More on Lehman

From a legal perspective, the best analysis of the Lehman Chapter 11 filing I’ve seen has been that of Steven Jakubowski on the Bankruptcy Litigation Blog.  (Fun fact: Jakubowski once represented  Scottie Pippen.)

Jakubowski on Lehman’s strategy:

Lehman Brothers Holdings, Inc.'s chapter 11 filing early this morning shows that Lehman's executives must have hired Weil Gotshal as late as possible to avoid any hint to its employees or the market that bankruptcy was possible.  It played chicken, and lost.  Lehman filed only three motions to open the case, and none are substantive.

On the implications of the Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act of 2005:

[I]n BAPCPA, Congress amended or added various provisions to the Bankruptcy Code that enabled a nondebtor party–without limitation–to terminate, liquidate or accelerate its securities contracts, commodity contracts, forward contracts, repurchase agreements, swap agreements or master netting agreements with the debtor … effectively excluding Wall Street's financial firms from the benefits of bankruptcy.

-posted by brian