Ms. Ceccotti was a member of the firm of Cohen, Weiss and Simon LLP in New York, NY, a law firm specializing in the representation of labor organizations and employee benefit plans. She retired in 2014. Ms. Ceccotti divided her time between the firm’s bankruptcy practice and its employee benefit practice. As part of the firm’s bankruptcy practice, Ms. Ceccotti represented labor organizations and employee benefit plans in numerous bankruptcy cases in a wide range of private sector industries and, most recently, the municipal bankruptcy case filed by the City of Detroit, Michigan. Representative private sector cases include United Air Lines, Delphi Corporation, Chrysler and General Motors, and cases in the steel, other manufacturing and entertainment industries. As part of the firm’s employee benefits practice, she represented unions and employee benefit plans in pension, health and other employee benefit matters.
From 1995-1997, Ms. Ceccotti served on the nine-member National Bankruptcy Review Commission, created by the Bankruptcy Reform Act of 1994, as one of three members appointed by President Bill Clinton. From 2012-2014, Ms. Ceccotti served on the American Bankruptcy Institute’s (ABI) Commission to Study the Reform of Chapter 11, appointed by ABI’s president. Throughout her career, Ms. Ceccotti has been a frequent speaker and contributor to professional programs on labor, benefits and employee interests in business bankruptcy cases, including programs sponsored by ABI, the American Bar Association (ABA), the AFL-CIO Lawyers Coordinating Committee, the NYC Labor and Employment Relations Association, the National Conference of Bankruptcy Judges and the Turnaround Management Association’s Network of Women. She has held sub-committee leadership positions in the ABA’s Section of Business Law, Chapter 11 Committee and the ABI’s Labor and Employee Benefits Committee. She is a graduate of New York Law School, New York, NY and Clark University, Worcester, MA.
Ms. Ceccotti has written a number of articles on the intersection of bankruptcy and labor and benefit laws. Her publications include: “Lost in Transformation: The Disappearance of Labor Policies in Applying Section 1113 of the Bankruptcy Code,” 15 American Bankruptcy Institute Law Review 415 (Winter, 2007); “What About My Pension: Bankruptcy Invades What Was Once a Secure World,” Business Law Today, Volume 16, No. 2, American Bar Association Section of Business Law (Nov./Dec. 2006); “Wake Turbulence: Litigation Over Termination of United’s Pension Plans,” American Bar Association Section of Labor and Employment Law Newsletter, Volume 33 (Summer 2005).
She has also been a contributing editor to, Employee and Union Member Guide to Labor Law by the National Lawyers Guild (Chapter 14, bankruptcy) (Clark Boardman), a contributing editor of Employee Benefits Law, Third Edition (Treatise published in coordination with the ABA Section of Labor and Employment Law) (BNA Books, 2013) and a contributing author, Employee Benefits Law annual supplements (various years pre-dating the Third Edition) (Chapter 11: VIII, ERISA’s Interrelationship with Federal Bankruptcy Laws).