Luber: Hey everyone � Marc Luber here. Today on JD Careers Out There, we�re exploring
what it�s like to be a corporate bankruptcy lawyer, so let�s get to it! [theme song]
Today�s guest is Scott Gautier, a corporate bankruptcy lawyer in Los Angeles who�s a
partner at the firm of Peitzman Weg. Scott�s previously practiced at some of the top international
law firms and he�s been recognized by Chambers USA as one of California�s leading bankruptcy
lawyers and he�s been listed as one of Southern California�s Super Lawyers by Law & Politics
and Los Angeles magazines. As you may already know, here at JDCOT we help you find and succeed
in fulfilling careers using a law degree by exploring career paths both in and out of
law. Today we�re gonna explore the path of being a corporate bankruptcy lawyer so
let�s meet Scott and get started! Scott, welcome to JDCOT.
Scott: Thanks, Marc, it�s great to be here.
Luber: Definitely, thank you for being here. And Scott, I�m going to have you tell everybody
about a typical day and who makes the right fit for this path, as well as how to break
in and how to succeed. But first let�s start with the basics: tell us about your practice
and what you do as a corporate bankruptcy lawyer.
Scott: Wow! We do a lot - and one of the reasons I chose corporate bankruptcy law is because
in a typical day, particularly if we�re representing a debtor, we get to climb into
someone�s business that�s in distress and really help them out. People look to us
not just for legal answers but they look to us to help them solve their business problems.
They look for us to be a psychologist. As you might imagine, people that have a failed
company or at the helm of a failed company, often feel guilty about the choices and decisions
they�ve made and we help them move past that; we help them feel better about the future,
we help empower them to move forward and we also, obviously, do the legal side of it which
is to analyze their situation and provide options - or at least outline their options
so that they can choose the path going forward.
Luber: What are those options usually?
Scott: Wow! There�s lots of them. Sometimes the option is closing down the business and
getting out, both personally __________ to redeploy the assets, to sell the business,
to chop it up into various pieces. It might be the options between suing and settling
certain litigation they might be facing. They�re business decisions in every way possible as
much as they are legal decisions - and I think that�s more the case in corporate bankruptcy
than in a lot of other areas of law.
Luber: So for someone who knows nothing about bankruptcy, let�s say someone�s watching,
maybe they haven�t yet gone to law school or they�re in law school, they haven�t
yet taken a bankruptcy class, explain what exactly it is that you�re really helping
a business do in real layman�s terms.
Scott: Well we�re talking about the debtor�s side of the practice and I think that�s
probably a good place to be, Marc. On the debtor�s side of the practice, you�re
talking about that business, that company that is in trouble, that can�t pay all of
its debts as they come due and they�re looking for the future. So one of the things you have
to do is analyze each of their creditor�s claims. Each creditor for a corporate business
has a different priority with respect to repayment of their obligations. So one of the first
things we need to do is we need to analyze and investigate the priority of their various
creditor claims so that we can advise the client in how to negotiate with the different
creditors in terms of moving forward. Ultimately, something�s got to give. You can�t get
blood out of a turnip, right? You can�t pay everyone if you don�t have enough money
- and if the future proceeds of this business are not going to be enough to pay all of the
existing obligations, somebody�s got to give. The bankruptcy code answers that question
to some extent - but bankruptcy is every bit as much a negotiation and creating a business
plan and something that works for everyone; it�s a global settlement between all of
your creditors - and so you�ve got to be able to analyze and understand the law as
to who has priorities to what assets and what priorities you can set aside and in what ways
and for how long and how you might restructure and reorganize those debts. It is fascinating
because you�re dealing with the universe of claims against the business and you�re
analyzing each one of their positions, you�re playing one side against the other, you�re
playing against the middle, it�s intense.
Luber: Alright, if you�re on YouTube, please give us the thumbs up if this was helpful!
And if you want to see the full interview with Scott, come visit us at JDCOT dot com
where you�ll learn more about what it�s like to be a corporate bankruptcy lawyer,
who makes the right fit for this path, how to break in and how to succeed. If you�re
already at the site, you could just scroll down to the full version of the video. And
make sure you join the membership so you get access to all the helpful videos. Thanks again
for watching everybody. I�m Marc Luber and I�ll see ya soon.