Communication strategies, financial crisis management, negotiation techniques, and litigation and bankruptcy tactics told through the stories of a loan workout and financial restructuring consultant.How do you protect yourself, or your clients, or your family and friends from aggressive creditors, lawsuits, and bureaucracy? When do you need protection from the advice of your own advisors and friends? Debt & Circuses is a true story of seven years of loan workouts, lawsuits, and bankruptcies during the Great Recession (2009-2015) and beyond.Debt & Circuses explains real-world negotiation strategy and courtroom tactics through the true stories of finance and accounting advisors, lawyers, and courageous entrepreneurs who followed the counter-intuitive, asymmetrical, and risky advice of a few creative consultants. Debt & Circuses demonstrates, through first-hand experiences, effective methods of: Preparing the mind (and your assets) for conflict. Coping with emotional pressure tactics. Responding to unreasonable demands constructively. Understanding why victory or defeat in court can be irrelevant. Preventing the two things that produce an unfavorable outcome. Negotiating with inferior bargaining power. Going on offense against an opponent with unlimited resources. Capitalizing on bureaucratic failures.Avoiding the big mistake made by all companies in financial distress.Clay Westbrook is an attorney and consultant who spent six years involved with over 100 loan workout cases, dozens of lawsuits and business bankruptcies, and $100s of millions of bad debts. He advises clients on business breakups, litigation and bankruptcy strategy, and negotiating with taxing authorities and governmental entities.He saw many spectacular wins in unlikely circumstances, learned valuable lessons from a few disappointing losses, and drew inspiration to tell the story from one woman's experiences with debt collectors that destroyed her family and her future."'The mortgage company told us that we weren't allowed to file for bankruptcy. They said it wasn't an option, ' Maria explained.She didn't realize what this meant. The mortgage company didn't just lie to them; they violated state and federal laws in doing so. We might have had a case, or at least an issue to run with, which is usually enough. But it was too late."The consultants quickly learn that to save their clients, they have to forget about "doing the right thing,"forget about the legal merits of the case, and forget about logic. The solutions come from psychology and math, human nature, and realizing neither side understands (nor cares) what the other side is saying."After witnessing it firsthand many times, accomplishing the impossible takes specific knowledge, character, and action. As simple as it sounds, you rarely see all three when the cards are down. If they don't have all three, they lose." Achieving success against long odds is more than "when to stop paying," or "if the bank files a lawsuit, cut your settlement offer," or remembering to stash the Ferrari at a covered garage in Reno if the bank gets a judgment. Debt & Circuses shows: How to know and have the confidence to trust your instincts under pressure.How human nature affects the strategies and results conflicts are never "just business" and are always personal.Ways to identify and avoid traps lawyers, advisors, and others miss.The one principle that explains the entire process.Through the experiences of business owners and advisors, and the entertaining, if not ridiculous, stranger-than- fiction situations in which these people found themselves, Debt & Circuses provides essential knowledge and skills for surviving financial distress, and serving clients whose future depends upon your advice."You are not alone. Don't be frightened, and don't feel hopeless. We will never, ever give up."
About the Author: If you read no further or learn nothing else, the point of Debt & Circuses is as follows: the outcome of a dispute, or the solution to a financial problem, doesn't have to be the way the creditors explain it, nor does it have to be the way your lawyer, accountant, financial advisor, or anyone else explains it. The way disputes work in reality isn't written in textbooks or newspaper articles, or taught in seminars or executive MBA classes, or explained from a comfortable leather chair in a law office. How many situations can you think of in history where everybody said that because of the laws or the rules of the game, or one side's overwhelming power, the outcome would never be in doubt, and everybody was wrong? How does it happen? Debt & Circuses is an attempt to explain what you should know, and what we learned, from seven years of loan workouts, lawsuits, and bankruptcies during the Great Recession. This is not an autobiography; while the events recalled are true, my role varied in each case from lead negotiator, to researcher, to brain-stormer, or merely an Observer of Interesting Things. I hope you will enjoy reading Debt & Circuses as much as I enjoyed writing it. --Clay Westbrook Author Bio: After graduating with honors from the University of Georgia School of Law, Clay Westbrook moved to Atlanta with a car load of belongings, a Labrador Retriever, and dreams of wealth and success. After the real world swiftly crushed those dreams, he spent 15 years practicing corporate transactions and real estate law, working with, and learning from, many of the most talented and/or insufferable lawyers this country has ever produced. Clay and the practice of law parted ways for good in 2009. The breakup was amicable, with both Clay and the legal profession drastically improved as a result. Today Clay is a business consultant focusing on financial restructuring, litigation, and bankruptcy. Ascent Consultants helps business owners, attorneys, CPAs and other professionals, providing seminars, training, and consulting on negotiation and dispute resolution. He most enjoys helping people in complicated situations that require original thought, and working with talented professionals who wish to better serve their clients. Clay also enjoys writing, history, sports, and the outdoors. Ideally, he would hike in the mountains all day, and then stay in a nice hotel. He resides in Atlanta with his wife, two sons, and two cats with whom he maintains a fragile truce.