After surging in recent years, corporate bankruptcy filings in the United States have continued to fall, dropping 14.4 percent over the past year, according to data released in late April by the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts.
For Am Law 100 firms, the drop-off is playing out in a variety of ways. Some high-profile bankruptcy lawyers, for instance, are on the move. Meanwhile, with many lenders preferring out-of-court restructurings over protracted Chapter 11 cases, the opportunities for substantial debtor-side assignments and creditors committee work have dwindled. Even the bankruptcy courts themselves are feeling the pinch. The U.S. bankruptcy court in Manhattan, one of the nation’s busiest, has seen its budget cut 37 percent over the last two years, according to reports by Dow Jones Newswires and sibling publication the New York Law Journal.
