preventing practices that undermine the integrity of the judicial process and the operations of global settlement funds. Prior to becoming a law professor, I worked with the Business Restructuring and Reorganization practice at Jones Day from 1999 to 2003, where I served primarily as debtor’s counsel in several large corporate chapter 11 cases. I subsequently worked at Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale & Dorr from 2003 to 2007, where, among other things, I represented individuals, corporations, banks and insurers in bankruptcy and class action matters. This written statement outlines several issues in the administration of asbestos-related chapter 11 cases and the resulting reorganization plans and bankruptcy trusts, and it suggests some potential revisions to Section 524(g) of the Bankruptcy Code to address these issues. These issues are more fully explored in a series of recent articles, my prior testimony concerning the Further Asbestos Claim Transparency (FACT) Acts of 2012 and 2013, and my testimony before the ABA TIPS Task Force on Asbestos Litigation and the Bankruptcy Trusts on June 5, 2013. In the interest of time, this statement summarizes the key points rather than revisiting them in detail. Background: Asbestos Personal Injury and Bankruptcy Asbestos Litigation Asbestos personal injury litigation began as a series of unremarkable discrete cases brought by individuals who had substantial histories of exposure to airborne asbestos fibers and diagnoses of the most severe forms of asbestos related disease. Early litigation was problematic for plaintiffs, who faced difficult evidentiary
preventing practices that undermine the integrity of the judicial process and the operations of global settlement funds. Prior to becoming a law professor, I worked with the Business Restructuring and Reorganization practice at Jones Day from 1999 to 2003, where I served primarily as debtor’s counsel in several large corporate chapter 11 cases. I subsequently worked at Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale & Dorr from 2003 to 2007, where, among other things, I represented individuals, corporations, banks and insurers in bankruptcy and class action matters. This written statement outlines several issues in the administration of asbestos-related chapter 11 cases and the resulting reorganization plans and bankruptcy trusts, and it suggests some potential revisions to Section 524(g) of the Bankruptcy Code to address these issues. These issues are more fully explored in a series of recent articles, my prior testimony concerning the Further Asbestos Claim Transparency (FACT) Acts of 2012 and 2013, and my testimony before the ABA TIPS Task Force on Asbestos Litigation and the Bankruptcy Trusts on June 5, 2013. In the interest of time, this statement summarizes the key points rather than revisiting them in detail. Background: Asbestos Personal Injury and Bankruptcy Asbestos Litigation Asbestos personal injury litigation began as a series of unremarkable discrete cases brought by individuals who had substantial histories of exposure to airborne asbestos fibers and diagnoses of the most severe forms of asbestos related disease. Early litigation was problematic for plaintiffs, who faced difficult evidentiary