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919 Third Avenue
New York, New York 10022
United States of America
P: +1 212.756.2150
F: +1 212.593.5955
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Practice Areas
Corporate restructuring, workouts, creditors' rights litigation
Education
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New York University School of Law, J.D., 1968
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Columbia College, A.B., 1965
Selected Representations
Reorganizations (debtor representations)
Quigley Company, Inc.; American Banknote Corp.; Lenox Health Care, Inc.; United Merchants & Manufacturers; Victoria Creations, Inc.; Wang Laboratories, Inc.; Doe-Spun, Inc.; Ames Department Stores; Carter Hawley Hale Stores; A.H. Robins Co.
Investors
Leucadia National Corp.; Cerberus Capital Management LLP; Soo Line Railroad Co.; Cyclops Industries, Inc.
Reorganization trustees
Cardinal Industries, Inc.
Secured creditors and lessors
Dai Ichi Kangyo Bank; Blackacre Bridge Capital LLC; Cerberus Partners; Ableco Finance; Foothill Capital; CIT Group; Hilco Capital LP; Credit Suisse First Boston; Tishman Speyer Properties; Unicredito Italiano; Midlantic National Bank; General Electric Capital Corporation; Polaris Aircraft Income Funds; Continental Illinois Bank; Bank of Boston; Bankers Federal Saving Bank FSB; Extebank; Banco Santander; Citibank, N.A.; The Chase Manhattan Bank; Morgan Guaranty; Fuji Bank; Japan Leasing (USA), Inc.; Atari Inc.; Bear Stearns Asset Management; Citibank N.A.
Creditors’ committees
Union Pacific Resources Company, counsel to committee chair in Columbia Gas reorganization; McCall Pattern Company, counsel to committee; New York Life Insurance Company, counsel to committee chair in Kaiser Steel reorganization
Professional frms
Deloitte & Touche LLP; KPMG LLP; Ernst & Young LLP; Arthur Andersen LLP; Blank Rome Tenzer Greenblatt LLP; Boies, Schiller & Flexner LLP; McDermott Will & Emery LLP
Selected Publications
Books/treatises
Bankruptcy Litigation Manual (rev. ed., Aspen Law & Business, 2007–08) (lead editor and contributing author)
Collier Bankruptcy Guide (rev. ed., Matthew Bender, 2005) (contributing author: “Appeals in Bankruptcy Cases”)
The Collier Bankruptcy Practice Guide (rev. ed., 2005) (contributing author: “Bankruptcy Appeals”)
Collier on Bankruptcy (15th rev. ed., 2003) (contributing author: “Preferences” and “Fraudulent Transfers”)
Creditors’ Rights, Debtors’ Protection and Bankruptcy (3rd ed., Matthew Bender, 1997) (co-author with NYU School of Law Professor Lawrence P. King)
A Practical Guide to the Bankruptcy Reform Act (Rev. ed., Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1984) (co-author)
Articles
"How to Avoid Insider Preference Liability," The Bankruptcy Strategist, Oct. 2008
"Equitable Subordination Still Requires Proof of Harm," The Bankruptcy Strategist, September 2008
“Breach of Fiduciary Duty by Insiders of Chapter 11 Debtors,” SRZ Client Alert, March 12, 2008 (co-author)
“The Earmarking Defense Lives On,” New York Law Journal, March 3, 2008
“Oversecured Lender Awarded Post-Petition Interest at Contractual Default Rate Plus Compounded Interest,” SRZ Client Alert, Jan. 23, 2008 (co-author)
“US Courts Usually Enforce Creditors’ Contract Rights,” Financier Worldwide, Jan. 21, 2008
“Appeals Court Orders Immediate Payment of DIP Lender’s Commitment and Facility Funding Fees,” SRZ Client Alert, Nov. 28, 2007(co-author)
“Oversecured Lender’s Contractual Prepayment Penalty Held Enforceable As Unsecured Claim Against Solvent Debtor,” SRZ Client Alert, Nov. 16, 2007
(co-author)
“Sixth Circuit Holds Buyer of Chapter 11 Debtor’s Contract Liable Only for Expressly Assumed Obligations,” SRZ Client Alert, Oct. 9, 2007 (co-author)
“Second Circuit Affirms Dismissal of Employees’ Lender Liability WARN Act Suit,” SRZ Client Alert, Sept. 28, 2007 (co-author)
“Cayman Hedge Funds Liquidators’ Request for Chapter 15 Protection Denied by Bankruptcy Court,” SRZ Client Alert, Sept. 19, 2007 (co-author)
“Second Circuit Affirms Dismissal of Creditors’ Committee Equitable Subordination Complaint,” SRZ Client Alert, Aug. 20, 2007 (co-author)
“Investment Bank’s Advisory Fee Properly Calculated Under Reasonableness Standard,” SRZ Client Alert, Aug. 6, 2007 (co-author)
“Fourth Circuit Affirms Chapter 11 Dismissal,” The Bankruptcy Strategist, August 2007; SRZ Client Alert, June 20, 2007
“Court Insulates Lender’s Collateral from Professional Fee Surcharge,” Pratt’s Journal of Bankruptcy Law, Sept. 2007; SRZ Client Alert, July 23, 2007
“Delaware’s High Court Affirms Dismissal Of Creditor’s Suit Against Directors,” SRZ Client Alert, May 25, 2007 (co-author)
“Fraudulent Transfer Analysis Turns Sour,” The Bankruptcy Strategist, June 2007; SRZ Client Alert, April 9, 2007 (co-author)
“Supreme Court Allows Unsecured Lender to Recover Contractual Legal Fees in Bankruptcy Cases,” SRZ Client Alert, March 21, 2007
“Court Denies Hedge Funds’ Motion To Seal Confidential Trading Information,” SRZ Client Alert, March 12, 2007 (co-author)
“Second Circuit Vacates Settlement Between Creditors’ Committee and Secured Lenders, Relying on Absolute Priority Rule,” SRZ Client Alert, March 7, 2007
“Bankruptcy Court Demolishes Baseless Lender Liability Complaint,” The Bankruptcy Strategist, Feb. 2007
“Business Reorganization Financing: Use of Cash Collateral and Debtor-in-Possession Financing,” “The Bankruptcy Code’s Automatic Stay,” “Fraudulent Transfers” and “Preference Litigation,” 29th Annual Current Developments in Bankruptcy & Reorganization (Practising Law Institute, 2007) (co-author)
“Bankruptcy Court Allows Secured Lender To Credit Bid Despite Creditors’ Committee Suit,” SRZ Client Alert, Dec. 5, 2006 (co-author)
“Ethics in Bankruptcy Cases,” “Fraudulent Transfers” and “Preference Litigation,” Understanding the Basics of Bankruptcy Reorganization (Practising Law Institute, 2006) (co-author)
“Key Bankruptcy Appellate Rulings,” Eleventh Annual Bankruptcy Conference of the Central New York and Capital Regional Bar Associations, 2006
“A Secured Creditor May Carve Out A Portion Of Its Collateral For The Exclusive Benefit Of Unsecured Creditors Without Violating The Absolute Priority rule, SRZ Client Alert, July 17, 2006 (co-author)
“Bankruptcy Court Holds Strategic Partner/Vendor Liable as Insider in Preference Suit,” SRZ Client Alert, Jan. 31, 2006 (co-author)
“Second Lien Lenders Fend Off Attack on Credit Bid,” SRZ Client Alert, Jan. 25, 2006 (co-author)
“Chapter 11 Debtors Cannot Assume or Assign Trademark License Without Consent from Licensor,” Bankruptcy Court Decisions, Jan. 2006; SRZ Client Alert, January, 2006
“Third Circuit Cuts Substantive Consolidation Risk,” SRZ Client Alert, Aug. 19, 2005 (co-author)
“Second Circuit Upholds Senior Creditors’ Rights Despite X-Clause and Criticizes Third Party Insider Releases in Reorganization Plan,” SRZ Client Alert, Aug. 3, 2005 (co-author)
“7th Circuit Confirms Clear Right of Aircraft Lenders/Lessors To Reclaim,” SRZ Client Alert, May 13, 2005 (co-author)
“2005 Bankruptcy Code Amendments: Quick Summary of Business Reorganization Changes,” SRZ Client Alert, April 21, 2005 (co-author)
“Second Circuit Confirms Good Faith Lender Had No Fiduciary Duty to Borrower and Had Not Participated in Borrower’s Fraud,” SRZ Client Alert, April 2005 (co-author)
“Key Creditors’ Rights Decision,” The Bankruptcy Strategist, July 2005
“No Time for Bankruptcy Venue Hypocrisy,” The Bankruptcy Strategist, June 2005
“Eighth Circuit Rules That Financial Advisor’s Success Fee Be Paid From Recovery Obtained By Its Constituency,” SRZ Client Alert, Feb. 28, 2005
“Tenth Circuit Allows Secured Creditor To Recover Converted Cash Collateral,” SRZ Client Alert, Jan. 7, 2005
“In re Combustion Engineering: 3d Circuit Vacates Reorganization Plan,” SRZ Client Alert, Dec. 3, 2004
“Repaid Lender Escapes Fraudulent Transfer Liability,” New York Law Journal, Nov. 22, 2004
“Landlords Succeed In Getting Tenants’ Bankruptcy Petitions Dismissed,” SRZ Client Alert, October 2004
“Secured Lender Had no Fiduciary Duty to Borrower or Creditors and Had Not Participated in Management Fraud,” SRZ Client Alert, September 2004
“Fighting Cramdown: The Objecting Secured Creditor in Reorganization Plan Litigation,” Schulte Roth & Zabel LLP, August 2004
“Supreme Court Disappoints Secured Lenders: Till v. SCS Credit Corporation,” The Bankruptcy Strategist, July 2004; SRZ Client Alert, May 2004
“The ‘Doctrine of Necessity’: Missing Authority,” Parts 1 and 2, The Bankruptcy Strategist, April–May 2004
“Professional Fees: How To Get A Bankruptcy Judge’s Attention,” Law Journal Newsletters, February 2004
“Secured Lenders Have Standing To Pursue Preferences,” SRZ Client Alert, January 2004
“Oversecured Lender’s Legal Fees Held To Reasonableness Test,” SRZ Client Alert, November 2002
“Surcharging A Lender’s Collateral: An Empty Threat,” The Bankruptcy Strategist Law Journal Newsletters, October 2001
“Master Teacher Remembered,” 76 N.Y.U. L. Rev. 1300 (2001)
“The Judicially Created ‘Innocent Shareholder’ Defense to Constructive Fraudulent Transfer Liability in Failed Leveraged Buyouts,” South Carolina Law Review, 1992 (co-author)
Selected Speaking Engagements
"Ethical Obligations in Bankruptcy and the Role of the U.S. Trustee," Practicing Law Institute's Understanding the Basics of Business Bankruptcy & Reorganization 2008 Conference, December 2008
“Asset Protection,” ABI 10th Annual New York City Bankruptcy Conference, May 2008
“The Avoiding Powers and the Automatic Stay” and “First Day Orders, DIP Operations and DIP Financing,” Practising Law Institute’s 30th Annual Current Developments in Bankruptcy & Reorganization, April 2008.
“Financing in Reorganization Cases,” “Preferences” and “Fraudulent Transfers,” Practising Law Institute’s Current Developments in Bankruptcy Reorganization, April 2008
“Ethical Considerations in Bankruptcy, Retention of Professionals” and “Preferences and Fraudulent Transfers,” Practising Law Institute’s Understanding the Basics of Bankruptcy & Reorganization, December 2007
“Second Lien Financing” and “Fraudulent Transfers,” Southeast Bankruptcy Law Institute, April 2007
“The Avoiding Powers and the Automatic Stay” and “First Day Orders and DIP Operations & DIP Financing” Practising Law Institute’s 29th Annual Current Developments in Bankruptcy and Reorganization, April 2007
“Understanding the Basics of Bankruptcy & Reorganization,” Practising Law Institute 28th Annual Current Developments in Bankruptcy and Reorganization, December 2006
“The Latest Ethical Considerations for Your Bankruptcy Practice,” West Legal Ed Center Webcast, November 2006
“Key Bankruptcy Appellate Rulings,” Eleventh Annual Bankruptcy Conference of the Central New York and Capital Regional Bar Associations, October 2006
Memberships
Chair, Pro Bono Committee, American College of Bankruptcy
Chair, Steering Committee, New York City Bankruptcy Assistance Project
Fellow, American Bar Foundation
Member, Practising Law Institute Bankruptcy Law Advisory Committee
Chair, Creditors’ Rights Litigation Committee, American Bar Association,
Section of Litigation, 1976–81
Chair, Bankruptcy Litigation Institute, 1980–96
Director, American College of Bankruptcy Foundation
Director, Columbia College Alumni Association
Past Chair and Director, Lawyers Alliance for New York
Former Director, Goddard Riverside Community Center
Other Distinctions
The Best Lawyers in America
Chambers USA, America’s Leading Lawyers for Business
The K&A Restructuring Register, (peer group listing of the top 66 attorneys who practice in restructuring, reorganization, insolvency and bankruptcy)
PLC Cross-border Restructuring and Insolvency Handbook
Martindale-Hubbell Law Directory, AV rating
New York Super Lawyers
Who’s Who in American Law
Who’s Who Legal
Prior Experience
Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP, 1980-2000
Partner and Practice Leader, Corporate Restructuring Group
Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP, 1970-80
Partner, 1975-80; Associate, 1970-75
Academic
Adjunct Professor of Law, New York University School of Law, 1975-2001
Creditors' rights, debtors protection, bankruptcy
Lecturer, Lehman College, City of New York, 1968-70
Business Law