NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - Changes in the bankruptcy law could force more companies seeking protection from creditors to close and could prompt a rush to file under the existing law, according to a published report.

USA Today reports that experts in the field of corporate bankruptcies say they're expecting a number of filings in September, ahead of the Oct. 17 effective date of the law passed earlier this year.

"Taken together, these changes will doom some companies to fail in Chapter 11," says New York lawyer D.J. Baker of Skadden Arps, who is representing supermarket chain Winn-Dixie in its reorganization. Chapter 11 is the provision of the bankruptcy law that allows a company to continue operations, while Chapter 7 covers liquidations.

The changes will make it tougher for companies filing bankruptcy to find financing they need to fund operations during reorganization, bankruptcy lawyer James Sprayregen of Kirkland & Ellis in Chicago told the newspaper.

"I think there will be more liquidations," he said.

Among the other changes in the law, companies will have only 18 months during which management alone can present a plan for operating a reorganized company before creditors and outside investors can offer alternative plans. Now judges can extend the period for management to call the shots, allowing a company like United Airlines parent UAL Corp. to go 31 months in bankruptcy without competing plans.

The newspaper also reports that as a protection for landlords, companies will have about seven months to decide which leased locations to keep open or to close. That could force retailers to make quick decisions that are not in their best interests long term, Mitchell Cohen, a consultant to Kmart during its bankruptcy, told the newspaper.

Companies also will not be able to offer top executives retention bonuses unless they present proof of another job offer, the newspaper reports.

For a look at what the new law means to individuals who file for bankruptcy, click here.