I was asked to provide “thought leadership” as to legal trends emanating from developments over the recent year. I have more than thirty years’ experience in the energy (coal, oil, gas, and solar) aviation, hospitality, telecommunications, automotive, steel, and health care industry cases, which have resulted in extensive knowledge of state and federal regulatory agencies such as the Environmental Protection Agency, Federal Aviation Administration, the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation, the FCC, and their state and local counterparts. Others have noted that I have been successful in spotting trends including economic downturns in many of these industries.

Recent court decisions, proposed governmental regulations, and new theories of legal liability involving a range of industries, from the private equity industry to the energy industry, have most affected the area of bankruptcy and financial restructuring strategies within the past year. These changes have spurred attempts to draft protections in the enforcement of provisions in bond indentures; increased awareness of threats to private equity sponsors for the liability of their portfolio companies; and required energy companies to address a suffocating environmental regulatory regime and evolving theories of liability against them.

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(© 2015 Thomson Reuters/Aspatore. Reprinted with permission).