you’re interested in learning how to deal with corporate distress, and we’re glad you’re here. But let’s first make sure you got on the right plane. Maybe you . . . Are a C-suite executive of a business […]
Dealing with Distress for Fun & Profit–Installment #20—A Primer on Plan Support Agreements & Restructuring Support Agreements
A written tour of business bankruptcy and its alternatives. This is the latest in the series, Dealing with Distress for Fun & Profit, which you can read from the beginning if you like. Our last two installments focused on the basics of confirming a plan, followed by specific plan confirmation issues to address with individual […]