Panelists: Speed, Capital Needed in Bailout

NEW YORK CITY-Concern permeated the third floor of the Harvard Club here, as lawyers and investors came together for a series of panel discussions over how best to digest and understand the impact of government bailout programs and provisions. At least one panel was certain that an infusion of capital into the nation’s banking system was key to melting the increasingly deep freeze settling over that sector.

Ultimately, attendees for the day were seeking insight on where everyone, both inside and out of the business sector, might be headed. The five panels at the all-day event, sponsored by Incisive Media’s American Lawyer and Corporate Counsel magazines, hone in on the bailout plan’s provisions.

The panel, “Understanding the Bailout Programs,” was a discussion between Linda Soldo and John C. Murphy, both partners at Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP’s Washington, DC office, as well as third panel member Laurence E. Cranch, Manhattan-based EVP and general counsel at AllianceBernstein LP. With that discussion, the audience heard a now familiar, grim forecast: it will get much worse before it gets better.