In the sixteen years that have passed since the first Airlie House Conference, concern about preventing hazardous toxic exposures and cleaning up toxic waste sites has steadily increased. In turn, more and more federal and state legislation and regulations have appeared to redress these problems. The costs attendant to both preventive and cleanup costs, however, have become perhaps the most significant financial problem that many companies must face, often posing a threat to their continued viability.

During this same period, another growth industry has appeared on the scene: bankruptcy and reorganization. Larger companies with increasingly complex financial structures have been seeking protection under the federal bankruptcy laws. The trend became particularly apparent with the enactment in 1979 of the Bankruptcy Code, which, among other changes, eliminated the requirement that a debtor be either insolvent or unable to pay its debts before it could file a petition—whether in Chapter 7 for liquidation or Chapter 11 for reorganization. The problems now being presented to the bankruptcy court for resolution range from rejections of union contracts to products liability claims to multi-billion-dollar judgments. One side-effect has been the erosion of concern that filing for reorganization is an embarrassing, morally reprehensible thing to do. In its place has come the recognition that the Code affords the opportunity for a company to restructure. It is viewed as just one more management tool.