Jonathan M. Landers is a nationally recognized authority in bankruptcy and insolvency law. He presently is a partner in the boutique firm of Scarola Malone and Zubatov.
Mr. Landers has extensive experience in bankruptcy, insolvency, restructuring, financing transactions, the purchase and sale of assets, and bankruptcy and insolvency litigation matters; representing debtors, lenders and lending syndicates, large creditors, litigation defendants, litigation plaintiffs, and asset sellers and purchasers. He is one of only sixty-five members of the prestigious National Bankruptcy Conference, a member of the American College of Bankruptcy (founding class) and has been recognized repeatedly in New York Super Lawyers and The Best Lawyers in America.
Mr. Landers has served as lead counsel for numerous clients and in the following cases, including, among others:
Debtors: The Finova Group, Inc., Hoop (Disney Stores), Odyssey Group (North Face and Head Sportswear), Divi Hotels and S.S. Retail Stores;
Secured Lenders: Insilco, and Concap I, II, IV and V (involving real estate loans aggregating $500+MM);
Debtors and Committees as Lead Special Litigation Counsel: Strauss Auto, Champion Homebuilders, and Boston Generating;
Creditors: Merrill Lynch in the Enron and Adelphia bankruptcies; Wells Fargo Bank in the Placid and Penrod bankruptcies; Dial Corporation in the Greyhound and Bergner bankruptcies;
Asset Purchasers: U.S. Aggregates, Greate Bay Casinos, Liquor Barn, Sonic Telecommunications, Grand Palais Riverboat, and Rivermeadows (Crescent H Ranch);
Lending Groups: Wells Fargo Bank, Bracton Corporation (successor to Crocker National Bank), and Bank of Montreal in numerous workout and restructuring transactions; and Citibank in the liquidation and bankruptcies of a number of major U.S. law firms (most recently, Heller Ehrman, Thelen and Brobeck).
Mediator and Expert Witness: Mr. Landers has served as a mediator and is currently mediating a $30+MM preference case pending in Delaware. In addition, he has been an expert witness in a number of cases involving procedural, finance and bankruptcy issues (recently testifying on issues concerning the validity of a U.S. judgment in a case pending in Israel).
Mr. Landers graduated from Colgate University (where he was elected to Phi Beta Kappa), and magna cum laude from the Harvard Law School (where he was an Editor of the Harvard Law Review). He previously was a partner in Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP (for twenty three years) and in Milberg LLP; and has been a Professor of Law at the Universities of Kansas and Illinois, a Visiting Professor at the Universities of Chicago and California (Boalt Hall), a Visiting Scholar at the American Bar Foundation, and a Distinguished Visiting Professor at the University of San Francisco.
Mr. Landers is the co-author of three books on bankruptcy, creditors’ rights and civil procedure; and the author of more the 30 published articles; has testified a number of times before Congressional committees; and is a frequent speaker before bar associations, CLE institutes and at convention programs. Most recent publications include articles on The Law Firm Becomes a Bankrupt (forthcoming in Pratt’s Journal of Bankruptcy Law), The Future of Avoidance Powers in Bankruptcy (Norton Bankruptcy Advisor, November 2012), The Changing Face of Chapter 11 (Pratt’s Journal of Bankruptcy Law, Feb./Mar. 2012); loan-to-own (ABI Journal, Oct. 2007), and first lien/second lien issues (Norton Bankruptcy Advisor, Nov. & Dec. 2010). Most recent presentations were at the ABI Restructuring Conference (Oct. 2011 and Oct. 2012), ABA Spring Meeting (Mar. 2012), Norton Litigation Institute (Mar. 2012), and ABI NY Meeting (May 2012).