Leslie Berkoff, a partner of the firm, will be a panelist for the session “Advising Clients in Wind-Downs, Separations & Business Divorce: How To Use ADR and Other Tools to Steer Business Owners Through A Breakup of a Closely-Held Business” at the American Bar Association’s virtual Annual Meeting on September 22-24, 2021.

Ms. Berkoff’s session, scheduled for September 24th,  will consist of a panel discussion on how to advise clients going through a breakup or wind-down of a closely-held company.  Panelists will discuss pertinent process and substantive issues, including how to draft settlement documents to select alternative dispute resolution (ADR) as the sole or initial method of dispute resolution to avoid litigation arising from the settlement; which settlement agreement negotiation disputes might be more suited for mediation or arbitration; whether an independent subject matter expert, on substantive nonlegal issues, such as valuation or operations, as an adviser to the mediator might be helpful; winding-down the business during the pandemic due to material adverse change; diverse earn-out and valuation date disputes; and how to enforce or challenge the outcome of the ADR process through judicial proceedings.