Steve Snyder was a featured panelist at Mealey’s Asbestos Bankruptcy Conference in Chicago this past summer, held June 9-10, 2005, at the Ritz-Carlton. Steve spoke Thursday, June 9, as part of a panel discussion devoted to trusts (Perspectives on Asbestos Bankruptcy – The Trustee).

Steve has experience and expertise with asbestos bankruptcy settlement trusts and serves as managing trustee for the Western MacArthur asbestos bankruptcy trust. That trust was created after Steve and his partners negotiated a multi-billion dollar global settlement resolving asbestos claims against, and the insurance claims of, his client, Mac Arthur Co.

Organizing and successfully operating an asbestos bankruptcy trust, known as a 524g trust, is a very challenging task. The legislative amendments enabling the trusts are complex and impose multiple requirements.

The several trusts that now exist came into being after 1994, when Congress passed special amendments to the Bankruptcy Code. The amendments enable companies beset by asbestos claims to obtain relief from pending and future claims by providing funding for a 524g trust, which then undertakes to resolve and pay all such claims.

Steve and his fellow panelists at the conference spoke about the best practices that have developed over the last decade by experienced professionals working in this area.

Mealey’s Asbestos Bankruptcy Conference attendees come from all over the country and include asbestos attorneys, insurance company representatives, risk managers, and investor analysts.

Organizer Mealey Publications and Conferences Group provides highly targeted legal news reports and sophisticated conferences. Mealey’s is a division of LexisNexis.