Our Members

Omar Alaniz is the Managing Partner of Reed Smith’s Dallas office. Omar’s national restructuring & insolvency practice was recognized in Chambers USA in 2015-2025, describing him as “one of the smartest and most experienced bankruptcy lawyers,” “incredibly intellectual and charismatic,” and “a problem solver who is very practical.”

Omar’s primary practice is distress M&A and advising companies and boards of directors on liability management solutions in distress situations, including out of court workouts and chapter 11 restructurings. He also represents creditor committees and other key stakeholders in insolvency matters. He has appeared in bankruptcy and appellate courts throughout the country, including the Texas and U.S. Supreme Courts. He is the former Chair of the Texas State Bar’s Bankruptcy Section.

Omar is passionate about mentoring the next generation of lawyers. Omar was an adjunct faculty member at SMU Dedman School of Law for several years and currently teaches a 12-week Chapter 11 course to young insolvency professionals. He coached the SMU Duberstein moot court team to 5 national championships—the most in the competition’s history. Omar is Global Chair of Reed Smith’s 300 member LGBTQ+ business inclusion group (PRISM).

Georgetown University B.A., magna cum laude , Phi Beta Kappa (1971) Georgetown University Law Center J.D. (1975) Admitted to Delaware Bar (1976)

Circuit Judge, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit (2000-) Richards, Layton & Finger, P.A. (1976-00) Judicial Clerkship, Hon. Daniel L. Herrmann, Chief Justice, Delaware Supreme Court (1975-76)

American Bar Association, Section of Business Law: Chair (2001-02); Chair-Elect (2000-01); Vice-Chair (1999-00); Secretary (1998-99); Editor, The Business Lawyer (1999-00); Chair Committee on Legal Opinions (1994-98); Former Co-Chair, Committee on Publications; Committee on Business Bankruptcy American Law Institute New York TriBar Opinion Committee Non-voting Member American College of Commercial Finance Lawyers Charter Member American Inns of Court Foundation, Board of Trustees

Author, “Third Party Legal Opinions,” Ch. 15A in Asset Based Financing: A Transactional Guide , Matthew Bender (1990) Co-author, “Some Thoughts on the Economics of Legal Opinions,” Colum. Bus. L. Rev. 307 (1989) Principal drafter, Special Report by the TriBar Opinion Committee, “UCC Security Interest Opinions,” 49 Bus. Law. 359 (1993)

Douglas Baird graduated from Stanford Law School in 1979. At Stanford he was elected to the Order of the Coif and served as the managing editor of the Stanford Law Review. He received his B.A. in English summa cum laude from Yale College in 1975. Before joining the faculty in 1980, he was a law clerk to Judge Shirley M. Hufstedler and Judge Dorothy W. Nelson, both of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.

Mr. Baird served as Dean of the Law School from 1994-1999. His research and teaching interests focus on corporate reorganizations and contracts.

Faculty profile

MICHAEL ST. PATRICK BAXTER is a partner of Covington & Burling LLP in Washington, D.C. He specializes in bankruptcy law and corporate reorganization. He has represented creditors, debtors, and official committees in bankruptcy cases across the United States, and has been involved in many of the major bankruptcy cases in the country, including General Motors, Chrysler, Chemtura, Owens Corning, Congoleum, US Airways, WorldCom, Enron, Armstrong World Industries, and LTV Steel. He has counseled the boards of directors and senior management of companies in corporate restructurings, workouts, and bankruptcy reorganizations.

A graduate of Harvard Law School and the University of Western Ontario, Mr. Baxter is a member of the Bar of the District of Columbia, and is a Barrister-at-Law and Solicitor of the Supreme Court of Ontario, Canada. He is a former law clerk to the Chief Justice of Ontario.

Mr. Baxter is a member of the American Law Institute, a Fellow of the American College of Bankruptcy, and a founding member of the International Insolvency Institute. He serves as an adjunct Professor of Law at the George Washington University Law School. Mr. Baxter is the Chair of the Business Bankruptcy Committee of the American Bar Association and was appointed by the Chief Justice of the United States to the Advisory Committee on Bankruptcy Rules.

Mr. Baxter’s prominence as a leading bankruptcy lawyer has been recognized in THE BEST LAWYERS IN AMERICA , THE INTERNATIONAL WHO’S WHO OF INSOLVENCY AND RESTRUCTURING LAWYERS , CHAMBERS USA: AMERICA’S LEADING BUSINESS LAWYERS , and Washington DC Super Lawyers . Mr. Baxter is a contributing editor of NORTON BANKRUPTCY LAW AND PRACTICE 3D and a contributing author of the 1999 ANNUAL SURVEY OF LETTER OF CREDIT LAW & PRACTICE . He has also published extensively in the bankruptcy area and is a frequent lecturer in professional programs.

Profile

Ronit J. Berkovich is a partner in Weil’s Business Finance & Restructuring Department and is based in New York. Ms. Berkovich represents debtors, creditors, lenders, investors, and acquirers of assets in all aspects of distressed situations. She has served as debtors’ counsel in several of the largest and most significant chapter 11 cases in history, including General Motors, Lehman Brothers, WorldCom/MCI, and Takata. Most recently, Ms. Berkovich has led such notable engagements as, EP Energy Corporation, Talen Montana, LLC, CTI Foods, and Catalina Marketing Corporation to name a few. She also has extensive experience representing large and mid-market companies in prepackaged chapter 11 cases, out-of-court workouts, and international restructurings in a variety of industries and has provided advisory services to Fortune 500 companies and other companies on corporate structuring strategies.

Ms. Berkovich actively lectures on various topics relating to restructuring (including for organizations such as the Practising Law Institute, Bloomberg Law, the American Bar Association, the American Bar Institute, and Columbia Law School), taught legal research and writing at Harvard Law School for two years, and taught a seminar in economics at Harvard College. She is the co-editor of the Weil Bankruptcy Blog and has also written extensively, including articles published in The Banking Law Journal , The American University Law Review , Real Estate Finance , and the Harvard Law School Bankruptcy Roundtable .

Ms. Berkovich was awarded 2019 Dealmaker of the Year by The American Lawyer for her work as counsel to Takata in its global restructuring and $1.6 billion asset sale to Key Safety. Ms. Berkovich was named a “Rising Star” for Restructuring and Insolvency in the U.S. by IFLR1000 in 2019 and 2020. She was named a 2018 MVP for Bankruptcy by Law360 and was also profiled in Law360 ’s “Sealing the Deal” (2018) for her work advising Takata. In 2015 she was named a “Rising Star” in Bankruptcy by Law360 and among the 2015 “Top Women” for Creditor Debtor Rights in New York by Super Lawyers . She has also been recognized by Turnarounds & Workouts magazine as one of its Outstanding Young Restructuring Lawyers on multiple occasions.

Ms. Berkovich serves as co-Chair of Women@Weil in New York, on TOWER (Taskforce on Women’s Engagement and Retention) and on Weil’s Hiring Committee. She is also active in her community. Among other things, she is a member of its Lawyers Executive Committee and Bankruptcy and Reorganization Group of the UJA Federation of New York and co-chaired its Next Generation Bankruptcy and Reorganization Group for several years. In 2013 she received the James H. Fogelson Emerging Leadership Award from the UJA Federation of New York. Most recently, Ms. Berkovich joined Bloomberg Law’s newly formed Bankruptcy Innovation Board.

Ms. Berkovich received her B.A., with distinction, from the University of Virginia and received her J.D., magna cum laude , from Harvard Law School.

Mr. Bernstein is a partner with Davis Polk & Wardwell in New York specializing in insolvency law. He represents creditors, debtors, liquidators, receivers, indenture trustees and acquirers in major corporate restructurings, and domestic and cross border insolvency proceedings. He also counsels global financial institutions with respect to multi-jurisdictional risk management. Mr. Bernstein has represented major creditors, lenders or official creditors’ committees in many insolvencies and restructurings, including those of Refco, Delphi, Enron, Federal-Mogul, Conseco, Adelphia, Bethlehem Steel, McLeodUSA, Dow Corning, Memorex Telex, R.H. Macy, Morrison-Knudsen, Drexel Burnham Lambert, Crown Paper, U.S. Office Products and Toshoku America. He has represented the debtors, liquidators or receivers in insolvency proceedings involving Manville, LTV Steel, Allis-Chalmers, Lomas Financial, L.J. Hooker and Princeton Economics/Cresvale International.

In addition to chairing of the National Bankruptcy Conference, Mr. Bernstein also is or has been a director of the American College of Bankruptcy, chair of the Committee on Bankruptcy and Corporate Reorganization and the Audit Committee of the Association of the Bar of the City of New York, a founding director of the International Insolvency Institute, a director of the New York County Lawyers Association, and chair of the TriBar Opinion Committee. He also is a member of INSOL International, where he is co-chair of the G-36 Committee, and is a member of the Official U.S. Delegation to the Insolvency Working Group of the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL).

Mr. Bernstein is on the Board of Editors of and a contributor to Collier on Bankruptcy , and has authored a number of articles regarding corporate reorganization law.

Mr. Bernstein is listed as a leading insolvency lawyer in Law Business Research’s Who’s Who Legal-The International Who’s Who of Insolvency and Restructuring Lawyers (2006), Legal Media Group’s The Best of the Best (2006), Chambers Global: Leaders in Their Field (2005-06), Chambers USA (2005), Euromoney’s Guide to the World’s Leading Insolvency and Restructuring Lawyers (2005), PLC’s Cross-Border Restructuring & Insolvency Handbook (2005), and, in 2005, he was named Who’s Who Legal Insolvency and Restructuring Lawyer of the Year.

Mr. Bernstein graduated from Princeton University in 1975 and received his J.D. from the University of Chicago Law School in 1978.

Profile

Hon. Christopher G. Bradley serves on the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Western District of Texas, covering cases in the Austin and El Paso divisions.

Since taking the bench, Judge Bradley has served as Education Chair for the National Conference of Bankruptcy Judges and as an Editorial Advisory Board member of the American Bankruptcy Law Journal . Immediately before his appointment to the bench, Judge Bradley served as a tenured law professor at the University of Kentucky and briefly at the University of Florida. He taught courses including bankruptcy, corporate finance, secured transactions, contracts, and business associations, and he was recognized for his teaching and mentoring of students. He co-authored a casebook and a treatise, published numerous articles, and served as contributing editor to the Bankruptcy Law Letter . He also served as a Uniform Law Commissioner for the Commonwealth of Kentucky.

Judge Bradley grew up in the Dallas area. He graduated from Princeton University with a bachelor’s degree, summa cum laude. His law degree is from New York University, where he graduated magna cum laude and Order of the Coif. He also holds a doctorate in Medieval English literature from the University of Oxford. After law school, Judge Bradley clerked for Judge Patrick Higginbotham of the Fifth Circuit and Judge Tony Davis of the Western District of Texas bankruptcy court, and he practiced with Weil Gotshal in Houston and with several law firms in Austin. In addition to engaging in substantial pro bono and community service activities, he was involved with bar associations and the Hon. Larry E. Kelly Bankruptcy Inn of Court, and he served as chair of the Young Lawyers Committee of the Bankruptcy Section of the State Bar of Texas.

Ralph Brubaker is the James H.M. Sprayregen Professor of Law at the University of Illinois, where he teaches courses in bankruptcy, bankruptcy procedure, corporate reorganizations, contracts, conflict of laws (private international law), and restitution. Professor Brubaker has three degrees from the University of Illinois, including his J.D. summa cum laude and an M.B.A., and he received Bronze Tablet distinction (highest honors) and C.P.A. certification as an undergraduate. He clerked for Judge James K. Logan of the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit, and he practiced in the bankruptcy and corporate reorganization group with the law firm Squire, Sanders & Dempsey (now Squire Patton Boggs) in Cleveland, Ohio. Professor Brubaker was a member of the faculty at the Emory University School of Law in Atlanta, Georgia from 1995 until 2004, when he returned to his alma mater . Professor Brubaker is the Editor-in-Chief and a contributing author for West’s Bankruptcy Law Letter , he is co-author of a bankruptcy casebook, and he has written dozens of journal articles and essays. He is particularly expert in the complex jurisdictional and procedural facets of federal bankruptcy proceedings. Professor Brubaker has been an editorial advisor for the American Bankruptcy Law Journal , the American Bankruptcy Institute Law Review , and the Emory Bankruptcy Developments Journal . He is a member of the American Law Institute and a Fellow of the American College of Bankruptcy, for which he has been the Scholar-in-Residence. Professor Brubaker has served on the executive committee of the board of directors of the American Bankruptcy Institute (ABI), and he was a member of the advisory committee on business enterprise sales for the ABI’s 2014 Commission to Study the Reform of Chapter 11.

Tony Casey is Deputy Dean and Donald M. Ephraim Professor of Law and Economics at The University of Chicago Law School. He is the Faculty Director of the Law School’s Center on Law and Finance. His research examines the intersection of finance and law, with a focus on corporate bankruptcy. He has written about topics including asset valuation, creditor priority, the constitutionality of bankruptcy courts, and intercreditor agreements. His broader projects explore business organization, civil procedure, and complex business disputes.

Before entering academics, Professor Casey was a partner at Kirkland & Ellis LLP. Professor Casey received his JD in 2002 from The University of Chicago Law School. After law school, Casey clerked for Chief Judge Joel M. Flaum of the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit.

Prior to joining Willkie in 2022, Hon. Shelley C. Chapman (RET.) served as U.S. Bankruptcy Judge for the Southern District of New York since 2010. A widely-recognized leader of the bankruptcy bar, Judge Chapman oversaw the Lehman Brothers Holdings bankruptcy case—the largest bankruptcy case in history—and many other chapter 11 mega-cases and chapter 15 cross-border proceedings, including Boston Generating , Innkeepers , Ambac , LightSquared , Sbarro , NII Holdings , Sabine Oil & Gas, Nine West, Century 21, Aeromexico, and Philippine Airlines . She has also acted as a court-appointed mediator in numerous complex chapter 11 cases, including Windstream, Frontier Communications, OneWeb, Avianca S.A., Purdue Pharma, and Sears, and is currently serving as the lead mediator in the PROMESA/ Title III case of The Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority (PREPA)/The Commonwealth of Puerto Rico . Committed to furthering excellence in the wider bankruptcy community, she has mentored newly appointed bankruptcy judges and has hosted hundreds of school-age children in her courtroom for mock trials.

Before beginning her service on the bench, Judge Chapman was a partner at Willkie from 2001 – 2010, where her practice included the representation of debtors, creditors, and other parties in interest in major chapter 11 cases and out-of-court restructurings.

Judge Chapman received a B.A. with distinction in all subjects from Cornell University in 1978 and a J.D. from Harvard Law School, from which she graduated cum laude in 1981. She served as an editor of the Harvard Civil Rights-Civil Liberties Law Review .

Judge Clark has served as a bankruptcy judge for the Western District of Texas since 1987. During his tenure on the bench, he has authored well over 200 opinions, some of which have been seminal decisions on emerging issues in both consumer and business bankruptcy. In addition, he has published scholarly articles in law reviews, including a series of articles on bankruptcy jurisprudence in the Fifth Circuit from 1995 through 2002 in the Texas Tech University Law Review. For many years, Judge Clark also authored a monthly column offering a judicial perspective on legal and practice issues in the ABI Journal . He also testified before the National Bankruptcy Review Commission regarding Article III issues relating to bankruptcy. Judge Clark has been a frequent lecturer on bankruptcy issues at seminars nationwide, speaking on a wide range of bankruptcy issues, both consumer and business-related. In addition, he served as a director and officer of the American Bankruptcy Institute for many years and was instrumental in the formation of that organization’s Endowment Committee to fund bankruptcy research. He currently serves as a member of the Endowment Board for the National Conference of Bankruptcy Judges.

Teaching has always been an important part of Judge Clark’s professional career. For sixteen years, he taught American Constitutional Law to foreign students as part of the International Master of Laws Program for McGeorge School of Law, teaching in Salzburg, Austria. He also helped to design and then administer a judicial training program for USAID, training judges in Poland, Romania, Latvia, and the Ukraine. He has also taught both basic and advanced courses in bankruptcy law for the University of Texas School of Law as an adjunct professor.

Judge Clark has also been privileged to participate in the development of international insolvency regimes, serving as part of the advisory committee to the U.S. delegation to UNCITRAL’s drafting of the Model Cross Border Insolvency Law. In addition, he served on the ABA’s delegation to UNCITRAL as it developed its legislative guide for insolvency law, participating in working group sessions in Vienna, Austria. He also was an active participant in the working group that developed the Transnational Insolvency Guide for ALI-ABA.

Before attending law school at the University of Houston School of Law (where he graduated with honors and was a published editor on that school’s law review), he served in specialized ministries for the American Lutheran Church, after graduating from the Evangelical Lutheran Theological Seminar (now Trinity Lutheran Seminary) in Columbus, Ohio, where he obtained a master of divinity degree. He completed his undergraduate work with honors at the University of Maryland in College Park, Maryland.

Judge Clark takes special pride in what he deems his most important accomplishments – his son, Harrison (born in 2003) and his daughter, Carson Renee (born in early 2006).

The Honorable Rebecca B. Connelly is the Chief United States Bankruptcy Judge for the Western District of Virginia. She was the first female appointed to the bankruptcy bench in Virginia. Before joining the bench, Judge Connelly was the Standing Chapter 13 Trustee and Chapter 12 Trustee for the Western District of Virginia. Prior to that, she was in private practice in Virginia and in Washington, D.C. and a law clerk to the Honorable Martin V.B. Bostetter, Jr.

Judge Connelly is an adjunct professor of law at Washington and Lee University School of Law (teaching bankruptcy). She is a frequent speaker for Virginia CLE and various bankruptcy associations. She is an author of two chapters of Bankruptcy Practice in Virginia (2004, reprinted 2008, and revised and reprinted 2017).

Since 1994, Judge Connelly has been an active member of the American Bankruptcy Institute. She has served as a contributing editor and a features author for the ABI Law Journal, a member of the Consumer Law Committee, and a speaker at the Annual Spring Meeting, the Winter Leadership Conference, regional conferences, Eye on Bankruptcy, and Views from the Bench.

Since 2012, Judge Connelly has been a member and active participant in the International Women’s Insolvency and Restructuring Confederation (IWIRC) and the National Conference of Bankruptcy Judges (NCBJ). Judge Connelly formerly chaired the NCBJ Federal Rules Advisory Committee and currently is a member of the Advisory Committee on Bankruptcy Rules, Judicial Conference of the United States.

Judge Connelly is a CARE volunteer and serves on the advisory board to CARE (Credit Abuse Resistance Education).

David Cox is the founding member of Cox Law Group and practices bankruptcy law throughout the Western District of Virginia. Prior to entering private practice, David served as a law clerk to the late Hon. William E. Anderson.

David coedits the treatise, Bankruptcy Practice in Virginia, coauthored the fourth edition of the American Bankruptcy Institute’s Consumer Bankruptcy: Fundamentals of Chapter 7 and Chapter 13 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code, and regularly lectures at regional and national continuing legal education programs.

David is a permanent member of the Fourth Circuit Judicial Conference, a fellow of the American College of Bankruptcy, a faculty member of the Virginia State Bar’s Harry L. Carrico Professionalism Course, and a conferee of the National Bankruptcy Conference. He also serves as Secretary of the American Bankruptcy Institute’s Board of Directors.

Profile

Judge Dow was appointed a United States Bankruptcy Judge for the Western District of Missouri by the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals on November 10, 2003. He retired from the Bench on January 4, 2024.

Prior to joining the bench, Judge Dow was a partner with the firm of Shook, Hardy & Bacon L.L.P. Judge Dow was listed in The Best Lawyers in America in the area of bankruptcy law continuously from 1995.

Judge Dow is a fellow of the American College of Bankruptcy, inducted in March 2013 and was selected in November 2014 to become a conferee of the National Bankruptcy Conference. Judge Dow is a member of the Missouri Bar, the Kansas City Metropolitan Bar Association and serves on the Executive Committee of the Board of Directors of the American Bankruptcy Institute.

He is the chair of the Bankruptcy Judge Education Advisory Committee of the Federal Judicial Center and a member of the faculty of the Advanced Consumer Bankruptcy Practice Institute.

He is a pro tem member of the Bankruptcy Appellate Panel. He also serves on the Judicial Conference Advisory Committee on Bankruptcy Rules and chairs its subcommittee on forms.

Judge Dow has authored and co-authored several articles, including AERISA-Related Claims in Bankruptcy@ Journal of Bankruptcy Law and Practice,/i> Vol. 3, No. 1 (Nov/Dec 1993), A>Rent to Own= Agreements in Bankruptcy: Sales or Leases?@ American Bankruptcy Institute Law Review Vol. 2, No. 1 (Spring 1994) and AGramm-Leach-Bliley and the Bankruptcy/Collection Attorney@ Norton Bankruptcy Law Advisor (Feb 2002).

Judge Dow received his B.A., with honors, from the University of Wyoming in 1975 and his J.D. in 1978 from Washburn University School of Law, where he was Notes Editor of the Washburn Law Journal .

Biography to come.

Profile

Deputy Chair of the Restructuring Department, Alice advises creditor and debtor clients in corporate reorganizations and bankruptcies, with a focus on postpetition financings, exit financings and specialized finance structures. Her recent company-side matters include advising Revlon, The IMAGINE Group, Foresight Energy, Animal Supply Company, Preferred Sands, Expro Holdings, and Performance Sports Group and various portfolio companies of the firm’s private equity clients and recent creditor-side experience includes advising stakeholders in Endo Pharmaceuticals, Talen Energy Supply, Mallinckrodt, LSC Communications, Oasis Petroleum, Neiman Marcus, Extraction Oil & Gas, Exide Technologies, Whiting Petroleum Corporation, McDermott International, TOMS Shoes, PetSmart and an informal committee of certain holders of secured and unsecured notes of Chassix and Chassix Holdings.

Chambers USA recognizes Alice for her “rare combination of bankruptcy and financing experience” and cites clients who praise her for being “tenacious in representing [their] best interests” and “one of the best deal-side lawyers [they] have ever worked with.” Clients are “impressed with her ability to really work through complex issues and come up with solutions and able to work with a number of competing parties.” The Legal 500 writes that Alice’s “ease in grasping complex structures make her the perfect lawyer to attack difficult restructuring issues.” Alice was named a 2022 “Outstanding Restructuring Lawyer” by Turnarounds & Workouts, and more recently in 2024, she was shortlisted for Euromoney’s “Woman in Business Law Award” for “Restructuring & Insolvency Lawyer of the Year.” In 2021 and most recently in 2023, Alice was named as one of Law360’s “Bankruptcy MVPs.” She is recognized by The Best Lawyers in America for her work in Bankruptcy and Creditor Debtor Rights/Insolvency and Reorganization Law and was named in Lawdragon’s “500 Leading US Bankruptcy & Restructuring Lawyers.” Additionally, Alice was selected by Law360 as a “Rising Star” in 2011, noting her role in the successful bankruptcies of AbitibiBowater and CIT Group.

Alice’s matters are routinely recognized by industry publications and associations. The Turnaround Management Association (TMA) honored her with three awards – its 2024 “Mega Company Turnaround/Transaction” award for her work in Revlon’s emergence from bankruptcy, its 2018 “Transaction of the Year: Large Company” award for her work on Performance Sports Group’s chapter 11 case, and its 2016 “Turnaround of the Year: Mega Company” award for her work on behalf of Chassix Holdings Inc. debtholders. The M&A Advisor selected the restructuring of Performance Sports Group as its “Restructuring of the Year ($500M-$1B).” The Financial Times has recognized Alice’s work on a number of restructurings in its annual report on “U.S. Innovative Lawyers,” including “Highly Commending” her work on behalf of the Ad Hoc Committee of Dynegy Bondholders (2012) and CIT Group bondholders (2010), and “Commending” her work on the successful restructuring of AbitibiBowater (2011).

Alice frequently participates in industry events. She serves as co-chair of Practising Law Institute’s annual restructuring symposium, “Recent Developments in Distressed Debt, Restructurings and Workouts,” and she was a panelist at ABI’s VALCON Conference in 2020. Futures and Options, a nonprofit dedicated to empowering NYC’s youth to acquire transferable professional skills, named Alice the 2024 Dream Big Award honoree. More recently, the American College of Bankruptcy announced she will be inducted as a Fellow in the 36th Class of the College at its Annual Meeting in March 2025. Since 2018, Alice has also served as a member of the Complex Case Committee for the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas, which is tasked with reviewing and recommending changes to the existing procedures for complex bankruptcy cases.

Biography to come.

Areas of Practice Dan Glosband is a partner in the firm’s Business Law Department and a member of its Financial Restructuring Practice. Mr. Glosband’s primary areas of practice are insolvency and reorganization. He represents secured and unsecured creditors, committees and debtors in workouts and proceedings under the Bankruptcy Code. Mr. Glosband has acted as an adviser to the U.S. State Department and the American Law Institute on international insolvency projects.

Work for Clients Mr. Glosband recently represented the lead investors in the proposed Chapter 11 plan of US Airways and its merger with America West and the fiduciaries for the employee stock plan in the Delta case. He also represents CNA Insurance, one of the main insurers of W.R. Grace in its asbestos-driven Chapter 11 case. Other recent engagements included the representation of buyers of assets from debtors in reorganization proceedings in Virginia, Michigan and Ontario.

In addition, Mr. Glosband recently served as lead counsel to Arthur D. Little, Inc. in Chapter 11 proceedings in the District of Massachusetts, completed the successful reorganization of GC Companies (General Cinema) in its Chapter 11 proceedings in Delaware and was lead counsel to MHI Shipbuilding LLC (the Fore River Shipyard) in Chapter 11 proceedings pending in the District of Massachusetts. He has represented the joint owners of a nuclear plant in reorganization proceedings of other owners and has also represented lenders and debtors in major real estate, retail and technology oriented reorganizations; parties to significant contracts with debtors in reorganization; purchasers of assets from debtors in insolvency proceedings, and defendants in complex Bankruptcy Court litigation.

Professional Activities Mr. Glosband was elected to the initial class of the American College of Bankruptcy, where he currently serves as Vice President and a member of the Board of Directors. He is a conferee of the National Bankruptcy Conference, which advises Congress on bankruptcy legislation.

Mr. Glosband is a former chairman of the Bankruptcy Law Committees for both the Boston and Massachusetts Bar Associations and is a member of the American Bar Association’s Business Bankruptcy Committee, where he was chairman of the International Bankruptcy Subcommittee.

In addition, Mr. Glosband is official liaison of the Creditors Rights and Insolvency Committee of the International Bar Association to the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law project on Cross-Border Insolvency and its ongoing Insolvency Working Group. He served as one of the primary draftsmen of the UNCITRAL Model Law on Cross-Border Insolvency . Mr. Glosband also served as one of two primary draftsmen (with Professor Jay Westbrook of the University of Texas Law School) for proposed Chapter 15 of the United States Bankruptcy Code, “Ancillary and Other Cross-Border Cases.”

Mr. Glosband is listed in Chambers USA: America’s Leading Lawyers for Business, International Who’s Who of Insolvency & Restructuring Lawyers, Who’s Who in American Law and has been listed in every edition of The Best Lawyers in America .

Publications/Presentations Mr. Glosband’s recent articles include “Chapter 15: US Insolvency Reform Explained” which appeared in the International Financial Law Review and “Pathology of Section 363 Sales: Not as Simple as They Look,” which appeared in The Journal of Private Equity, National Law Journal and Corporate Counsel Magazine.

Mr. Glosband is the author of a number of articles, is a contributing author to the treatise Chapter 11 Theory and Practice and has lectured for the Ministry of Justice of the Kingdom of Thailand, banks, private equity funds, the Massachusetts Attorney General and various continuing legal education, bar and accounting groups, including the American and International Bar Associations, the American College of Bankruptcy, the International Insolvency Institute, the American Bankruptcy Institute, the Practicing Law Institute, the Massachusetts Society of CPAs and Massachusetts Continuing Legal Education. He is the author of new chapters of Collier on Bankruptcy 15th Ed. and Collier Bankruptcy Practice Guide , dealing with Chapter 15.

Professional Experience Mr. Glosband has served on the panel appointed by the First Circuit Court of Appeals to select bankruptcy judges and as a special assistant attorney general for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

Bar and Court Admissions Mr. Glosband is a member of the Massachusetts and New York Bars and is admitted to practice before the U.S. District Courts in Massachusetts, Connecticut, Vermont and the Southern District of New York, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit and the U.S. Supreme Court.

Education J.D., Cornell University, 1969 B.A., University of Massachusetts, 1966

Profile

Judge Goldblatt was appointed to the U.S. Bankruptcy Court bench in 2021.

Craig Goldblatt is an experienced bankruptcy litigator, with a focus on complex bankruptcy disputes and bankruptcy appeals. The core of his practice has been protecting the interests of secured creditors, financial institutions and insurance companies in bankruptcy-related disputes, though he has also represented leading technology, transportation and communications industry clients in bankruptcy matters. Mr. Goldblatt, who joined the firm in 1994, was a member of the WilmerHale’s Management Committee.

Practice

Mr. Goldblatt represents parties in all stages of bankruptcy proceedings. The core of his practice involves bankruptcy and insolvency related trial-level matters and appeals—particularly the representation of financial institutions and other commercial creditors in bankruptcy litigation. He has argued three bankruptcy cases before the Supreme Court of the United States, and one before the en banc Third Circuit. He has also developed a particular expertise on consumer bankruptcy matters, representing several major mortgage servicers, holders of credit card and other unsecured debt, and bankruptcy trustees in a variety of regulatory investigations, bankruptcy disputes and appeals.

Outside of his bankruptcy practice, Mr. Goldblatt participated in WilmerHale’s representation of the University of Michigan, from the district court to the Supreme Court, in Grutter v. Bollinger , 539 US 306 (2003). The Supreme Court’s decision in that case held that institutions of higher education may consider race as a factor in admissions decisions. He has also represented an array of pro bono clients in civil rights, criminal and constitutional litigation.

Marcia Goldstein is a partner in the Business Finance and Restructuring Department of Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP, where she has practiced for more than 20 years. She has represented creditors, debtors, statutory creditors’ committees, trustees, and other parties in major debt restructurings and chapter 11 cases, including United Companies Financial Corp., CRIIMI MAE, Inc., Babcock & Wilcox, Inc., Purina Mills, Inc., SGL Carbon Corp., Marvel Entertainment, Inc., Paragon Trade Brands, Inc., Donald J. Trump and affiliates, Allied Department Stores, Inc., Anacomp, Inc., Metallurg, Inc., Elder-Beerman Stores, Inc., Southland, Inc., Gitano, Inc., American Healthcare, Piecegoods Shops, Inc., Silas Creek Retail, Inc., CISC, Inc., Telesphere, Inc., Telemundo, Inc., Storage Technology, Inc., Nucorp Energy, Inc., Lionel Corp., Tomlinson, Inc., Food Fair, Inc., White Motor Corp. and W.T. Grant Co.

Representing major lender interests including Citibank, Prudential and Bank of Montreal, Ms. Goldstein has been involved in out of court restructurings in the financial services, healthcare, ship building, beef packing, printing and real estate industries.

Ms. Goldstein is a certified mediator in the Southern District of New York and has served as a mediator in a number of chapter 11 cases. She has also served as a chapter 11 trustee. Ms. Goldstein is on the Advisory Board of Colliers Bankruptcy, 15th Ed., has been a Visiting Lecturer in Bankruptcy at Yale Law School and is a member of the National Bankruptcy Conference, where she chairs the Committee on Legislation, and is a member of the American College of Bankruptcy. She is a member of the Association of the Bar of the City of New York, where she has served as the Chair of the Committee on Bankruptcy and Corporate Reorganization. She is also a member of the American Bar Association, where she served on the Chapter 11 Committee and related sub-committees in the Section of Corporation, Banking and Business Law. Ms. Goldstein has been named in numerous publications of “best lawyers” in the restructuring and bankruptcy area and has frequently lectured and published material for continuing legal education programs.

Ms. Goldstein graduated magna cum laude, from Cornell University with an A.B in 1973. She received her J.D., cum laude, from Cornell Law School in 1975, where she was Articles Editor of the Cornell Law Review. She is currently on the Law School Advisory Council and is the co-chair of Cornell Law School’s Dean’s Special Leadership Committee.

Profile

Hon. John T. Gregg was appointed as a bankruptcy judge in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Western District of Michigan on July 17, 2014. He currently serves on the Bankruptcy Appellate Panel of the Sixth Circuit. Before his appointment, Judge Gregg was a partner with the law firm of Barnes & Thornburg LLP, where he focused on commercial bankruptcy and other insolvency matters.

Judge Gregg serves on the board of directors and education committee of the American Bankruptcy Institute, is a fellow of The American College of Bankruptcy, and is a member of the American Law Institute. He was the chair of the education committee of the National Conference of Bankruptcy Judges in 2022. He earned his B.A. from the University of Michigan and his J.D. from DePaul University College of Law.

Judge Gregg is a frequent writer and speaker on bankruptcy and other insolvency issues.

Allan L. Gropper was appointed as a United States Bankruptcy Judge for the Southern District of New York on October 4, 2000.

Judge Gropper graduated from Yale College, cum laude, in 1965 and from 1965-1966 was a Fulbright Tutor in English at Christ Church College, Kanpur, India. He graduated from Harvard Law School, cum laude, in 1969 and became an attorney in the Civil Appeals Unit of the New York City Legal Aid Society. In 1972 Judge Gropper joined the law firm of White & Case, becoming a partner in 1978. He was for many years head of the firm’s bankruptcy and reorganization practice group and was active in many of the nation’s largest Chapter 11 cases, including Manville Corporation, Texaco, LTV Corporation, Federated Department Stores/Allied Stores Corp, Maxwell Communications Corp., MGM, United States Lines, Pan American World Airways, and Waterman Steamship Corp.

Judge Gropper was also active in international insolvencies and restructurings and was located in the White & Case Hong Kong office during the year 1999-2000. He has lectured in several foreign countries on insolvency matters and is a co-editor of a two-volume text entitled International Insolvency published in 2000. He is adjunct professor of law at Fordham Law School and teaches a course in International Insolvency Law.

Boston College, B.A. (1992) The Ohio State University, J.D. (1995)

John E. Hoffman, Jr. was appointed as United States Bankruptcy Judge for the Southern District of Ohio in 2000. Prior to his appointment, Judge Hoffman was a partner in the Columbus office of Arter & Hadden LLP, where he practiced primarily in the areas of bankruptcy and commercial litigation, focusing on the representation of Chapter 11 debtors and creditors’ committees. He joined Arter & Hadden in 1989 after completing a judicial clerkship with the Honorable R. Guy Cole, Jr., formerly a bankruptcy judge, now Chief Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. Judge Hoffman has been involved in several national and local organizations dedicated to improving the administration of the bankruptcy system and the practice of law in the bankruptcy courts. He was inducted as a fellow of the American College of Bankruptcy in March 2017. An active member of the National Conference of Bankruptcy Judges, Judge Hoffman served as the Chair of the NCBJ Education Committee in 2018 and also served on the Education Committee in 2013 and 2017, the Elections Committee from 2013–2015, and the Board of Directors of the NCBJ’s Endowment for Education from 2006–2011, including as Chair of the Endowment from 2007–2009. Judge Hoffman was recently elected to the NCBJ Board of Governors for a three-year term commencing in November 2018. Chief Justice Roberts appointed Judge Hoffman to a three-year term on the Federal Judicial Center’s Committee on Bankruptcy Judge Education in April 2013 and reappointed him to a second term on the committee in April 2016. Judge Hoffman also is a member of the American Bankruptcy Institute and previously served as Chair of the Columbus Bar Association Bankruptcy Committee.

For a number of years, Judge Hoffman has taught business bankruptcy as an adjunct professor of law at The Ohio State University Moritz College of Law, where he sits on the law school’s National Council. In 2015, the Moritz College of Law presented Judge Hoffman with the William K. Thomas Distinguished Jurist Award, which recognizes personal integrity and commitment to fairness, freedom and equality. In 2016, Judge Hoffman received the Excellence in Public Service Award from the Moritz College of Law’s Public Interest Law Foundation. Judge Hoffman also has worked to make legal services available to those who cannot afford them, having served on the Board of Trustees for The Legal Aid Society of Columbus from 1995–2000. He received the Award for Outstanding Pro Bono Service by a Judge from the Columbus Bar Association and Columbus Bar Foundation in 2012, and in 2015 had the honor of being presented with the Ohio State Bar Association’s John and Ginny Elam Pro Bono Award, which is given in recognition of “exceptional volunteer service by a lawyer that advances the common good of the people of Ohio.” Judge Hoffman received his B.A. summa cum laude from Wheeling Jesuit University in 1980 and his J.D. magna cum laude from The Ohio State University Moritz College of Law in 1983.

Biography to come.

Profile

Barbara J. Houser is the Chief United States Bankruptcy Judge in the Northern District of Texas. She received her undergraduate degree from the University of Nebraska in 1975 with high distinction and her doctor of laws from Southern Methodist University School of Law in 1978, where she was an editor of the law review. Upon graduation from law school she joined Locke, Purnell, Boren, Laney & Neely in Dallas and became a shareholder there in 1985. In 1988 she joined Sheinfeld, Maley & Kay, P.C. as the shareholder-in-charge of the Dallas office and remained there until she was sworn in as a United States Bankruptcy Judge on January 20, 2000. While at Sheinfeld she led the firm’s representation of clients in a variety of significant chapter 11 cases across the country.

Judge Houser, who lectures and publishes frequently on corporate restructuring and insolvency law, is a past chairman of the Dallas Bar Association’s Committee on Bankruptcy and Corporate Reorganization, is a member of the Dallas, Texas, and American Bar Associations, and is a fellow of the Texas and American Bar Foundations. She is a contributing author to Collier on Bankruptcy and has taught Creditors’ Rights as a Visiting Professor at the SMU Dedman School of Law.

She was elected a fellow of the American College of Bankruptcy in 1994 and has recently completed her second terms as one of its Vice Presidents. In 1996, she was elected a conferee of the National Bankruptcy Conference, an organization of nationally recognized scholars and experts in the bankruptcy field, and currently serves on its Executive Committee. The National Law Journal named her as one of the fifty most influential women lawyers in America in 1998.

After becoming a bankruptcy judge in 2000, she joined the National Conference of Bankruptcy Judges and has served as its Immediate Past President, having concluded her term as President in October 2010. In February, 2011 she received the Distinguished Alumni Award for Judicial Service from the SMU Dedman School of Law.

Judge Houser currently serves on the Judicial Conference Committee on the Administration of the Bankruptcy System.

Mr. Huebner, whose primary area of practice is corporate restructuring and insolvency law, is a member of Davis Polk & Wardwell’s Corporate Department. He has worked on a wide range of domestic and international restructurings and bankruptcies, representing both financial institutions and corporate entities.

Mr. Huebner is currently lead bankruptcy counsel to Delta Air Lines. Other recent major U.S. bankruptcy proceedings and restructurings in which Mr. Huebner has had a lead role include Adelphia Communications, Citation, Collins & Aikman, Enron, Loral, Polaroid, Magellan Health Services, Meridian Automotive, Ntelos and Crown Paper. He has represented the agent banks in several of the largest and most complex U.S. DIP financings done to date, and also provides risk management and bankruptcy advice on derivatives products and other complex transactions to clients such as Morgan Stanley, JPMorgan Chase, CSFB and Bank of America Securities.

Mr. Huebner joined Davis Polk in 1999 and became a partner in 2002. He graduated, magna cum laude , from Princeton University in 1988, where he was awarded Fulbright and Rotary Scholarships, and in 1993 received his J.D. from Yale Law School, where he was awarded a Ford Foundation Fellowship and was a senior editor of the Yale Law Journal . Mr. Huebner clerked for the Honorable Pierre N. Leval, U.S. Court of Appeals, Second Circuit, from 1993 to 1994.

Mr. Huebner is the author of numerous articles on bankruptcy law, lectures frequently and is a contributing editor for the Collier Bankruptcy Practice Guide . Mr. Huebner is also the chair of the Courts Subcommittee of the Committee on Bankruptcy and Corporate Reorganization of the New York City Bar Association, charged with preparing proposed guidelines governing multiple facets of chapter 11 cases in the District.

Mr. Huebner has frequently been recognized as a leading member of the restructuring bar, including being (1) repeatedly listed in the Chambers USA and Chambers Global: Leaders in their Field guides to leading business lawyers, (2) named an Outstanding Young Restructuring Lawyer of 2005 by Turnarounds and Workouts and (3) named a leading insolvency and restructuring lawyer by Euromoney’s Expert Guide to the World’s Leading Insolvency and Restructuring Lawyers (2005). He was also recently named as a member of the National Bankruptcy Conference.

Profile

Chad Husnick is a partner in Kirkland & Ellis’ Restructuring Practice Group. He represents debtors, creditors, equity holders, and other stakeholders in all aspects of corporate liability management, restructuring, bankruptcy, and insolvency proceedings.

Chad has represented clients in a variety of industries, including energy, retail, real estate, infrastructure, manufacturing, transportation and distribution, hospitality and gaming, automotive, and printing. He works closely with his clients to address issues proactively and efficiently. He regularly advises clients on corporate governance issues facing financially distressed companies, including liability management strategies, fiduciary duties, and executive compensation.

Chad has been recognized in the 2017–2022 editions of Chambers USA, America’s Leading Lawyers for Business. Most recently, sources noted that he is “phenomenal and one of the smartest lawyers,” “responsive, thoughtful and great to work with,” and “able to deliver creative advice and counsel that lead to practical solutions in restructuring matters.” Prior editions described Chad as “one of the best tacticians and one of the most knowledgeable scholars when it comes to the law,” “a brilliant attorney,” and “smart, hard-working and singularly focused on delivering for his clients.” Clients and peers also note that Chad’s “knowledge and expertise of the legal process and the law in bankruptcy matters is simply amazing” and that he is “one of the next generation of big hitters in the business.” Chad was also recognized in the 2022 edition of The Legal 500 U.S. Sources described Chad as a “smart, innovative, and practical strategist and advisor” who “couples his near-encyclopedic knowledge of bankruptcy law with an uncanny ability to always be two steps ahead of his adversary to provide clear, concise direction to the board.”

The American Bankruptcy Institute selected Chad for the 2018 edition of ABI’s “Forty Under Forty–Emerging Leaders in Insolvency Practice,” with interviewees observing that “what is most impressive about Chad is his vision of how things can and will play out. He can think through the many different scenarios facing a company and apply the law, the process and (perhaps most importantly) the practical realities of the world to deliver sound strategic advice and thoughtful guidance for his clients.” Law360 selected Chad as one of five Bankruptcy “Rising Stars for 2018” in its list of top attorneys under 40. Chad also earned recognition in the 2017 edition of Chicago Daily Law Bulletin and Chicago Lawyer’s “40 Attorneys Under Forty,” with interviewees describing him as “hard-working, smart, diligent and committed to achieving the best results for his clients.” Chad was named a “Dealmaker of the Year – 2016” by The American Lawyer for his role in the $40+ billion restructuring of Energy Future Holdings Corporation and an “Outstanding Young Restructuring Lawyer – 2017” by Turnarounds and Workouts.

Chad is a Fellow in the American College of Bankruptcy and a member of the American Bankruptcy Institute and Turnaround Management Association. Also, he is a Lecturer in the Law at the University of Chicago Law School and a Contributing Author for Collier on Bankruptcy—the leading treatise on bankruptcy law.

Professor Melissa Jacoby is a Professor of Law at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Her research interests include all aspects of business and personal bankruptcy and debtor-creditor relationships as well as medical-related financial distress. In addition to being a member of the National Bankruptcy Conference, she is a member of the American Law Institute, chair of the Association of American Law Schools Section on Financial Institutions and Consumer Financial Services, and recently finished as a consultant to the Advisory Committee on Bankruptcy Rules of the Judicial Conference of the United States. Jacoby’s teaching career started in 2000 at Temple University, where she won the Friel/Scanlan award for her scholarship, and she moved to UNC-Chapel Hill with a tenured associate professor appointment in 2004. Jacoby’s prior work experience includes serving as senior staff attorney for the National Bankruptcy Review Commission in Washington DC, clerking for the Honorable Robert E. Ginsberg of the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Illinois, and clerking for the Honorable Marjorie O. Rendell of the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit.

Faculty profile

Judge Kahn is the Chair of the Advisory Committee on Bankruptcy Judge Education for the Federal Judicial Center, for which he serves as one of the instructors for Phase I and Phase II Orientation for Newly Appointed Bankruptcy Judges. He is a member of the United States Judicial Conference Advisory Committee on the Bankruptcy Rules, and is Chair of the Forms Subcommittee. He is a Conferee of the National Bankruptcy Conference, for which he previously served on the Executive Committee and currently serves as Chair of the Committee on the Court System and Bankruptcy Administration and on the Nominating Committee. He is a contributing author and member of the Board of Editors for Collier on Bankruptcy, the leading treatise on United States bankruptcy law. He serves as the Judicial Chair of the Southeastern Bankruptcy Workshop for the American Bankruptcy Institute. Judge Kahn is certified as a specialist in business and consumer bankruptcy law by the American Board of Certification, for which he served as a member of the Board of Directors until his appointment to the bench. Prior to joining the bench, Judge Kahn was a certified mediator in North Carolina. He was recognized as among the Top 10 North Carolina Super Lawyers across all practice areas for the two years immediately preceding his appointment, elected to the Legal Elite Hall of Fame by Business North Carolina Magazine in 2014 as the category winner in North Carolina for Bankruptcy, and was included among Band 1 bankruptcy practitioners in North Carolina in Chambers and Partners USA. Judge Kahn received his BA in 1990 and his JD with Honors in 1993 from UNC-Chapel Hill.

RICHARDO I. KILPATRICK, admitted to Bar, 1983, Michigan; United States District Court, Eastern and Western Districts of Michigan; United States Court of Appeals, Sixth Circuit.

PRACTICE: Kilpatrick & Associates, P.C., President (January 2000 – Present); Shermeta, Chimko & Kilpatrick, P.C., Partner (1987 – 1999); Shermeta, Chimko & Kilpatrick, P.C., Associate (1984 – 1986).

Kilpatrick & Associates specializes in all aspects of Creditor’s Rights including Insolvency, Corporate, Consumer and Commercial Litigation, Real Property Remedies for Creditors, Real Property Transactions, and General Corporate Counseling.

MEMBERSHIPS: State Bar of Michigan; United States District Court, Eastern and Western District of Michigan; Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals and the Supreme Court of the United States. Mr. Kilpatrick is Board Certified – Consumer Bankruptcy Law – American Bankruptcy Board of Certification.

Mr. Kilpatrick was inducted as a Fellow into the American College of Bankruptcy, March 1999; appointed a member of the National Bankruptcy Archives Committee in July 2001; and was President of the American Bankruptcy Institute from April 2001 to April 2002. Other committees and/or prior positions held at the American Bankruptcy Institute include Vice-President of Membership Relations, Board of Directors, Executive and Management Committees, Bankruptcy Reorganization Committee, Board Bylaws Committee, Research and Education Committee, Vice-Chair, Membership Committee, and Contributing Editor of the ABI Journal “Toxins-Are-Us”.

Other memberships include The American Bar Association, Litigation Committee and Business Law Committee; Federal Bar Association; Oakland County Bar Association; National Association of Bankruptcy Trustees, Ethics Committee; National Association of Chapter 13 Trustees, Bankruptcy Arbitration and Mediation Services, Board of Directors; Trustees’ Education Network, Board Member; Harvard Alumni Association, Interviewer /Admissions; St. John’s University School of Law; LLM in Bankruptcy, Board of Advisors.

Mr. Kilpatrick spoke at the National Conference of Bankruptcy Judges in 1989, 1995, 1997 – 1999, 2002, 2005 and 2009 – 2011. He is a presenter at numerous seminars focusing on bankruptcy and collections given by the Institute of Continuing Legal Education; the Norton Litigation Institute (1992-present); PESI and the American Bankruptcy Institute. Mr. Kilpatrick frequently publishes articles on Consumer and Commercial Bankruptcy. In October of 2008, Mr. Kilpatrick became a Conferee to the National Bankruptcy Conference and has served as a member of the Judicial Advisory Committee on Bankruptcy Rules since August 2011.

Susheel Kirpalani is a partner and Chairperson of the firm’s Bankruptcy and Restructuring Group. Susheel’s notable representations include: serving as the Court-appointed Examiner and Mediator in Dynegy , representing the statutory creditors’ committees in RadioShack, SemGroup and Sentinel , serving as conflicts counsel to estate fiduciaries in Lehman Brothers, NII International, NewPage, Idearc , Washington Mutual , and Solutia , representing boards of directors, such as that of Lukoil Americas Corp. , and representing the equity sponsors in Sabine Oil & Gas, LyondellBasell, and Sbarro . Susheel also has broad experience in international insolvencies, leading the firm’s engagements for the Hong Kong-based private equity owner of Fisker Automotive in connection with an auction and litigation relating to competitive bid for the debtors’ assets by U.S.-based affiliate of Chinese company Wanxiang, for OGX , OSX , and OAS in U.S. aspects of their Brazil judicial recovery proceedings, for Dubai World in drafting Dubai’s bankruptcy legislation for public decree companies, and for the Joint Liquidators of the Kingate Global and Euro Funds in the SIPC proceeding against Bernard L. Madoff ‘s defunct firm. In municipal restructurings, Susheel represented Syncora Guarantee in Jefferson County’s Chapter 9 case and currently leads the firm’s engagement for an ad hoc group of COFINA Bondholders stemming from Puerto Rico’s financial crisis. In connection with the Puerto Rico matter, Susheel testified before Congress regarding the fairness of the restructuring title of the Puerto Rico Oversight, Management, and Economic Stability Act (PROMESA), which was ultimately enacted into law. Susheel’s established reputation for creativity and advocacy in creditors’ rights against companies tainted by fraud include such historic cases as Enron Corp. and Refco Group Ltd.

Emil A. Kleinhaus is a partner at Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz, where he focuses on litigation and advisory work relating to bankruptcy, insolvency and creditors’ rights. His areas of expertise include chapter 11 reorganizations, fraudulent transfer and fiduciary claims, and disputes under credit agreements and indentures.

Emil has been involved in a broad range of litigation and restructuring matters. He represented JPMorgan Chase in the defense of wide-ranging litigation arising out of the Bernard Madoff fraud and the Lehman Brothers bankruptcy. He has represented major parties in chapter 11 cases including Neiman Marcus, General Motors, Toys “R” Us., and Energy Future Holdings. He has also handled significant disputes relating to out-of-court transactions. As counsel for Education Management in its out-of-court restructuring, Emil argued and won a precedent-setting appeal in the Marblegate case from a judgment under the Trust Indenture Act.

Emil is the author of more than a dozen publications, including “Prepayment Clauses in Bankruptcy,” 15 Am. Bankr. Inst. L. Rev. 537 (2007), “Debt Repayments as Fraudulent Transfers,” 88 Am. Bankr. L.J. 307 (2014), and “The Enforceability of Ipso Facto Clauses in Financing Arrangements: American Airlines and Beyond ,” 23 Norton J. of Bankr. L. and Prac. 193 (2014). He is the author of a chapter in Collier on Bankruptcy . He served as co-chair of the Bankruptcy Litigation Committee of the Federal Bar Council and chair of the New York City Bar Association’s Subcommittee on Fraudulent Conveyance Law. Emil has been identified as a leading lawyer in the litigation and bankruptcy areas by publications such as Benchmark Litigation , Lawdragon and Law360 . In 2018, Emil received the James H. Fogelson Emerging Leadership Award from the Lawyers Division of the UJA Federation of New York.

Emil received a B.A., summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa, from Yale College, and a J.D. from Yale Law School, where he was an Articles Editor of the Yale Law Journal. Following law school, he served as a law clerk for Chief Judge Michael B. Mukasey of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York and for Judge José A. Cabranes of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.

Profile

Biography to come.

Colleen Laduzinski is a tax “deal lawyer,” known for solving complex tax and structuring issues in distressed transactions, bankruptcies, and restructurings. She is a trusted advisor on the tax aspects of capital markets and financing transactions and provides tax counsel on M&A transactions and private equity deals. With over two decades of experience, Colleen brings a thoughtful, practical, and commercial approach to her practice. She has an ability to distill complex tax concepts and communicate clearly with audiences of business decision makers, bankers, and lawyers.

Colleen acts as debtor’s bankruptcy tax counsel in chapter 11 cases, such as Chrysler, Dana Corporation, Peabody Energy, and Westmoreland Resources. She leads tax representations of creditor groups, including onshore and offshore funds, in significant debt workouts and restructurings, such as syncreon group’s cross-border restructuring. She advises on more than 100 publicly announced deals over any three-year period, including domestic and cross-border issuances of equity, financial instruments, and credit facilities for capital providers, underwriters, and multinational corporations.

Colleen adapts her skill set to changing circumstances and diverse client matters in the face of constantly evolving tax reform and shifting markets. Her significant publications include three Bloomberg BNA Tax Management Portfolios on corporate bankruptcy and financial restructurings. She is a Conferee of the National Bankruptcy Conference, which advises Congress on bankruptcy law.

For five years, Colleen headed Jones Day’s New Lawyers Group. With nearly 20 years of experience in New York, Colleen is now the Partner-in-Charge of Jones Day’s Boston Office.

Robert Lawless is a professor of law and co-director of the Illinois Program on Law, Behavior & Social Science at the University of Illinois College of Law where he writes and teaches about bankruptcy, consumer credit, and business law. Professor Lawless has published numerous articles on these topics, most all of which use empirical methodology to better understand legal phenomena.

His co-authored book, Empirical Methods in Law , was released in 2010 by Aspen Publishing. Professor Lawless has testified before Congress, and his work has been featured in media outlets such as CNN , CNBC , NPR , the New York Times , the Wall Street Journal , USA Today , the National Law Journal , the L.A. Times , the Financial Times , and Money magazine . He is the site administrator and one of five regular contributors to the blog Credit Slips , a discussion on credit and bankruptcy.

Heather Lennox has played a leading role in Jones Day’s representations of debtors and potential debtors, creditors’ committees, prepetition secured lenders, bank groups, DIP lenders, credit card processors, and other significant creditors in many of the nation’s largest in-court and out-of-court corporate restructurings. She has substantial experience counseling clients in fraudulent conveyance, illegal dividend, fiduciary duty, piercing the corporate veil, and mass tort issues in bankruptcy. She has represented a number of entities in the structuring and consummation of spin-offs, secured financings, distressed sales and acquisitions, and other out-of-court restructuring transactions.

Heather has represented, among others: Copperweld Corporation, CSC Industries, Dana Corporation, Fruehauf Trailer Corporation, Great American Communications Company (a prepackaged case), LTV Steel Company, Metaldyne Corporation, and Oglebay Norton Company as debtors’ counsel and significant creditors in the Delta Airlines, Forum Health, HomePlace Stores, Northwest Airlines, Pittsburgh Penguins, R.H. Macy, Southern Air Transport, United Airlines, US Airways, and Wornick Company bankruptcies.

Heather has coauthored bankruptcy-related articles published in The Business Lawyer and the Journal of Bankruptcy Law and Practice . She is listed in the Guide to the World’s Leading Insolvency and Restructuring Lawyers , is a conferee of the National Bankruptcy Conference (2012) and a Fellow in the American College of Bankruptcy, and a member of the American Bankruptcy Institute, the American Bar Association, and the Cleveland Metropolitan Bar Association and serves on the Bankruptcy Committee of the New York City Bar Association. She is on the board of Providence House. Super Lawyers 2010-2011 lists her among the “Top 50 Women Ohio Super Lawyers” in bankruptcy & creditor/debtor rights.

Areas of Focus Business Restructuring & Reorganization Borrower / Workouts / Chapter 11 Debtor Representations

Honors & Distinctions The Legal 500 US (corporate restructuring) (2011) IFLR 1000 (2006-2008) Chambers USA: America’s Leading Lawyers for Business (2005-2011) Member, American College of Bankruptcy (2009-) The Best Lawyers in America (2006-2012) Ohio Super Lawyers (2005-2011) Named one of 14 “Outstanding Young Turnaround Lawyers” by the Turnaround Management Association (2006)

Education Georgetown University (J.D. cum laude 1992; Law Journal); John Carroll University (B.A. summa cum laude 1989)

Bar Admissions New York, Ohio, U.S. District Courts for the Northern and Southern Districts of Ohio, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, and pro hac vice in several other venues

EXPERIENCE Hostess Brands commences bankruptcy proceedings Jones Day represents Hostess Brands Inc. and its five affiliates in chapter 11 cases filed on January 11, 2012 in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York.

St. Mary of the Woods files for chapter 11 Jones Day represents Franciscan Communities St. Mary of the Woods in its chapter 11 case and related debtor-in-possession financing.

Wireless communications provider restructures bond debt Jones Day represented a $200 million local wireless communications provider in an out-of-court workout of $150 million in bond debt.

Metaldyne sells Powertrain, Balance Shaft Module, Tubular Products, and Chassis assets to MD Investors Jones Day advised Metaldyne Corporation, a leading designer and producer of engine, driveline, and chassis products, in the $400 million sale of Powertrain, Balance Shaft Module, Tubular Products, and Chassis assets to MD Investors Corporation, a new company formed by a coalition of existing term lenders led by The Carlyle Group and Solus Alternative Asset Management LP via a section 363 sale.

Metaldyne files for bankruptcy protection Jones Day represented Metaldyne Corporation — one of the top 50 North American auto parts suppliers with over $1 billion in sales — and its subsidiaries in an out-of-court tender offer transaction pursuant to which over $350 million in long term debt was extinguished.

Axcelis Technologies sells interest in joint venture SEN Corporation to Sumitomo Heavy Industries Jones Day advised Axcelis Technologies, Inc. in the $133 million sale of its 50% interest in SEN Corporation to joint venture partner Sumitomo Heavy Industries, Ltd.

MBIA Insurance is secured creditor in Forum Health chapter 11 case Jones Day represented MBIA Insurance Corporation (“MBIA”) as a secured creditor in the chapter 11 cases of Forum Health and its affiliated debtors (together, “Forum” or the “Debtors”).

Metaldyne completes $65 million tender offer to purchase outstanding 10% Senior Notes and 11% Senior Subordinated Notes Jones Day advised Metaldyne Corporation, a leading designer and producer of engine, driveline, and chassis products, in connection with its $65 million offer to purchase for cash any and all outstanding 10% Senior Notes due 2013 and 11% Senior Subordinated Notes due 2012.

Dana Corporation obtains Global Settlement and creates VEBA trusts for retiree health care benefits Jones Day successfully represented Dana Corporation in obtaining a series of settlements to eliminate an enormous accumulated liability for health and life insurance benefits for retirees from its unionized and nonunion workforces, and to modify its collective bargaining agreements with active employees, allowing Dana to compete in the troubled auto industry upon emergence from bankruptcy.

Dana Corporation successfully reorganizes in U.S. and U.K. in “Deal of the Year” Jones Day advised Dana Corporation and 40 of its U.S. subsidiaries in their reorganization under chapter 11 of the Bankruptcy Code in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York.

Dana Corporation favorably resolves dispute with major supplier Jones Day represented Dana Corporation and certain of its subsidiaries in their chapter 11 cases.

Dana Corporation reaches groundbreaking labor settlement Jones Day represented Dana Corporation in litigation and arbitrations related to various supply contracts as part of its Chapter 11 reorganization.

National City Bank holds leases in Northwest Airlines chapter 11 case Jones Day represented National City Bank in the chapter 11 cases of Northwest Airlines Corporation involving three leveraged lease transactions.

National City Bank in lease transaction with Comair Jones Day assisted National City Bank as the owner/participant in three leveraged lease transactions and also in cash management services involving the Comair chapter 11 cases.

Timken Company holds claim in Jernberg bankruptcy Jones Day represented the Timken Company as a creditor with a $13 million claim in the chapter 11 cases of Jernberg Industries.

Blackstone Group appointed valuation expert in WCI Steel bankruptcy Jones Day assisted Arthur Newman of The Blackstone Group in his role as the Court-appointed valuation expert in the chapter 11 cases of WCI Steel, Inc. and its affiliates.

National City Bank is administrative agent for Advance Watch workout Jones Day represented National City Bank in its capacity as the administrative agent in connection with the workout and forbearance of a $90 million loan to Advance Watch Company.

National City Bank restructuring Delta leases National City Bank retained Jones Day to assist the owner-participant bank in the restructuring of several leveraged lease transactions with respect to aircraft on lease to Delta Air Lines, Inc. prior to Delta filing for bankruptcy.

Oglebay Norton seeks chapter 11 reorganization Jones Day represented Oglebay Norton Company in its prearranged chapter 11 reorganization cases, involving in excess of $500 million in debt, for a conglomerate of companies that mine, process, transport, and market industrial minerals and aggregates that are used in construction, energy, environmental and industrial applications.

National City Corporation waits to see if contracts will be assumed Jones Day litigated the contract assumption of National City Corporation in the United Airlines bankruptcy case.

PUBLICATIONS Practice Spotlight: Heather Lennox, Business Law Currents June 14, 2011

An Overview of Chapter 9 of the Bankruptcy Code and Municipal Debt Adjustments, Westlaw February 2011

An Overview of Chapter 9 of the Bankruptcy Code: Municipal Debt Adjustments August 2010

A Tectonic Shift For Administrative Rent Claims? Bankruptcy Court Rejects Actual Use Limitation On Debtor-Lessee’s Obligation To Pay Postpetition Rent Under Commercial Equipment Lease, Journal of Bankruptcy Law and Practice , Vol. 19, No. 3 June 2010

2009: A Changing Bankruptcy Landscape And How It Affected Labor and Benefit Issues, 2010 Annual Survey of Bankruptcy Law 2010

Reinstatement v. Cramdown: Do Secured Creditors Win or Lose? Journal of Bankruptcy Law and Practice , Vol. 16, No. 4 August 2007

Reinstatement v. Cramdown: Do Secured Creditors Win or Lose? coauthor, Westlaw June 2007

Breaking Up Is Hard to Do: Avoiding the Solvency-Related Pitfalls in Spinoff Transactions, The Business Lawyer 1999

‘Safe Harbor in Uncharted Waters’ — Securities Law Exemptions Under Section 1125(e) of the Bankruptcy Code, The Business Lawyer 1996

The Fiduciary Duties of Directors of Financially Troubled Companies, Journal of Bankruptcy Law and Practice 1994

Applying an Ax When a Scalpel Will Do: The Role of Exclusivity in Chapter 11 Reform, Journal of Bankruptcy Law and Practice 1993

SPEAKING ENGAGEMENTS Shareholders Count Too: The Role of the Equity Committee in a Volatile Economy, Business Bankruptcy Fall Meeting CLE Program October 14, 2011 Tampa, Florida

Credit Bidding, panelist, American Bankruptcy Institute’s 12th Annual New York City Bankruptcy Conference May 24, 2010 New York, New York

Pressure on the Supply Chain – Beginning of the End or End of the Beginning, TMA 2009 Webinar Series October 29, 2009 Webinar

Labor & Employment Law Changes: What the New Administration Has Brought and What the Future Holds September 30, 2009 Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Creating a Restructuring Process that Ensures a Successful Turnaround, panelist, ACI Distressed Debt Investing Summit March 31, 2009 New York, New York

Protecting Your Human Capital: Indemnities and D&O Insurance in Troubled Times, Jones Day CLE Academy December 11, 2008 Cleveland, Ohio

The Tenth Annual Conference on Corporate Reorganizations: Update on Autos and Auto Suppliers June 22, 2007 Chicago, Illinois

The Administratively Insolvent Debtor, panelist, William J. O’Neill Bankruptcy Seminar April 27, 2007 Cleveland, Ohio

The Automotive Industry – Where It Was, Where It Is and Where It’s Going, panelist, Fall 2006 Conference, International Women’s Insolvency & Restructuring Confederation November 1, 2006 San Francisco, California

Developing Opportunities for a Multicultural Workplace – How to Create Opportunities for All Women, panelist, Capgemini “Reach for the Stars” October 6, 2006 Cleveland, Ohio

The Significant Business Provisions of the Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act of 2005 September 20, 2005 Cleveland, Ohio

What Labor and Employment Lawyers Should Know About the Federal Bankruptcy Process for Corporate Debtors May 13, 2005 Cleveland, Ohio

Issues in Debtor in Possession Financing, Jones Day CLE Program October 5, 1999 Cleveland, Ohio

The Section 2-207 Battle of the Forms: Disclaimer of Damages and Other Issues November 30, 1995 Cleveland, New York

Issues of Successor Liability in Section 363 Sales September 28, 1994 Cincinnati, Ohio

Profile

Stephen D. Lerner is global chair of the Squire Patton Boggs Restructuring & Insolvency Practice Group. Having practiced for 35 years, Stephen has an extensive national and cross-border restructuring practice in which he represents debtors, committees of unsecured creditors, secured and unsecured creditors, equity interest holders and acquirers of troubled businesses in Chapter 11 reorganization cases, Chapter 9 municipal restructurings, Chapter 15 cases and out-of-court restructurings throughout the United States, Europe, Asia, South America and most recently in the United Arab Emirates and India. Stephen has led the representation of clients in the Chapter 11 cases of Lehman Brothers, Enron, Chrysler, WorldCom, FirstEnergy Solutions, AmFin Financial, Blackjewel, Hartshorne Mining Group, Midway Gold, and EaglePicher, among many others. Stephen is currently serving as lead restructuring counsel for Ferrellgas. He has served as special counsel to the State of New Jersey in the out of court restructuring of Atlantic City and as lead restructuring advisor to Dana Gas PJSC, the largest independent gas company in the Middle East, in its $700 million Islamic financing restructuring. Stephen also represented the Court Appointed Expert in the City of Detroit’s historic Chapter 9 case.

Stephen is a Fellow of the American College of Bankruptcy for which he formerly served as a Director and Chair of the Board of Regents, and currently serves as Chair of the International Committee. He was elected a Conferee of the National Bankruptcy Conference in 2020. Stephen is a Director and member of the Executive Committee of the American Bankruptcy Institute (ABI) and the former Chair of the Advisory Board of ABI’s Midwest Regional Bankruptcy Seminar. Stephen also currently serves as a member of the Attorney Advisory Committee of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Ohio. This Advisory Committee developed the framework and guidelines for recently enacted Complex Chapter 11 Case Rules for the District.

Every year since 2004, Stephen has been placed in the highest echelon of Ohio’s bankruptcy and restructuring lawyers by Chambers USA: America’s Leading Lawyers for Business and every year since 2009 Chambers has named Stephen one of an elite group of bankruptcy and restructuring lawyers in the US to receive a Star Individual ranking.

Stephen regularly contributes to bankruptcy and restructuring scholarship and has taught and lectured at scores of conferences throughout the United States, Europe and Canada, including at the National Conference of Bankruptcy Judges, ABI’s Annual Spring Meeting and Winter Leadership Conference, TMA Europe’s 2016 Annual Conference in Rome, ABI’s 2019 International Insolvency & Restructuring Symposium in Paris and numerous other ABI seminars. He has served as a guest lecturer at Harvard Business School, the University of Michigan Law School, the Moritz College of Law at The Ohio State University and the University of Cincinnati Law School.

Profile

EDUCATION J.D., Yale Law School, 1975 (Editor, Yale Law Journal) S.B., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1972

ASSOCIATIONS/AFFILIATIONS Member and Vice Chair , National Bankruptcy Conference Member, Board of Regents (2003-2006 ) and Fellow, American College of Bankruptcy Lawyer Representative to the Ninth Circuit Judicial Conference (2001-2004)

AUTHORSHIPS Member, Board of Editors and Author, Collier on Bankruptcy , (15th rev. ed.) Member, Editorial Board, The Practical Lawyer Author of the Sixth Edition of G. Triester, et al., Fundamentals of Bankruptcy Law (6th ed. 2006) Author, “The Use of a Business Trust as a Special Purpose Vehicle: Some Bankruptcy Implications,” 6 Norton Bankruptcy Law Advisor (2004); “Almost All You Ever Wanted to Know About Carve Out,” 76 American Bankruptcy Law Journal 445 (2002); “Towards a Model of Bankruptcy Administration,” 44 South Carolina Law Review 963 (1993); “Bankruptcy Appeals,” 58 North Carolina Law Review 967 (1980); “An Introduction to the Trustee’s Avoiding Powers,” 53 American Bankruptcy Law Journal 173 (1979)

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE Richard Levin is a partner in the Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP Bankruptcy and Reorganization Department. His practice focuses on corporate restructuring, insolvency and bankruptcy issues. He represents financially troubled corporate debtors, acquirers of troubled companies and special creditors in both out-of-court workouts and Chapter 11 reorganizations. Mr. Levin has significant experience guiding debtor and non-debtor clients through insolvency restructuring or reorganization, structuring and negotiating complex deals involving insolvent companies and, where necessary, directing litigation in support of the negotiations.

Mr. Levin, who served as counsel to a subcommittee of the House Judiciary Committee from 1975 to 1978, was one of the principal authors of the Bankruptcy Code and the Bankruptcy Reform Act of 1978.

Before joining Cravath, Mr. Levin was a partner for 10 years in the Corporate Restructuring Department of Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP and was a member of the Los Angeles insolvency and corporate reorganization firm of Stutman, Treister & Glatt for 16 years. From 1994 to 1997, Mr. Levin served as general counsel, chief financial officer and later as chief administrative officer of Whittaker Corporation, a NYSE-listed technology company with aerospace, defense and network communications operations.

Other professional experience includes serving as a Consultant to the World Bank and to the Central Bank of Brazil regarding new Brazilian bankruptcy legislation (2001 – 2004), serving as a member of the faculty of the Federal Judicial Center (2001-2007), and teaching as a Lecturer in Law at Harvard Law School (2004, 2006).

Mr. Levin was named one of the world’s leading practitioners in corporate restructuring in the International Who’s Who of Insolvency & Restructuring Lawyers (3d ed.) and has appeared in the 2002 through 2007 editions of the K&A Restructuring Register, a peer group listing of the top 74 corporate restructuring attorneys in the country. He also is a frequent lecturer on bankruptcy law in continuing legal education programs.

Profile

Marc Levinson is a Senior Counsel at Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP, resident in its San Francisco office. His practice always has been limited to insolvency planning, to bankruptcy cases and to workouts and other out-of-court reorganizations. In addition to chapter 11 representations of debtors, creditors, committees and purchasers of assets, he represented the City of Stockton, California, whose chapter 9 plan of adjustment went effective in February 2015, and the City of Vallejo, California, whose chapter 9 plan of adjustment went effective in late 2008. He has served as an examiner in a cases in Oakland and in Sacramento.

Mr. Levinson has served as Chair of the American College of Bankruptcy, as well as its President, Chair of the Board of Regents, a member of the board of directors and in other leadership roles. He is a past president of both the California Bankruptcy Forum and the Sacramento Valley Bankruptcy Forum. Mr. Levinson received his B.A. in English from UCLA in 1970, and his J.D. from the U.C. Davis School of Law in 1973, where he was Editor-in-Chief of the Law Review. He served as a law clerk for Chief Justice Donald R. Wright of the California Supreme Court (1973-74) and for Judge William H. Orrick, Jr. of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California (1974-75). Mr. Levinson is a frequent speaker on bankruptcy-related topics, particularly those relating to chapter 9 issues.

Profile

Judge Chris Lopez was appointed to serve as a bankruptcy judge for the Southern District of Texas in August 2019.

Before his appointment, Judge Lopez was a member of the Business, Finance & Restructuring Group of Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP. While in private practice, Judge Lopez focused on representations ranging from top global corporations in mega-restructurings to middle-market debtors and creditor representations. He also was an active member of the Houston civic community, serving on the boards of charitable organizations.

Judge Lopez lectures across the country on bankruptcy issues. He also serves as an adjunct professor at Thurgood Marshall School of Law.

Judge Lopez earned a law degree from the University of Texas School of Law. He also earned a Master of Arts in Religion from Yale Divinity School, and a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Houston, where he was a proud member of the Track and Field Team.

Judge, United States Bankruptcy Court for the Middle District of Tennessee (1982-2017)

Judge, Bankruptcy Appellate Panel for the Sixth Circuit (1997-)

Adjunct Professor, Vanderbilt University School of Law

Adjunct Professor, Emory University School of Law

Assistant Editor, The American Bankruptcy Law Journal (1990-91)

Contributing Editor, Norton Bankruptcy Law and Practice , (West Group) (Chapter 13)

Managing Editor, Norton Bankruptcy Law Adviser , (West Group)

Lundin, Chapter 13 Bankruptcy , 3d ed. (Bankruptcy Press 2000 & Supp. 2002)

Bruce A. Markell is a Professor of Bankruptcy Law and Practice and the Edward Avery Harriman Lecturer in Law at Northwestern University’s Pritzker School of Law. From 2004 to 2013, he was a United States bankruptcy judge, sitting in Nevada. From 2006 to 2013, he was also a member of the Bankruptcy Appellate Panel for the Ninth Circuit.

He attended the King Hall School of Law at the University of California, Davis, where he was editor-in-chief of the law review and recipient of the School of Law Medal. After law school, he clerked for then-judge Anthony M. Kennedy on the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. Before taking the bench, Professor Markell practiced bankruptcy and business law in Los Angeles for ten years (where he was a partner at Sidley & Austin), and was a law professor for fourteen.

He is the author of numerous articles on bankruptcy and commercial law, and a co-author of four law school casebooks. He contributes to Collier on Bankruptcy, and is a member of Collier’s editorial advisory board. He has been a visiting professor at, among other schools, Peking University School of Law in Beijing, and Harvard Law School.

In addition to being a conferee of the National Bankruptcy Conference, he is a fellow of the American College of Bankruptcy, a founding member of the International Insolvency Institute, and a life member of the American Law Institute. He also served as a Commissioner for the American Bankruptcy Institutes Commission on Consumer Bankruptcy, where he served as the Chair of Case Administration and the Estate Committee.

He was the 2022 recipient of the Commercial Law League of America’s Lawrence King Award.

In 2016, he completed a project redrafting Kosovo’s bankruptcy law. He has consulted with the International Monetary Fund on insolvency-related issues (having been part of the IMF’s missions to Ireland, Bosnia, Montenegro, Serbia, Belarus, Georgia, and Greece).

Faculty profile

Biography to come.

Profile

EDUCATION Dartmouth College A.B. (1977) Harvard Law School J.D. (1981)

PROFESSIONAL CAREER Partner, Kramer Levin (1998-) Partner, Robinson, Silverman, Pearce, Aronsohn & Berman LLP (1988-98) Associate, Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz (1984-88) Associate, Willkie Farr & Gallagher (1982-84)

PUBLICATIONS “Management Gains and Creditor Losses from Labor Settlements in Chapter 11,” NYSBA (May 2007) , “Liquidity, Disclosure and Their Enemies: Securities Issues and Trading Freezes in Chapter 11,” ABA Business Law Section (Fall 2002) , “Will the Lawyers Pay? Ethical, Civil & Criminal Exposure of Counsel in Setting Up Offshore Protection Trusts,” ABA Business Law Section (Spring 1997) , Trading Claims and Taking Control of Corporations in Chapter 11 Collier (1997 revised) , “Developments in Trading Claims 1996,” ABA Bus Bankr Comm (Fall 1996) , “Sheltering the Assets,” PLI (1994) , “Developments in Trading Claims & Taking Control of Corporations in Chapter 11,” Cardozo Law Rev 733 (1993) (with Chaim Fortgang)

Profile

Biography to come.

Profile

Troy A. McKenzie is the Dean and Cecelia Goetz Professor of Law at New York University School of Law. His scholarly interests include bankruptcy, civil procedure, and the federal courts.

From 2015 to 2017, he took a leave of absence from NYU Law to serve as Deputy Assistant Attorney General in the Office of Legal Counsel at the U.S. Department of Justice. From 2011 to 2015, he served as Assistant Reporter to the Advisory Committee on Bankruptcy Rules of the Judicial Conference of the United States. In addition to the National Bankruptcy Conference, he is a member of the Council of the American Law Institute and the American Bankruptcy Institute.

Before his academic career, McKenzie was a litigation associate in the New York office of Debevoise & Plimpton. He received his law degree from NYU. After graduating from law school, he clerked for Judge Pierre N. Leval of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit and for Justice John Paul Stevens of the Supreme Court of the United States. He holds an undergraduate degree in chemical engineering from Princeton University.

Faculty profile

Ed Morrison is Professor of Law at Columbia Law School. He earned J.D., M.A., and Ph.D. (economics) degrees from the University of Chicago and was an articles editor of the University of Chicago Law Review. Before attending law school, he earned an Honors B.S., summa cum laude , from the University of Utah. After receiving his J.D., he clerked for Judge Richard A. Posner of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit and for Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia. In 2002 he became a John M. Olin, Jr., Fellow at Columbia Law School. He was named Associate Professor in 2003 and Professor in 2007.

Most of Ed’s scholarly work is empirical. Representative work includes “Creditor Control and Conflict in Chapter 11” (working paper, with Kenneth M. Ayotte), “Serial Entrepreneurs and Small Business Bankruptcy” (with Douglas G. Baird; Columbia Law Review), “Bankruptcy Decisionmaking: An Empirical Study of Continuation Bias in Small Business Bankruptcies” (The Journal of Law and Economics), and “Derivatives and the Bankruptcy Code: Why the Special Treatment?” (with Franklin R. Edwards; Yale Journal on Regulation).

Faculty profile

Isaac M. Pachulski is currently a partner at Pachulski Stang Ziehl & Jones (“PSZJ”) in Los Angeles. Prior to joining PSZJ, he was a shareholder at Stutman, Treister & Glatt. Mr. Pachulski was admitted to private practice in 1974 before the State Bar of California.

Throughout his legal career, Mr. Pachulski has specialized in corporate reorganization, insolvency, and bankruptcy law. He has represented debtors, significant creditors, and official and unofficial committees and creditor groups in cases around the country. His recent, public representations include: representing a substantial holder of claims against Lehman Brothers Holdings, Inc. and its affiliated debtors in connection with their respective chapter 11 cases, including participation in plan negotiations; representing a holder of in excess of $100 million in senior notes in connection with the Tribune Co. chapter 11 case; representing holders of in excess of $200 million of secured notes in the chapter 11 case of Scotia Pacific Co.; and representing the holders of in excess of $3 billion of senior unsecured debt of Enron Corp. in Enron’s chapter 11 case. Mr. Pachulski regularly advises hedge funds on a non-public basis in connection with actual or potential investments in distressed debt and the evaluation of strategic alternatives.

Mr. Pachulski’s other recent engagements include representing an owner of multiple ethanol manufacturing plants in connection with an out of court restructuring of its debt; acting as appellate co-counsel for certain holders of Calpine’s 6% Convertible Notes; acting as special conflicts counsel to a group of bondholders of Adelphia Communications Corp. in Adelphia’s chapter 11 case; and representing the holders of $275 million of debt in the Owens-Corning chapter 11 case. He also acted as lead chapter 11 counsel for Mariner Post-Acute Network, Inc., Mariner Health Group, Inc., and 185 affiliated entities which collectively operated approximately 400 skilled nursing and long-term acute care facilities as of the chapter 11 filing, and who successfully confirmed a chapter 11 plan.

Mr. Pachulski has also devoted a significant portion of his practice to appellate matters. Some of the reported appellate opinions in which he has appeared as counsel of record include: U.S. Bancorp Mortgage Corp. v. Bonner Mall Partnership , 513 U.S. 18, 115 S. Ct. 386 (1994) (counsel for amicus); Chemical Bank v. First Trust of New York (In re Southwest Banking Corp.) , 156 F.3d 1114 (11th Cir. 1998); United States v. Wyle (In re Pacific Far East Lines) , 889 F.2d 242 (9th Cir. 1989); First Fidelity Bank v. Public Service Co. of New Hampshire (In re Public Service Co. of New Hampshire) , 879 F.2d 987 (1st Cir 1989); Willamette Waterfront, Ltd. v. Victoria Station (In re Victoria Station Inc.) , 875 F.2d 1380 (9th Cir. 1989); In re Bullion Reserve of North America (Danning v. Bozek) , 836 F.2d 1214 (9th Cir. 1988); Landes Constr. Co. v. royal Bank of Canada , 833 F.2d 1365 (1987); Sambo’s Restaurants v. Wheeler (In re Sambo’s Restaurants, Inc.) , 754 F.2d 811 (9th Cir. 1985); Harris v. Emus Records Corp. , 734 F.2d 1329 (9th Cir 1984); Salomon v. Logan (In re International Envtl. Dynamics, Inc.) , 718 F.2d 322 (9th Cir 1984); Aoki v. Shepherd Machinery Co. (In re J.A. Thompson & Son) , 665 F.2d 941 (9th Cir. 1982); Royal bank of Canada v. Trone (In re Westgate California Corp.) , 634 F.2d 459 (9th Cir. 1980); Casady v. Bucher (In re Royal Props., Inc.) , 621 F.2d 984 (9th Cir. 1980); and C.F. Brookside, Ltd. v. Skyview Memorial Lawn Cemetery (In re Affordable Hous. Dev. Corp.) , 175 B.R. 324 (Bankr. 9th Cir. 1994).

Mr. Pachulski is a member of the National Bankruptcy Conference, the International Insolvency Institute and the American College of Bankruptcy and has testified before Congress. He has lectured on a variety of bankruptcy-related topics, such as bankruptcy appellate practice; intellectual property licenses and security interests in bankruptcy; the trading of claims in bankruptcy; and issues in real estate bankruptcies. Mr. Pachulski’s articles include “Levy v. Cohen: Another Pitfall for Creditors in Bankruptcy Proceedings,” 53 Los Angeles Bar Journal 278, 1977, and “The Cram Down and Valuation Under Chapter 11 of the Bankruptcy Code,” 58 N.C.L. Review 925 (1981).

Mr. Pachulski received his J.D., summa cum laude, from Harvard University in 1974, earning the Fay Diploma (which is awarded to the graduate with the highest cumulative grade average). While at Harvard, he received the Sears Prize in 1972 and again in 1973, and was a member of the Harvard Law Review for the academic year 1972-73. He received his B.A., summa cum laude, from the University of California at Los Angeles in 1974.

Profile

Biography to come.

EDUCATION J.D., Hastings College of Law – University of California, 1982 B.A., Boston University, 1978

ASSOCIATIONS/AFFILIATIONS Conferee, National Bankruptcy Conference Fellow, American College of Bankruptcy Vice-President, National Association of Consumer Bankruptcy Attorneys Member, Board of Editors, Collier on Bankruptcy Member, Board of Directors, National Consumer Bankruptcy Rights Center Member, Judicial Conference Advisory Committee on Bankruptcy Rules (2006 to 2012) Member, Board of Directors, American Bankruptcy Institute (2006-2008)

AUTHORSHIPS Contributing Author, Collier on Bankruptcy and Collier Bankruptcy Practice Guide Editor, Consumer Bankruptcy Law and Practice , NCLC Consumer Credit and Legal Practice Series (10th Ed. 2012) Co-Author, Foreclosures: Defenses, Workouts, and Mortgage Servicing , NCLC Consumer Credit and Legal Practice Series (4th Ed. 2012) Co-Author, Bankruptcy Basics , NCLC Consumer Credit and Legal Practice Series (2d Ed. 2013)

Author, “Impact of Marrama on Case Conversions: Addressing the Unanswered Questions,” American Bankruptcy Institute Law Review , Vol. 15, No. 2, Winter 2007; “Testing the Limits of Statutory Construction Doctrines: Deconstructing the 2005 Bankruptcy Act,” American University Law Review , Vol. 55, No. 5, 2006 Author, “Bankruptcy Courts Respond To Foreclosure Crisis With Loss-Mitigation Programs,” American Bankruptcy Institute Journal , Vol. XXX, No. 14, Mar. 2011; “‘Proof of Claim’ and Bankruptcy Fees: Are They Really Attorneys’ Fees?,” American Bankruptcy Institute Journal , Vol. XXIX, No. 12, Mar. 2010; “Servicing of Home Mortgages in Bankruptcy: When Worlds Need Not Collide,” American Bankruptcy Institute Journal , Vol. XXVIII, No. 1, Feb. 2009; Nat’l Consumer Law Ctr., “Foreclosing a Dream: State Laws Deprive Homeowners of Basic Protections,” 11 (Feb. 2009); “A Fresh Look at Curing Mortgage Defaults in Chapter 13,” American Bankruptcy Institute Journal , Vol. XXVII, No. 14, Feb. 2008; “Debt Buyers Rewriting of Rule 3001: Taking the ‘Proof’ Out of the Claims Process,” American Bankruptcy Institute Journal , Vol. XXIII, No. 6, July 2004; Co-Author, “The Match Continues: First Circuit Rules On Remedies For Discharge Violations,” American Bankruptcy Institute Journal , Vol. XIX, No. 10, Dec. 2001

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE Mr. Rao is an attorney with the National Consumer Law Center and focuses on consumer credit and bankruptcy issues. He has served as a panelist and instructor at numerous trainings and legal education seminars on consumer credit, mortgage lending and servicing, and bankruptcy topics. Mr. Rao has served as an expert witness in court cases and has testified in Congress on consumer matters. He has participated in the Center’s litigation efforts, which have included serving as co-counsel in class action cases involving bankruptcy reaffirmation abuse and mortgage servicing. As a member of the federal Judicial Conference Advisory Committee on Bankruptcy Rules from 2006-2012, Mr. Rao provided a leadership role in the development of bankruptcy rules dealing with the treatment of mortgage claims in chapter 13 cases. He was an adjunct faculty member at Boston College School of Law from 2008 to 2011.

Other professional experience includes serving as the managing attorney of the consumer unit at Rhode Island Legal Services. Mr. Rao’s practice included a broad range of cases dealing with consumer and utility issues, requiring representation of clients before federal, state and bankruptcy courts, and before administrative agencies.

Profile

Brian Resnick is a partner in Davis Polk’s preeminent Restructuring practice and head of the firm’s interdisciplinary Liability Management & Special Opportunities practice. He is widely recognized as a leader in the field, including being ranked by Chambers USA where commentators noted his “unrivaled work ethic and ability to craft creative and commercial solutions to complex business and legal issues.” He was recently named one of Law360’s six Bankruptcy MVPs, an American Lawyer “Dealmaker of the Year”, one of Turnarounds & Workouts’ “Outstanding Restructuring Lawyers” and was featured as one of three “industry titans” at the Turnaround Management Association annual conference.

He leads all aspects of highly complex corporate restructurings and bankruptcies, representing debtors, creditors and other strategic parties in bankruptcies, out-of-court workouts, liability management transactions, financings, litigation and section 363 sales. I regularly lecture and write on bankruptcy topics, including co-authoring the book Credit-Bidding in Bankruptcy Sales and appearing on podcasts hosted by Debtwire and 9Fin. In addition to being a member of the National Bankruptcy Conference, he is a Fellow of the American College of Bankruptcy, and on the boards of Her Justice, and the Columbia Business Law Review.

In October 2025, he was honored with the Dream Big Award by Futures & Options, a nonprofit that helps young people gain career skills, pursue higher education and reach their full potential.

Outside of work Brian is an active supporter of the arts and won a 2019 Tony Award as co-producer of Broadway’s Hadestown. On October 19, 2021, he was presented by nonprofit WhyHunger with the Harry Chapin Humanitarian Award for conceiving of and producing the fundraising video Drum Together, for which he was interviewed in Rolling Stone magazine along with Ringo Starr and Pearl Jam’s Matt Cameron. Prior to becoming a lawyer, he was a Juilliard-trained drummer and percussionist who performed on Saturday Night Live, in a dozen Broadway shows, and with artists such as Art Garfunkel, Don McLean, Olivia Newton-John and Luciano Pavarotti.

John Shaffer is a senior shareholder of Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, LLP in Los Angeles, California.

Mr. Shaffer attended Stanford University where he received his A.B. with honors and distinction in 1986. He received his J.D. degree from Boalt Hall School of Law, University of California in 1989, where he served as Book Review Editor for the California Law Review and was a member of the Order of the Coif. Following law school, Mr. Shaffer served as a Law Clerk to the Honorable Alex Kozinski, U.S. Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit, from 1989 to 1990, and as Law Clerk to the Honorable Anthony M. Kennedy, Associate Justice, U.S. Supreme Court from 1990 to 1991.

The National Bankruptcy Conference invited Mr. Shaffer to become a member in 2005. In addition, Mr. Shaffer has served as a member of the Judicial Conference Advisory Committee on the Federal Rules of Bankruptcy Procedure from 2000 through 2006, and he currently serves on the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals Advisory Committee on Rules of Practice and Procedure. He has served as President of the Los Angeles Bankruptcy Forum and a member of the Board of Governors of the Financial Lawyers Conference.

Mr. Shaffer is a frequent speaker on bankruptcy-related topics, including for the National Conference of Bankruptcy Judges, the California Bankruptcy Forum, the Norton Institutes on Bankruptcy, and the American Law Institute – American Bar Association.

Profile

Brendan Linehan Shannon is a United States Bankruptcy Judge for the District of Delaware. Judge Shannon received his undergraduate degree from Princeton University, and his law degree from the Marshall-Wythe School of Law at the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia. In addition to his Chapter 11 business reorganization docket, Judge Shannon also handles all Chapter 13 consumer bankruptcy cases filed in the District of Delaware.

Prior to his appointment to the bench, Judge Shannon was a partner with Young Conaway Stargatt & Taylor, LLP in Wilmington, Delaware. At Young Conaway, Judge Shannon primarily represented corporate debtors and official committees in Chapter 11 cases. Judge Shannon is a member of the Delaware State Bar Association, the American Bar Association, the American Bankruptcy Institute and the Rodney Inns of Court in Wilmington, Delaware.

Judge Shannon serves as an adjunct professor in the Bankruptcy L.L.M. Program at St. John’s University School of Law in New York and at Widener School of Law in Delaware. He serves on the Board of Editors of Collier on Bankruptcy (16th ed.) and is a contributing author for several chapters covering the Federal Rules of Bankruptcy Procedure. He is a member of the National Bankruptcy Conference, and serves on the Board of Directors of the Delaware Council on Economic Education.

Profile

Edwin E. Smith is a Partner in the Boston, Massachusetts, office of Morgan Lewis & Bockius LLP where he chairs the firm’s Finance Area. Prior to joining the firm, Mr. Smith was a Partner at Bingham McCutchen LLP where he concentrated his practice in general corporate and commercial law, debt financings, structured financings, workouts, bankruptcies and international transactions. Prior to being named a partner in 1981, Mr. Smith spent three and a half years in the firm’s London offices where he concentrated in international financing and commercial transactions. He is member of the teaching faculty at the Morin Center for Banking Law Studies at Boston University Law School where he has taught secured transactions and teaches transnational lending and trade finance, and at Suffolk Law School where he currently teaches secured transactions. He also served in 1988, 1989 and 1994 as a Lecturer in Secured Transactions on the faculty of Harvard Law School. As a Uniform Law Commissioner for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, he has served as a member of the drafting committees for the 1995 revisions of Article 5 (letters of credit) and the 1999 revisions of Article 9 (secured transactions) of the Uniform Commercial Code and as the chair of the drafting committee that formulated the 2002 amendments to Articles 3 (negotiable instruments) and 4 (bank deposits and collections) of the Uniform Commercial Code. Mr. Smith is a past Chair of the Uniform Commercial Code Committee of the Business Law Section of the American Bar Association, is a member of the Council of the Business Law Section, for which he chairs the Council Committee on Strategic Planning, and is the current American Bar Association Advisor/Liaison to the Permanent Editorial Board of the Uniform Commercial Code. He also served as a U.S. delegate on the United Nations Convention on the Assignment of Receivables in International Trade and currently serves as a U.S. delegate to the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) working group on creating a secured transactions guide for legislation in United Nations member countries. He is a member of the American Law Institute and the National Bankruptcy Conference and is the immediate past President of the American College of Commercial Finance Lawyers. He is a graduate of Yale University and Harvard Law School.

Profile

Henry J. Sommer is President of the National Consumer Bankruptcy Rights Center. He has litigated many major cases involving bankruptcy, consumer law, civil rights and other issues. Previously, he was the head of the Consumer Law Project at Community Legal Services in Philadelphia, where he worked for over 21 years and Supervising Attorney at the Consumer Bankruptcy Assistance Project in Philadelphia. Mr. Sommer has also served as a Lecturer-in-Law at the University of Pennsylvania Law School and Adjunct Professor at Temple University School of Law. He received his A.B. degree from Harvard College, magna cum laude and his J.D. degree from Harvard Law School, cum laude .

Mr. Sommer is Editor in Chief of Collier on Bankruptcy and the entire Collier line of bankruptcy publications. He is the author of Collier Consumer Bankruptcy Practice Guide (Matthew Bender); Consumer Bankruptcy Law and Practice , (11th Ed. 2016) published by the National Consumer Law Center, Boston, Ma., and Consumer Bankruptcy: The Complete Guide to Chapter 7 and Chapter 13 Personal Bankruptcy (John Wiley & Sons 1994) as well as numerous articles on bankruptcy law. He is the co-author of Collier Family Law and the Bankruptcy Code (Matthew Bender).

Mr. Sommer is a former member of the Federal Judicial Conference Advisory Committee on Bankruptcy Rules (appointed by the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court) and a member of the National Bankruptcy Conference. He is a Fellow of the American College of Bankruptcy, a member of the American Law Institute, and a former member of the Federal Reserve Board Consumer Advisory Council. He is also a former President of the National Association of Consumer Bankruptcy Attorneys (NACBA), and a former Chair of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania Bankruptcy Conference.

He has been asked to testify many times before the House and Senate Judiciary Committees, as well as the National Bankruptcy Review Commission, on bankruptcy and consumer law issues. He has served on the faculty of numerous continuing legal education programs including those presented by the Federal Judicial Center, NYU Law School, the National Conference of Bankruptcy Judges, the Southeastern Bankruptcy Law Institute, the Executive Office of U.S. Trustees, the ABA Family Law Section, NACBA, ALI-ABA and the Pennsylvania Bar Institute. Mr. Sommer was the first recipient of the National Consumer Law Center’s Vern Countryman Consumer Law Award and a recipient of the National Conference of Bankruptcy Judges Excellence in Education Award and the American College of Bankruptcy’s Distinguished Service Award.

Danielle Spinelli is a nationally recognized appellate advocate and litigator. She has argued seven cases before the US Supreme Court and briefed many others, as well as briefing and arguing many cases before federal courts of appeals and district courts. Ms. Spinelli has one of the country’s leading bankruptcy appellate practices: She has successfully argued four bankruptcy cases in the US Supreme Court, including two of the most important Chapter 11 cases of recent years, and has repeatedly prevailed in the courts of appeals on behalf of creditors challenging their treatment in bankruptcy. She is also a nationally recognized Native American law practitioner who has successfully represented tribal clients in multiple complex litigation matters and appeals. She has successfully handled matters in many other areas, including administrative law, antitrust, commercial law, constitutional law, criminal law and procedure, federal jurisdiction and preemption, insurance law, international trade, and trademark law. Ms. Spinelli is nationally ranked in appellate and Native American law by Chambers USA , which described her as “utterly brilliant” and someone who “thinks things through in a way that eludes most lawyers.”

As noted, Ms. Spinelli has substantial experience in disputes and appeals raising complex bankruptcy problems in both the business and consumer arenas. In the US Supreme Court, she successfully argued Mission Product Holdings v. Tempnology, LLC (2019), which held that a trademark licensee does not lose its right to use the mark when the licensor rejects the license agreement in bankruptcy, resolving a fundamental and long-standing question about the nature and effect of rejection. She also successfully argued on behalf of priority creditors in Czyzewski v. Jevic Transportation Co. (2017), which held that a structured dismissal may not distribute estate assets in violation of the Bankruptcy Code’s priority scheme. She also successfully argued Clark v. Rameker (2014), holding that inherited IRAs are not exempt in bankruptcy, and Bank of America v. Caulkett (2015), holding that Chapter 7 debtors may not strip off underwater junior liens on their houses. Also in the Supreme Court, she played a major role in the successful representation of the Marshall estate in Stern v. Marshall (2011), a watershed decision on Article III and bankruptcy court authority. In the courts of appeals, she successfully represented secured creditors challenging their treatment under Chapter 11 plans in a trio of cases stemming from the Momentive Performance Materials, EFIH and Houston Regional Sports Network bankruptcies. She also represented a major insurer in a series of appeals involving novel questions at the intersection of Chapter 11 and insurance law, including prevailing before the en banc Third Circuit on the question of insurer standing.

James H.M. Sprayregen is Vice Chairman at Hilco Global. Mr. Sprayregen is recognized as one of the country’s outstanding restructuring lawyers. Mr. Sprayregen has extensive experience representing major U.S. and international companies in and out of court as well as buyers and sellers of assets in distressed situations. He also has extensive experience advising boards of directors, and generally representing domestic and international debtors and creditors in workout, insolvency, restructuring, and bankruptcy matters. He has handled matters for clients in industries as varied as manufacturing, technology, transportation, energy, media, and real estate. Chambers & Partners has described Mr. Sprayregen as a “great clients’ lawyer, admired for his ‘unflustered ways.’” In March 2010, Mr. Sprayregen was selected by The National Law Journal as one of “The Decade’s Most Influential Lawyers.”

Mr. Sprayregen was formerly a Restructuring partner in the Chicago and New York offices of Kirkland & Ellis LLP. Mr. Sprayregen returned to Kirkland & Ellis in December 2008 after nearly three years with Goldman Sachs, where he was co-head of Goldman Sachs’ Restructuring Group and advised clients in restructuring and distressed situations. The 2009 edition of Chambers USA, America’s Leading Lawyers for Business highlighted Mr. Sprayregen’s return to Kirkland & Ellis after his nearly three years with Goldman Sachs. Mr. Sprayregen was listed as a first tier lawyer practicing in the bankruptcy/restructuring category, and was described as having an “outstanding reputation for complex Chapter 11 cases.” The 2011 edition of Chambers USA, America’s Leading Lawyers for Business recognized Mr. Sprayregen as a key individual, noting that sources refer to him as “a restructuring genius and one of the best strategists in the country.” Prior to joining Goldman Sachs, Mr. Sprayregen spent 16 years at Kirkland & Ellis, where he led bankruptcy cases for United Airlines and Conseco, among many others. Some of his recent representative matters include General Growth Properties, Innkeepers USA Trust, Japan Airlines Corporation as U.S. and international counsel, The Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Company, MSR Resort Golf Course LLC, Sbarro Inc., Visteon Corporation, Lear Corporation, The Reader’s Digest Association, Corus Bankshares, Inc., Majestic Star Casino LLC, and ION Media Networks, Inc.

Mr. Sprayregen is a frequent lecturer and speaker, and has published numerous articles on insolvency, fiduciary duty, and distressed M&A issues. He also served as an Adjunct Professor at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. He earned a J.D. from the University of Illinois College of Law and a B.A. from the University of Michigan.

Northwestern University, B.S.J. (1978) DePaul University, J.D. (1982)

Catherine Steege is a partner in the firm of Jenner & Block LLP in the Chicago office, where she is co-chair of the Bankruptcy and Restructuring group. Ms. Steege’s practice covers all aspects of financial restructuring and related litigation, with an emphasis on representation of retiree committees in commercial and municipal restructurings, appellate practice, and complex insolvency-related litigation. She was admitted to the Illinois bar in 1982 after graduating with highest honors from DePaul University College of Law where she was Managing Lead Article Editor of the DePaul Law Review. Ms. Steege argued Wellness International Inc. v. Sharif, 135 S. Ct. 1932 (2015) in the United States Supreme Court and has argued over 15 appeals on various bankruptcy-related issues in the courts of appeals. She also represented the petitioner in Law v. Siegel, 134 S. Ct. 1188 (2014), and has authored amicus briefs to the United States Supreme Court for the American Bar Association and National Association of Bankruptcy Trustees. She has argued over 20 appeals and tried over 30 cases in various courts. She is a fellow of the American College of Bankruptcy, an adjunct professor at John Marshall Law School, a member of the Editorial Board of Collier’s, and a frequent lecturer on bankruptcy and insolvency issues. She also has been on the chapter 7 panel of trustees since 1987 in the Northern District of Illinois.

American Bankruptcy Institute National Association of Bankruptcy Trustees Chicago Bar Association, Bankruptcy Section International Women’s Insolvency and Restructuring Confederation

“Collective Bargaining Aftermath: Are Employees Entitled to a Claim Against the Debtor Upon Rejection of their Collective Bargaining Agreement,” The Bankruptcy Strategist Vol. 25 No. 5 March 2008 Ginsberg & Martin on Bankruptcy Aspen Law and Business Contributing Editor “Attorneys Fees in Chapter 11 Cases, Business Bankruptcy Practice,” Illinois Institute for Continuing Legal Education 2006 “Sections 1113 and 1114: An Overview and Current Issues of Importance,” Pratt’s Journal of Bankruptcy Law , Vol. 2, No. 5 Dec 2006 “Sections 1113 and 1114: An Overview,” from panel discussion entitled “KERPS, Compensation and Bonus Issues Under the New Code, Including Pension Benefits and Union Contracts,” American Bankruptcy Institute Southwest Conference Sep 2006 “Trustee’s and Attorney’s Fees, Consumer Bankruptcy Practice,” Illinois Institute of Continuing Legal Education 2006

J. Ronald Trost was Chair of the National Bankruptcy Conference from 1996 through 2004. From 1980 through 2002 he was a member of Sidley & Austin, Managing Partner of its Los Angeles office, chair of its national practice Bankruptcy and Reorganization Group and served on its Management Committee for 20 years. He taught at the University of Southern California Law Center for over ten years and at the University of California at Los Angeles School of Law for four years. As a consultant to the Commission on Bankruptcy Laws of the United States, and to the United States Congress, Mr. Trost played a central role in the formulation of Chapter 11 of the Bankruptcy Code. For several years Mr. Trost chaired the Chapter 11 programs for ALI-ABA (The American Law Institute-American Bar Association Committee on Continuing Professional Education). He was the Planning Chairman for the Williamsburg Conference on Bankruptcy, a review of the first ten years of the 1978 Bankruptcy Code and an agenda for reform. Mr. Trost is a member of the American Law Institute and has received from ALI-ABA the Harrison Tweed Award for Special Merit in Continuing Legal Education. He is the co-author of one of ALI-ABA’s most popular books, “Fundamentals of Bankruptcy Law”, now in its 5th Edition, and numerous articles and papers on bankruptcy law.

Mr. Trost is currently of counsel to Cronin & Vris, LLP, of New York City.

Biography to come.

R. Patrick Vance began his legal career at the Jones Walker LLP firm upon graduation from law school in 1975. The firm has grown to 17 offices in eight states and the District of Columbia and has over 390 lawyers. Mr. Vance served as the chairman of the firm for a number of years and is currently the Practice Group Leader for the Business Litigation practice, a position he has held for over twenty years.

Mr. Vance is one of only two active lawyers in the United States in both the American College of Trial Lawyers and the American College of Bankruptcy. He has more than 90 reported decisions in which he was usually the lead counsel at trial and in the appellate courts. He has tried cases in the state and federal courts throughout Louisiana and argued appellate cases in all of the state circuit courts and in the Louisiana Supreme Court. He has argued more than 20 appeals in the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals and has participated in writ practice before the United States Supreme Court.

In 2013 Mr. Vance commenced serving a four year term as the Vice President of the National Bankruptcy Conference. He has served on the NBC’s Executive Committee and as its treasurer for twelve years. He is a long time member of the Board of Directors of the American College of Bankruptcy and is the former President of the Board of Directors of the College’s Foundation. He is a past Chairman of the Board of the Southeast Louisiana Legal Services Corporation which provides civil legal services to the indigent in 22 parishes in Southeast Louisiana. Mr. Vance is a life member of the American Law Institute. He is a past president of the New Orleans Bar Association (2012), served in every officer position of that organization, and is on the Foundation’s Board. Mr. Vance received the New Orleans Bar Association’s highest award – The President’s Award – in 2016.

Mr. Vance has been recognized in virtually every peer review publication as a leading practitioner including being listed as one of the top ten lawyers in Louisiana by Super Lawyers since its inception; Best Lawyers in America for over 25 years; Chambers USA; Who’s Who Legal; The International Who’s Who of Business Lawyers; Euromoney’s Guide to World’s Leading Insolvency Lawyers; Lawdragon’s Leading Lawyers; Benchmark Litigation and others. He has been listed in the categories for bankruptcy, commercial litigation and bet-the-company litigation.

Mr. Vance has held leadership positions in the American Bar Association, the Louisiana Bar Association and the New Orleans Bar Association and has chaired significant committees in each organization. He served as President of the Louisiana Bankers Association, Bank Counsel Committee and chaired every subcommittee of the organization.

Business Bankruptcy

Mr. Vance has litigated and negotiated complex transactions involving distressed or insolvent debtors, creditors and purchasers through out-of-court arrangements and Chapter 11 cases in scores of matters throughout the United States.

As attorney for debtors and trustees, Mr. Vance has represented real estate developers, hotels, partnerships, construction companies, health spas, maritime, oil and gas related industries, a tree farm, casinos, a utility company, a cafeteria chain and the largest alligator farm in North America.

Mr. Vance also regularly represents secured and unsecured creditors in all types of business bankruptcy cases. He has been retained by scores of banks, bondholders, telecommunication companies, international manufacturers, utilities, health care providers, maritime, oil and gas related industries, the music industry, and insurance companies. He has also represented creditors’ committees and served as trustee in Chapter 11 cases.

Commercial Litigation

Mr. Vance is a prolific trial lawyer who has handled over three hundred commercial disputes in a wide variety of practice areas: antitrust, RICO, copyright infringement, Lanham Act, securities litigation, defense of class actions, MDLs, foreclosures, fraud, lender liability, banking litigation, ERISA, dealer-distributor disputes, successions, legal malpractice, expropriation, contract interpretation, partnership, utility regulation, tax, and general commercial disputes.

Publications and Seminars

Mr. Vance has served on the faculty of more than a hundred Continuing Legal Education programs, including those presented by the American College of Bankruptcy, ALI-ABA, the ABA Litigation Section, the ABA Business Law Section, the Louisiana State Bar Association, the Texas Bar Association, the American Bankruptcy Institute, the Practicing Law Institute, the law schools of Tulane University, Louisiana State University and Loyola University, the National Conference of Bankruptcy Judges, the Southeastern Bankruptcy Law Institute, Inc., and the Executive Office of the United States Trustees. Mr. Vance taught the Advanced Bankruptcy Seminar at Tulane Law School and has been a frequent contributor to legal publications in the areas of bankruptcy and commercial litigation.

Expert Witness

Mr. Vance has been qualified as an expert witness in federal and state courts in the areas of bankruptcy and attorney’s fee disputes, including on behalf of the United States in a case in which the number two ranked policeman in New Orleans was convicted of bankruptcy crimes.

Education

Mr. Vance graduated with highest College Honors from Louisiana State University in 1970 where he received the Phi Beta Kappa Faculty Group Award among other distinctions. He has served on the Advisory Board of the LSU Honors College since its formation.

Mr. Vance graduated from Louisiana State University Law School in 1975 where he served on the Louisiana Law Review. He serves on the Advisory Board to the Chancellor of the Law School. He was recently recognized by the Law School with its Distinguished Achievement Alumni Award in 2012.

Personal

Mr. Vance was born in Birmingham, Alabama in 1948 and is married to Sarah Savoia Vance, a Judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana. The Vances have one son who is a lawyer in Los Angeles.

Profile

One of the nation’s most distinguished scholars in the field of bankruptcy, and a pioneer in empirical studies in this area, Professor Westbrook also teaches and writes in commercial law and international business transactions. He practiced in all these areas for more than a decade with Surrey & Morse (now part of Jones, Day) in Washington, D.C., where he was a partner, before joining the faculty in 1980. He is co-author of The Law of Debtors and Creditors (Aspen, 3rd ed., 1996), As We Forgive Our Debtors: Bankruptcy and Consumer Credit in America (Oxford, 1989), and The Fragile Middle Class (Yale, 2000). He has been Visiting Professor at Harvard Law School and the University of London, and is a member of the American Law Institute, the National Bankruptcy Conference, and the American College of Bankruptcy. He is also the United States Reporter for the ALI’s Transnational Insolvency Project and co-head of the United States delegation to the UN (UNCITRAL) conference on International Insolvency.

Faculty profile