The Business Reorganization Committee has conducted its first formal survey of the members, and the results are in. To no one’s surprise--but to our gratification--the survey confirms that the members of the Committee consist of a geographically diverse group of restructuring-focused professionals from a cross-section of firms as well as academics and bankruptcy judges. The results have been informative to the Committee’s leadership who continue to take steps to ensure the participants’ feedback is considered and that specific emphasis is focused on continuing and expanding the Committee newsletter, conference programming, and networking events.
Survey participants consist primarily of law-firm attorneys (86%), but also included financial advisors, academics, and judges. The law-firm attorneys, however, are not a monolithic body. The attorneys practice at firms of varying sizes largely including mid- and small-size firms (60% at firms with 100 or fewer attorneys and 47% at firms with 50 or fewer attorneys), with only 15% practicing at firms with 500 or more attorneys. The survey participants also are geographically diverse: 25% of respondents hail the Northeast, 25% from the Midwest, 22% from the Southwest, 15% from the Southeast, and 13% from the Mid-Atlantic states (along with several from Canada, China, Japan, and Mexico).
The survey participants report that they joined the Committee for several reasons. Above all, participants (92%) became members of the Committee to receive information and updates regarding business reorganization and restructuring issues and developments. Many also joined the Committee for networking opportunities (60%) and to participate in Committee publications (42%).
The Committee leadership communicates with its members and provides information to them primarily through the Committee newsletter, listserve, website, and conference and webinar programming. Of these, survey participants indicate that they use the newsletter most widely (83%). Within the newsletter, participants identified issue analysis (89%) and case analysis (80%) as the most critical content. Survey participants appear to rely less heavily on programming (32%), the website (23%), and the listserve (18%).
In response to questions about how the Committee leadership can better serve its members, survey participants urge more newsletter content (70%), webinars (37%), communications (28%), and networking opportunities (28%). Many survey participants (39%) also would like to be more involved in the Committee.
The Committee leadership is grateful to those members who participated in the survey and is focused on taking tangible steps in response. The survey results affirm the Committee leadership’s focus on educational and network efforts and is looking forward to continuing to develop those programs in 2016.