Below is the agenda for the 2023 Wharton-Harvard Insolvency & Restructuring Conference. The 2026 Conference Agenda will be available shortly.
Friday, September 8, 2023
| 8:15 – 9:00 | Breakfast | Harker | |
| 9:00 – 9:10 | Welcome | Robertson | Welcome: David Skeel (University of Pennsylvania) Vince Buccola (University of Pennsylvania) |
| 9:15 – 10:45 | Papers A | Robertson | An Experimental Study of Bidder and Creditor Behavior in Bankruptcy Auctions |
| Rajesh Kumar Acha (Xavier School of Management, XLRI Jamshedpur, India) | |||
| Creditor Rights and Legal Transaction Costs | |||
| Dhruv Aggarwal (Northwestern University) | |||
| The Externalities of Fire Sales: Evidence from Collateralized Loan Obligations | |||
| Shohini Kundu (University of California, Los Angeles) | |||
| Garrett | The Fiduciary Duties of the Bankruptcy Trustee | ||
| Christopher Hampson (University of Florida) | |||
| The Bankruptcy Rush: Rethinking Director Duties in Crisis | |||
| Adi Marcovich Gross (University of Pennsylvania) | |||
| Debt as Corporate Governance | |||
| Tomer Stein (University of Tennessee) | |||
| 10:45 – 11:00 | Break | Harker | |
| 11:00 – 12:30 | Papers B | Robertson | The Human-Capital Costs of Chapter 11: Evidence from the Healthcare Industry |
| Samuel Antill (Harvard University) | |||
| Employee Bankruptcy Trauma | |||
| Jared Ellias (Harvard University) | |||
| Why are Corporate Directors Not Asking for Help? An Investigation into the Failure of the Rescue Culture? | |||
| Emilie Ghio (Edinburgh Napier University) & Donald Thomson (Edinburgh Napier University) | |||
| Garrett | Silencing Litigation Through Bankruptcy | ||
| Pamela Foohey (Yeshiva University) | |||
| Designing Designer Bankruptcy | |||
| Michael Francus (Harvard University) | |||
| The False Gatekeeper of Financial Distress | |||
| Brook Gotberg (Brigham Young University) | |||
| 12:30 – 1:30 | Lunch | Harker | |
| 1:30 – 3:00 | Papers C | Robertson | Insolvency Law Reform within a Convergent Transnational Order: A Responsive Approach |
| Bolanle Adebola (University of Reading) | |||
| Global Zombies: A New Type of Corporate Resiliency | |||
| Edward Altman (New York University) | |||
| The Myth of Debtor-Friendly or Creditor-Friendly Insolvency Systems | |||
| Aurelio Gurrea-Martinez (Singapore Management University) | |||
| Garrett | CLO Incentives in Distress | ||
| Sarah Paterson (The London School of Economics and Political Science) | |||
| Absolute Priority and Valuation in Bankruptcy | |||
| Michael Simkovic (University of Southern California) | |||
| Collapsing the Corporate Group | |||
| Richard Squire (Fordham University) | |||
| 3:00 – 3:15 | Break | Harker | |
| 3:15 – 4:15 | Plenary Panel | Robertson | Investing in and around Distress: The Changing Landscape |
| Samantha Fang (D.E. Shaw) | |||
| Daniel Ehrmann (King Street) | |||
| Lauren Krueger (KKR) | |||
| Kristin Mugford (Harvard University) | |||
| Aaron Rosen (Ares) | |||
| Moderator: Mark Roe (Harvard University) | |||
| 4:15 – 4:30 | Break | Harker | |
| 4:30 – 6:00 | Papers D | Robertson | Bankruptcy Spillovers in Firm Payout Policy |
| Ilona Bastiaansen (University of Connecticut) | |||
| Are Direct Lenders More Like Banks or Arm’s-Length Investors? Evidence from Loan Agreements and COVID-Related Distress | |||
| Young Soo Jang (University of Chicago) | |||
| Down the Tubes: Proximity to Bankruptcy and Industrial Water Pollution | |||
| Michael Ohlrogge (New York University) | |||
| Garrett | Debt Tokens in Bankruptcy | ||
| Christopher Odinet (University of Iowa) | |||
| Bankruptcy Contracting in the Legal Cannabis Industry | |||
| William Organek (City University of New York) | |||
| Bankruptcy and the Rise of Market Valuation | |||
| Mark Roe (Harvard University) | |||
| 6:00 – 7:00 | Reception | Harker | |
| 7:00 – 8:30 | Dinner | Robertson | Remarks: Douglas Baird (University of Chicago) |
Saturday, September 9, 2023
| 8:00 – 8:30 | Breakfast | Harker | |
| 8:30 – 10:00 | Papers E | Robertson | Standardizing and Unbundling the Sub Rosa DIP Loan |
| Kenneth Ayotte (University of California, Berkeley) | |||
| Restructuring Attributes | |||
| Diane Lourdes Dick (University of Iowa) | |||
| Loan-to-Own 2.0 and the Shifting Baseline for DIP Financing | |||
| Robert Miller (University of South Dakota) | |||
| Garrett | The Information Content of Central-Bank Disclosures: Firm-Level Evidence from Eurosystem Collateral Haircuts | ||
| Aleksander Aleszczyk (New York University) | |||
| Bank Bankruptcy in Canada: A Comparative Perspective (2.0) | |||
| Stephanie Ben-Ishai (York University) | |||
| Flight to Safety in the Regional Bank Crisis of 2023 | |||
| Jennifer Dlugosz (Federal Reserve Board) | |||
| 10:00 – 10:15 | Break | Harker | |
| 10:15 – 11:15 | Plenary Panel | Robertson | The Future of Chapter 11 |
| Martin Bienenstock (Proskauer) | |||
| Andrew Dietderich (Sullivan & Cromwell) | |||
| Steven Serajeddini (Kirkland & Ellis) | |||
| Robert Stark (Brown Rudnick) | |||
| Moderator: David Skeel (University of Pennsylvania) | |||
| 11:15 – 11:30 | Break | Harker | |
| 11:30 – 12:30 | Papers F | Robertson | Price Discipline in the Leveraged Loan Market: Evidence from Uptiers |
| Vince Buccola (University of Pennsylvania) | |||
| Insiders vs. Outsiders: Arm’s-Length Creditor Rights and Firm Investment | |||
| Martin Kornejew (University of Bonn) | |||
| Garrett | Black Bankruptcy / White Bankruptcy | ||
| Matthew Bruckner (Howard University) | |||
| Chapter 11 Mediation | |||
| Laura Coordes (Arizona State University) | |||
| 12:30 – 1:30 | Lunch | Harker | Farewell: Mark Roe (Harvard University) & Jared Ellias (Harvard University) |