Subchapter V After the Debt Limit Reversion: Eligibility Screening, Plan Confirmation, and Discharge Practice with S. 3977 on the Horizon

Adam R. Prescott, Shareholder | Bernstein Shur Sawyer & Nelson

Adam R. Prescott is a shareholder at Bernstein Shur and chair of its Business Restructuring & Insolvency practice, advising organizations and individuals on protecting and improving their financial health. He counsels clients across the full spectrum of business and financial issues—asset sales, business disputes, and financial reorganizations—bringing a pragmatic, results-oriented approach to guiding businesses through distress and maximizing value.

• Education & Credentials

Adam earned his J.D. from William & Mary School of Law, summa cum laude and Order of the Coif, and his B.S. from Trinity College, with honors. He is admitted in Maine, Massachusetts, and the District of Columbia, and before multiple federal district courts, the First and Second Circuits, and the U.S. Bankruptcy Courts for Maine, Massachusetts, and Vermont.

• Recognition & Leadership

Ranked in Chambers USA for Bankruptcy/Restructuring for five years, including 2026, Adam was named to the American Bankruptcy Institute’s 2023 “40 Under 40” and selected as a Super Lawyers New England Rising Star in 2022. He chairs his firm’s restructuring practice and was recently appointed to a Maine legislative commission studying health care transaction oversight.

• Professional Involvement

A recognized voice in restructuring law, Adam writes and speaks regularly on Subchapter V and Chapter 11, with work featured in the ABI Journal, Maine Bar Journal, and Law360, and panel appearances for the ABI, the National Conference of Bankruptcy Judges, the National Association of Bankruptcy Trustees, and state bars. He testified before the ABI Subchapter V Task Force in 2023 and is a member of the ABI, the Maine State Bar Association, and the Turnaround Management Association.

• Experience

Adam has substantial experience in corporate restructurings, representing debtors, lenders, creditors, investors, and purchasers in bankruptcies, receiverships, workouts, Section 363 sales, debtor-in-possession and exit financings, and bankruptcy litigation across Maine, Massachusetts, Vermont, Delaware, and Texas, with particular emphasis on Chapter 11 debtors. He advises closely held debtors on reorganizing under Subchapter V to preserve operations, jobs, and enterprise value, and handles preference, fraudulent transfer, and non-dischargeability proceedings as well as appeals before the First and Second Circuits.

Kyung S. Lee, Partner | Shannon Lee Beatty

Kyung S. Lee is a partner at Shannon Lee Beatty LLP in Houston, where he has spent four decades guiding clients through sensitive workout negotiations and, when reorganization requires a bankruptcy filing, litigating on their behalf to achieve their objectives. He has first- or second-chaired a significant number of bankruptcy cases, on both negotiated and litigated bases, across a wide range of industries. Holding both a J.D. and an M.B.A., Mr. Lee pairs legal judgment with business fluency, allowing him to grasp client needs and master the facts of a new matter with a minimal learning curve.

• Education & Credentials

Mr. Lee earned his J.D. and B.A. from Duke University and his M.B.A. from Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business. He is admitted to practice in Texas and New York, before the U.S. Supreme Court, and before the U.S. District and Bankruptcy Courts for the Southern and Eastern Districts of New York and the Southern, Northern, Western, and Eastern Districts of Texas.

• Recognition & Leadership

As a member of the American Bar Association’s Business Bankruptcy Committee, Mr. Lee has served actively on several subcommittees and task forces, and he contributed to the ABA’s publication of the Model Asset Purchase Agreement for Bankruptcy Sales in 2016.

• Professional Involvement

Mr. Lee is a frequent speaker on advanced bankruptcy topics, including presentations at the Jay L. Westbrook Bankruptcy Conference on subjects ranging from marijuana and bankruptcy (2018) to recidivist Chapter 22 filings among oil and gas business debtors (2019).

• Experience

Mr. Lee has substantial experience addressing insolvency-related issues—identifying liquidity crises, managing debtor-creditor relationships, formulating workout and Chapter 11 strategies, negotiating with creditor constituencies, and implementing turnaround and reorganization plans with senior management. He has represented debtors, secured lenders, asset purchasers, unsecured creditors’ and equity committees, Chapter 7 trustees, and liquidating trustees across industries including airlines, oil and gas, chemical and petroleum refining, maritime and shipping, healthcare facilities and nursing homes, manufacturing, and real estate, including Chapter 11 matters involving assets in foreign countries. He is equally facile with motion and adversary proceeding practice.

Kellie W. Fisher | Drummond Woodsum

Kellie W. Fisher focuses her practice on bankruptcy matters, commercial litigation, and transactions involving distressed companies. She routinely represents financial institutions, secured and unsecured creditors—including official and ad hoc committees—lenders, debtors, equity holders, and trustees, drawing on substantial bankruptcy and litigation experience across New England and the country. With a sophisticated command of the restructuring landscape, she advises clients on every stage of the bankruptcy and reorganization process.

• Education & Credentials

Kellie earned her J.D. from Boston College School of Law in 2015 and her B.A. from Colby College in 2012. Before joining Drummond Woodsum, she practiced as a restructuring attorney at an international law firm in Boston.

• Recognition & Leadership

Kellie has been named to the American Bankruptcy Institute’s “40 Under 40,” ranked in Chambers USA (Band 3) for Maine Bankruptcy/Restructuring, recognized by Best Lawyers “Ones to Watch” in Bankruptcy and Creditor Debtor Rights / Insolvency and Reorganization Law, and selected as a Super Lawyers “Rising Star” in Bankruptcy (2024). She chairs the Local Rules Committee for the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Maine, co-chairs the New England chapter of the International Women’s Insolvency & Restructuring Confederation (IWIRC), and served on the ABI Northeast Conference Advisory Board from 2022 to 2025.

• Professional Involvement

Kellie is an active voice in the restructuring community, presenting numerous times at the ABI Northeast Conference, the ABI Winter Leadership Conference, and the Maine State Bar Association Summer Conference on bankruptcy and distressed-debt topics. She co-authored “Untangling the Sub V Eligibility Criteria for Individual Debtors” in the ABI Journal (October 2023) and is a member of the Turnaround Management Association and the Maine State Bar Association.

• Experience

Kellie advises clients on all aspects of restructuring, including DIP lending and cash collateral issues, plan negotiation and drafting, Section 363 sales, adversary proceedings, contested matters, and fraudulent conveyance and preference litigation, as well as out-of-court workouts, Article 9 and real estate foreclosures, receiverships, and lender liability litigation. She has represented senior secured creditors in numerous Subchapter V cases, the Official Committee of Unsecured Creditors in the Calais Regional Hospital case, and the largest creditor in a contested sale trial in In re IDL Development, Inc. She also represented a Vermont-based textile firm as Chapter 11 debtor, restructuring millions of dollars in debt.

SESSION 1 – Subchapter V Eligibility and the First 90 Days of the Case | 1:00pm – 2:00pm

This session establishes who qualifies under §§ 101(51D) and 1182(1)—the $3,424,000 ceiling, affiliate debt aggregation, and the five-element test amid pending S. 3977—then opens the case through § 1116 duties and the § 1188 and § 1189(b) deadlines.

BREAK | 2:00pm – 2:10pm

SESSION 2 – Subchapter V Plan Confirmation and Discharge Litigation | 2:10pm – 3:10pm

This session tracks confirmation under §§ 1190–1192—drafting the plan, computing projected disposable income, and weighing § 1191(a) consensual against § 1191(b) cramdown—then the § 523(a) dischargeability split, § 1122 classification, § 1193 modification, and § 1112(b) conversion.