Bankruptcy and Financial Distress Litigation

With one of the largest in-house teams of economists in the economic consulting world, NERA's Bankruptcy and Financial Distress Litigation Practice combines expertise in economics, finance, accounting, and valuation with specific industry knowledge. Our experts provide economic analysis of securities disputes and corporate governance, valuation of companies, portfolios including assets and derivatives, and professional compensation. In addition to employing standard valuation methods, NERA economists draw on advanced valuation techniques and econometric and statistical models, as needed.

We assist clients in disputes over:

• Plan confirmation
• Preference and fraudulent conveyance claims
• Solvency and valuation disputes
• Alleged breaches of fiduciary duty by directors and officers of distressed companies
• Lender liability claims
• The feasibility of alternative restructuring plans

We are also frequently retained by litigation counsel to provide expert testimony involving these and other claims in bankruptcy adversary proceedings. Our capabilities include:

• Expert testimony on liability and damages
• Solvency and capital adequacy analysis in fraudulent conveyance and bankruptcy
• Valuation of assets, including enterprises and intangible assets
• Valuation of derivatives and complex securities
• Assessment of the reasonableness of certain assumptions used in valuation, using market indicators such as credit default swaps
• Cash flow analysis of the effect of transfers on the solvency and capital adequacy of the debtor
• Econometric modeling for assessing projections
• Valuation, at the time of transfer, of long-tailed liabilities or other disputed claims

We have experience and specialized institutional knowledge in industries including energy, health care, oil and gas, construction, financial services, housing finance, and media and telecommunications. We also have expertise in finance, accounting, antitrust economics (analysis of competitive effects), structured finance, mass tort and liability valuation, analysis of ERISA plans, intellectual property valuation, and transfer pricing.

Clients benefit from the integration of the expertise of our many professional disciplines, our experience as consultants, testifying experts, and arbitrators, and our firm's exacting standards for rigor and objectivity.