Quick Answer
If your client has a matter in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware, Del. Bankr. L.R. 9010-1(c) requires you to associate with Delaware counsel before you can be admitted pro hac vice. We serve as that Delaware counsel. You keep the client relationship and continue to run the matter. We handle admission, filing, and appearances, and advise on local practice.
Who This Is For
Firms whose client has been drawn into a Delaware bankruptcy case without having chosen to be there. In practice that usually means one of the following.
A preference or fraudulent transfer defendant. Your commercial litigation or corporate client received a demand letter or an adversary complaint from a Delaware liquidating trust, eighteen months after a customer’s bankruptcy that your client had stopped thinking about.
A creditor, vendor, or landlord in a large case. Your client has claims, contract rights, or leased premises at risk in a case moving on a Delaware schedule, and needs to object, assert administrative priority, or protect a setoff.
A personal injury or commercial plaintiff whose defendant filed. Your case is stayed and you need relief from the automatic stay to pursue available insurance coverage.
A party to related litigation. Your case elsewhere has been affected by a Delaware filing, whether through removal, a stay, or a competing claim to the same assets.
A debtor-side matter with a Delaware entity. Your client is a Delaware entity and Delaware is the appropriate or necessary venue.
What the Rule Requires, and What We Cover
Del. Bankr. L.R. 9010-1 imposes specific obligations that are easy to underestimate:
- Under subsection (c), Delaware counsel must be a member of the Bar of the District Court maintaining an office in the District of Delaware for the regular transaction of business.
- Delaware counsel must be the registered CM/ECF user and is required to file all papers.
- Unless the Court orders otherwise, Delaware counsel must attend proceedings before the Court.
- Under subsection (d), a party has 28 days after the first paper filed on its behalf to obtain or associate Delaware counsel, and failure subjects the party to sanctions.
We handle the pro hac vice motion on Local Form 105, the filing obligations, and hearing attendance. We are in this court regularly, which means the appearance obligation is a matter of routine rather than a travel and scheduling problem.
How Engagements Are Structured
Three arrangements cover most situations. Which one fits is a function of the size of the exposure and how much you already know about the underlying facts.
Traditional local counsel. You run the matter and remain lead counsel. We are admitted, file, appear, and advise on local practice, judicial preferences, and the posture of the main case. Best where you have substantial history with the client and the underlying commercial relationship, and where the matter is significant enough to justify two firms.
Delaware counsel with substantive role. We take on defined substantive work, typically the bankruptcy-specific analysis, the avoidance defenses, briefing, or the mediation, while you retain the client relationship and overall direction. Best where the matter turns on bankruptcy law your firm does not practice.
Direct referral. You refer the matter to us and step back, remaining as involved as you wish. Best for modest preference defenses and stay relief motions, where the economics do not support two firms and the client’s interest is in resolving the matter efficiently.
We are comfortable with any of the three, and we would rather tell you at the outset that a matter does not justify two firms than bill through an arrangement that does not serve your client.
What You Can Expect From Us
We do not solicit your client. The engagement letter says so. Your relationship is your relationship, and a referral practice does not survive any other approach.
Conflicts cleared promptly. We run a conflicts check before substantive discussion. Because we appear in many of the largest Delaware cases, both for and against estates, conflicts do arise. We will tell you quickly rather than after you have committed to a schedule.
Fee arrangements suited to the matter. Preference defense and stay relief work is often handled on a flat or capped fee, which lets you give your client a number rather than an estimate. Hourly is available where the work is genuinely unpredictable.
Candid assessment. Where a preference exposure should be settled rather than litigated, or where a stay relief motion can be resolved by consent order for a fraction of the cost of a contested motion, we will say so at the start.
Responsiveness. Delaware deadlines are short. We answer.
Our Practice
Kasen Law Group, P.C. is a boutique firm practicing exclusively in bankruptcy. Founding attorney Jenny R. Kasen has appeared before the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware for more than thirteen years, and is also admitted before the Bankruptcy Courts for the District of New Jersey, the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, and the Southern District of Florida. Associate Russell Heller served as a law clerk to Judge Kevin J. Carey and Judge Laurie Selber Silverstein of the Delaware Bankruptcy Court.
We appear regularly in Delaware cases including some of the largest retail, healthcare, technology, and commercial restructurings of recent years, representing creditors, vendors, landlords, preference defendants, equity holders, and debtors.
Frequently Asked Questions
Will you take the client from me?
No, and our engagement letter provides for it. Referring firms are a significant part of our practice and that only works one way.
How quickly can you be engaged?
Same day in most cases, subject to conflicts clearance. If you are against a deadline, say so when you call and we will prioritize the conflicts check.
Can you handle the whole matter so I do not have to learn bankruptcy procedure?
Yes. That is the direct referral structure, and for a single preference defense it is frequently the most economical outcome for the client.
What does Delaware counsel typically cost?
It depends on the structure and the matter. For traditional local counsel on a contained adversary proceeding, the local counsel component is usually a modest fraction of overall defense costs. For a direct referral, we will quote a flat or capped fee where the scope permits it. We will give you a number before you commit.
Do you handle appeals?
Yes. There is no bankruptcy appellate panel in the Third Circuit, so appeals from the Delaware Bankruptcy Court generally go to the District Court, and a stay of the underlying order must be sought from the Bankruptcy Court first.
We are not a litigation firm. Is that a problem?
No. Corporate, transactional, and general business firms are among our most frequent referral sources, precisely because a client’s bankruptcy problem arrives without regard to what the firm practices.
Contact
Jenny R. Kasen, Kasen Law Group, P.C.
1213 N. King Street, Suite 2, Wilmington, DE 19801
(302) 214-0777
If your client has a deadline, mention it when you call.
Delaware Bankruptcy Attorney is a trade name of Kasen Law Group, P.C. This page is general information about our practice and is not legal advice, and it does not create an attorney client relationship.