In her first official determinations on the bankruptcy cases of the Government of Puerto Rico and the Puerto Rico Urgent Interest Fund Corporation (Cofina by its Spanish acronym), Judge Laura Taylor Swain will hold the first hearing of the case on next Wednesday in San Juan and has dictated some of the rules of conduct.

The bankruptcy process that the Promesa act extends for the restructuring of the debt of territories is sui generis, to the extent that it offers freedom to adapttherulesofregularbankruptciesto the process. Thisprocess also distinguishes itself in that it is led by the government,or the Fiscal Control Board (FCB) as representatives of the government in our cases.

An expert quoted by Bloomberg, Matt Fabian of Municipal Market Analytics, Inc., commented that 'nobody has any idea of what is going to happen' and that it is 'the government that is steering'.

In her order, the judgeschedulesthe hearing for Tuesday, May 17, at 9:30 am in courtroom 3 of the Hato Rey Federal Court, and will be open for the press, public and lawyers who will not be involved in said hearing. However,with no reservations,spaces will be offered on a first come first served basis.

For lawyers with no space in courtroom 3, courtroom 1 will be available with the closed circuit; same goes for the public, which will allowed in the jury room, a space smaller than a regular room. There will be no simultaneous transmission to the outside, only to the indicated spaces.

As a matter of importance, the order indicates that an update of the negotiation process with the creditors should be offered at the hearing and that the judge asked both parties to express their views on a formal mediation, an alternative that federal judge Francisco Besosa had favored before the filing of bankruptcy but that the Court of Appeals did not allow to go through by understanding that it was an alternative prohibited under the paralysis of lawsuits that expired on May 1st. The parties have resorted to informal, voluntary mediation, with no success so far.

It calls to attention a dry order, without context or development, issued by the judge among other affairs of dates and deadlines: 'to those who present themselves to room 3 it is asked to refrain from using cologne or perfume.'