Bankruptcies and Restructuring

Attorneys at Law, lawyers and insolvency practitioners working at BMS Law Firm enjoy an extensive experience in providing legal support in the course of bankruptcy proceedings both on a debtor’s and a creditor’s side.

Apart from rendering legal assistance in relation to bankruptcy cases in Russia, the law firm’s team, if needed, together with their colleagues, employees of PraeLegal affiliated offices from across more than 140 countries of the world, provides legal support in bankruptcy related cross-border transactions where the debtor, creditor and respective assets are located in different jurisdictions.

Acting for the creditor in the course of bankruptcy proceedings

• | Petitioning the court on behalf of the creditor to hold the debtor bankrupt
• | Analyzing the debtor’s business activities in terms of its bankruptcy being intentional or fraudulent
• | Defending the creditor’s interests in court if a bankruptcy case is included in the register of creditors’ claims
• | Acting in the creditor’s interests when creditors’ meetings are conducted
• | Establishing the creditor’s control over bankruptcy proceedings
• | Disputing the debtor’s transactions on withdrawal of money and assets
• | Controlling how the debtor’s property is auctioned and liquidated
• | Controlling the insolvency practitioner’s activities throughout the bankruptcy proceedings
• | Holding the debtor’s controlling parties vicariously (personally) liable due to acts or omissions aggravating the debtor’s financial standing and affecting its solvency
• | Recovering damages from the debtor’s controlling parties resulting from acts or omissions aggravating the debtor’s financial standing and affecting its solvency
• | Holding the debtor’s controlling parties criminally liable where facts of stealing the debtor’s property, fraud, embezzlement or misappropriation, intentional or fraudulent bankruptcies and other illegal activities are revealed
• | Performing other activities which are not contrary to requirements of the applicable laws

Acting for the debtor in the course of bankruptcy proceedings

Preventing/terminating bankruptcy proceedings to preserve the debtor’s business as an ongoing concern:

• | Assessing risks associated with the debtor’s current activities
• | Restructuring its currently applied business model to mitigate adversary effects of bankruptcy
• | Counteracting creditors’ efforts aimed at initiating a bankruptcy case against the debtor
• | Ensuring that the debtor’s property is safeguarded
• | Drafting, negotiating and providing legal support in the course of entering into a settlement agreement between the debtor and its creditors
• | Controlling the insolvency practitioner’s activities throughout the bankruptcy proceedings
• | Acting in the creditor’s interests when creditors’ meetings are conducted
• | Performing other activities which are not contrary to requirements of the applicable laws

Establishing control over previously initiated bankruptcy proceedings on the debtor’s part and their proper monitoring to ensure preservation of the debtor’s property and its business connections:

• | Preparing and including debtor friendly participants in the register of creditors’ claims
• | Defending the debtor from illegal or unjustified claims made by creditors
• | Selecting and appointing an insolvency practitioner loyal to the debtor’s interests and assisting him or her to the fullest in the course of the proceeding taking into account the objectives set
• | Recovering, together with the insolvency practitioner, the debtor’s accounts receivable
• | Arranging works to perform an inventory of the debtor’s property and forming a pool of the debtor’s property to preserve it with the debtor
• | Controlling how the debtor’s property is auctioned and liquidated
• | Replacing the debtor’s assets, for instance, by transferring its assets as contributions to authorized capital of its subsidiaries
• | Developing and implementing a project of the debtor’s financial rehabilitation
• | Performing other activities which are not contrary to requirements of the applicable laws

Restructuring the debtor’s asset portfolio and its further liquidation if restoration of its solvency is proven to be impossible:

• | Analyzing the debtor’s property and its financial health, the structure of its assets and liabilities
• | Restructuring its currently applied business model to mitigate risks
• | Transferring the debtor’s assets into the ownership of debtor friendly parties with the purpose to preserve them
• | Initiating bankruptcy proceedings on behalf of the debtor
• | Selecting and appointing an insolvency practitioner loyal to the debtor’s interests and assisting him or her to the fullest in the course of the proceeding taking into account the objectives set
• | Defending the debtor’s interests from claims by creditors, regulatory and law enforcement authorities
• | Forming a pool of the debtor’s bankruptcy assets which are subject to liquidation considering the debtor’s interests
• | Arranging liquidation of the debtor’s assets considering the debtor’s interests
• | Recovering, together with the insolvency practitioner, the debtor’s accounts receivable
• | Providing legal assistance in the course of settling current liabilities and outstanding employee entitlements for work performed prior to the appointment of an insolvency practitioner
• | Protecting the debtor’s controlling parties from being held vicariously liable for the debtor’s obligations
• | Liquidating the debtor’s business and removing information on the debtor from all relevant registers
• | Performing other activities which are not contrary to requirements of the applicable laws

Bankruptcy of individuals

Attorneys at Law, lawyers and insolvency practitioners at BMS Law Firm possess a relevant experience in staging bankruptcy proceedings both on a debtor’s and a creditor’s side, as well as skills of settling complex and complicated conflicts between parties involved in a bankruptcy case.

Our bankruptcy team renders legal assistance to debtors who are not able to cope with serving their debts for a variety of reasons by laying a foundation for a well-balanced approach to individual bankruptcy proceedings, mitigating negative effects flowing from these proceedings primarily in terms of an individual’s personal liability.

For creditors of an individual’s debtor, the law firm’s bankruptcy team provides services to ensure maximum protection of their interests in the course of an individual bankruptcy, including when challenging transactions on disposition of assets, initiating recovery proceedings against a share in marital property, etc.