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Bondholders, rating agencies and financial advisers may have never heard of the city of Portent Falls, but that’s because it is the fictional municipality whose contentious bankruptcy case will be the focus of a free workshop aimed at bringing the financial, legal and negotiating issues of a major muni restructuring to light.

To address the ongoing rise in distressed municipalities, executives from global consulting firms Houlihan Lokey Inc. and Alvarez & Marsal Inc. along with prominent finance and restructuring attorneys on Thursday will join forces to present a free workshop called “Restructuring a Troubled Municipality — A Case Study.”

The event, for which registration is complimentary, will take place from 8:30 to 11 a.m. at the Mandarin Oriental hotel in New York City. The firms previously presented the workshop in Los Angeles on June 2, and will offer it again on June 29 in Chicago.

The case study will explore the issues of a municipal restructuring from the perspectives of civic officials, unions, bondholders, retirees, citizens and the advisers tasked with shepherding a local government through the uncharted waters of a full-blown financial and operational restructuring. It aims to offer a guide for successfully navigating through the inherently confrontational process.

“Much has been written recently about the potential for government defaults, here and abroad, particularly for U.S. states and cities,” Stephen Spencer, a managing director in Houlihan Lokey’s financial restructuring group, said in a press release.

“We are observing substantial municipal distress on both cost and revenue fronts across the country, and over the next decade the odds are that we will encounter municipal defaults at levels greater than the astonishingly infrequent historical average.”

Spencer will lead the case study presentations along with Houlihan co-chief executive officer Jeff Werbalowsky. The firm will be accompanied by co-presenters Bill Roberti, managing director and head of the public sector group at Alvarez, and Kelly Stapleton, a managing director and leader of the firm’s fiduciary practice.

Attorneys will be presenters at the event. In New York, the legal presenters will be Marc Levinson and John Knox from Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP. In Chicago, they will be Matthew  Clemente and Peter Canzano from Sidley Austin LLP.

The event is geared toward money management firms and muni bond investors; corporate finance attorneys involved with restructuring and mergers and acquisitions; banks and institutional lenders to municipalities; hedge funds and other capital providers, and civic officials.

A continental breakfast will be served from 8:30 to 9 a.m., followed by a two-hour presentation and question-and-answer session. For more information contact Robin Parrish at 866-293-1925 or events@HL.com.

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