Find Lawyers in Louisiana, United States for Bankruptcy and Creditor Debtor Rights / Insolvency and Reorganization Law
Practice Area Overview
While some bankruptcy lawyers represent insolvent individuals, many corporate bankruptcy lawyers represent debtors, creditors, and groups of creditors in bankruptcy cases. When representing debtors, the bankruptcy lawyer’s involvement typically starts long before a company actually commences a bankruptcy case by counseling the debtor concerning strategic options. These options run the spectrum, from gaining the protections afforded by commencing a reorganization case under chapter 11 (to implement an asset sale, a consensual plan of reorganization, or perhaps a contested “cramdown” plan), to negotiating an out-of-court workout. Creditor representations similarly require strategic analysis and skilled advocacy. The challenge facing creditors’ counsel is not merely competing with the debtor and its shareholders, but also competing against other creditor constituencies with differing agendas. After all, the restructuring objectives of a trade creditor, a bond holder, a labor union, a government agency, or a creditor that may be junior or senior in the capital structure likely will vary, potentially to a substantial degree, depending on the circumstances.
In today’s dynamic financial restructuring landscape, bankruptcy lawyers also must tackle a host of ancillary issues. For example, cross-border insolvencies continue to grow in number and intricacy as businesses expand globally into legal jurisdictions around the world. Likewise, the advent and growth of structured financial products and derivatives adds additional layers of complexity to the already complex mix of legal and business issues that bankruptcy lawyers routinely confront. In addition, the bankruptcy process continues to serve as a springboard for M&A opportunities presenting distressed investors with opportunities to acquire assets at attractive valuations in the marketplace.
Bankruptcy law provides ample, important restructuring opportunities to financially troubled businesses and has made bankruptcy an effective business tool, as evidenced by the number of large business enterprises increasingly seeking the protections and benefits that bankruptcy affords.
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Richard Aguilar is resident in the firm's New Orleans office. His multi-state practice focuses on bringing his extensive business experience to bear for clients dealing with issues in areas involving creditor's rights, foreclosure, bankruptcy, reorganization, and high-consequence business and commercial litigation.
Brent has over forty years of experience litigating commercial cases. He represents clients in a wide variety of commercial disputes, including bankruptcy and creditors’ rights, securities litigation, breach of contract, business valuation disputes, director and officer claims, error and omission claims, and class actions. Brent has developed a national practice niche representing trustees and receivers in varied litigation. He is currently Receiver’s counsel in Securities and Exc...
Ashley advises businesses, financial institutions, and individuals concerning bankruptcies, class actions, contracts, construction, environmental issues, fidelity, surety and financial institution bonds, insurance, professional malpractice, real estate, corporate, and estate matters. She also mediates and arbitrates business disputes. Ashley currently serves as a member of the AAA Construction Panel, AAA Commercial Panel and FINRA Panel as an arbitrator and mediator. After Hurricane Katrina, ...
Alicia Bendana practices business bankruptcy law and commercial litigation with an emphasis on prosecuting and defending complex and multi-layered litigation claims on behalf of trustees, debtors, creditors, creditors’ committees, and other interested parties in Chapter 7 and 11 bankruptcy proceedings. She represents clients as lead or co-lead counsel in the prosecution of officer and director liability litigation, legal and accounting malpractice liability litigation, fraud and RICO li...
Christopher focuses on several practice areas including marine insurance coverage; bankruptcy, restructuring, and creditors’ rights; and oil and gas. Born in Portsmouth, Virginia, Christopher graduated in 1994 from The College of William and Mary in Virginia. He received a B.A. with a double major in Politics and Religion. In December 1997, Christopher received a J.D. from Loyola University, New Orleans School of Law as well as an M.A. in Religious Studies from Loyola University, New Or...
Successfully reorganized or liquidated numerous businesses in the health care, construction, real estate, agricultural, marine and retail industries. Represented a large timber and land company in fraudulent conveyance litigation with the litigation trust of a major railroad tie manufacturer regarding the sale of a local plant which was settled favorably. Represented the board of trustees of a local college successfully in litigation surrounding the election of the college president . Represe...
Lisa Futrell is a partner in the Litigation Practice Group. She focuses on bankruptcy and creditors’ rights matters. Lisa Futrell has practiced in the areas of bankruptcy, insolvency, and financial restructuring for more than 30 years. The scope of her practice includes the representation of creditors, debtors, trustees, and official and ad hoc committees in Chapter 11 cases, a foreign representative in Chapter 15 cases, adversary proceedings, out of court restructurings and forbearance...
From our New Orleans office, Benjamin focuses on several practice areas including bankruptcy, restructuring, and creditors’ rights; corporate and commercial law, mergers and acquisitions; litigation; and asset-based finance. After graduating from Louisiana State University in 2002, Benjamin earned his law degree from Tulane University Law School in 2005. During law school, he served as a judicial clerk for the Honorable Magistrate Judge Alma Chasez, United States District Court for the ...
Mr. Landis' commercial litigation practice focuses primarily on bankruptcy, construction and antitrust disputes. He is a member of the roster of commercial arbitrators of the American Arbitration Association and is Co-Chair if the firm's Bankruptcy Practice Group. Mr. Landis joined Stone Pigman in 1977.
Army joined the Firm in March 2011, bringing the knowledge and experience he earned over the course of his successful entrepreneurial career. His practice focuses on creditors’ rights, bankruptcy, and commercial transactional work for corporate, oil, gas and energy clients in Louisiana and Texas. Army is also one of only seven Sub-Chapter V bankruptcy trustees selected by the Department of Justice’s United States Trustee Program to serve in the State of Louisiana. Army is a skille...
Fishman Haygood Litigation Partner Tristan Manthey specializes in bankruptcy. Since 1998, his practice has concentrated on Chapter 11 reorganizations, business workouts, debt restructuring, insolvency litigation, and creditor’s rights. Tristan is experienced in complex financial and legal matters involving numerous industries, including but not limited to, oil and gas, medical, construction, manufacturing, casinos, hotel and tourism, utilities, gaming companies, public television broadc...
Lewis McHenry is a partner in the Corporate Practice Group. He represents a wide range of parties in real estate transactions. Lewis advises clients on real estate acquisitions and divestitures, workouts, commercial bankruptcy, development, and finance. He handles matters in connection with multi-family residential developments throughout the southeastern and southwestern United States, office buildings, hotels, and medical facilities. He also advises forest products companies on timber inves...
Andy Mendez concentrates his practice in the areas of commercial litigation, complex litigation, family law, and bankruptcy. He has represented individuals, privately-held companies, and publicly-traded corporations in a wide variety of disputes as plaintiffs, defendants, debtors, and creditors. Andy began his career at the main office of a multi-national law firm before joining Stone Pigman. He has substantial experience defending product liability and toxic tort personal injury claims, incl...
During law school, David was a member of the Law Review from 1985-1987 and served as Articles/Comments Editor from 1986-1987. He served as law clerk to the Honorable Louis M. Phillips, Judge for the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Middle District of Louisiana. David's practice has centered on bankruptcy law and commercial litigation. He has a comprehensive knowledge of the Bankruptcy Code and extensive experience in bankruptcy court litigation. He has successfully represented debtors, ...
Mark Mintz is a restructuring partner in the firm’s New Orleans office and co-leads the firm’s bankruptcy & restructuring team. Mark is co-leader of Jones Walker’s bankruptcy and creditors’ rights team and represents clients in a wide range of creditor and debtor rights matters, with a particular focus on creditors’ committees. Among his notable engagements, Mark advised a client involved in the bankruptcy of a Houston-based oil exploration and production (E&...
Cynthia Nicholson’s practice is centered on oil and gas transactions with respect to lands located within the State of Louisiana as well as those located on the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS). She regularly documents and negotiates acquisitions and divestitures of both onshore and offshore properties, and has extensive experience with many types of transaction structures including mergers, asset and stock acquisitions and sales. She regularly counsels clients on a wide range of regulator...
Cherie Dessauer Nobles is special counsel in Fishman Haygood's Litigation Section. She works in the bankruptcy practice group of the firm and concentrates on debtor and creditor rights. Cherie has experience in representing large, complex companies and small companies in bankruptcy. Her experience includes representation of debtors, trustees, unsecured creditors’ committees, and creditors in commercial bankruptcy and workout business cases in chapter 11 and chapter 7 bankruptcy proceedi...
William H. Patrick, III concentrates his practice in corporate bankruptcy, corporate workouts, and financial restructuring, representing debtors, committees, trustees, equity investors, and other parties in interest. Billy has played major roles in the restructuring of casinos, utility companies, restaurant and fast food chains, hotels, television broadcast companies, orthodontic management companies, and resolving claims arising from asbestos, breast implants, nuclear radiation, and other ha...
Stewart focuses on bankruptcy, restructuring, and creditors’ rights; admiralty and maritime; marine finance and vessel documentation; asset-based finance; litigation, corporate and commercial law; and oil and gas. Stewart has been practicing law in New Orleans for more than 38 years. He is a 1974 graduate of Kenyon College, magna cum laude , where he was a member of Phi Beta Kappa. He graduated top in his class in 1977 from Tulane Law School where he was elected to the Order of the Coif...
Louis M. Phillips is a partner at Kelly Hart Pitre and leader of the firm’s Bankruptcy & Business Reorg. practice. Mr. Phillips provides legal representation and consultation for debtors, creditors, and trustees over a broad practice area, including transaction and business structuring and restructuring, bankruptcy reorganization, and bankruptcy and commercial litigation. He also handles civil cases in state and federal courts and has handled matters before the Fifth Circuit Court o...
Jerry Schiff practices in the areas of mediation and bankruptcy/ debtor-creditor law. He joined Gordon Arata in 2006 after serving over a decade as U.S. Bankruptcy Judge for the Western District of Louisiana. While he principally presided over cases in the Lafayette, Opelousas and Lake Charles Divisions of the Western District, he occasionally sat in the Shreveport and Alexandria Divisions, as well as the Eastern and Middle Districts of Louisiana. It was in the latter District where he presid...
Rick Shelby is an experienced attorney who specializes in bankruptcy, restructuring, oil and gas litigation, commercial litigation and corporate governance. His representation includes secured and unsecured creditors, trustees, committees, and debtors. Mr. Shelby has handled virtually all aspects of bankruptcy work from complex chapter 11 cases representing debtors, creditors’ committees and secured creditors to consumer bankruptcy cases in chapter 7 and 13. He has recently represented ...
Commercial lending is the focus of Stephen "Steve" P. Strohschein's practice, providing assistance to lenders of all types – real estate, floor plan, asset based and small business – both with regard to litigating lending issues, handling workouts, foreclosures, collections and bankruptcy matters and also frequently providing assistance with lending transactions, structure and documentation. Steve has been certified by the American Board of Certification as a specialist in the are...
Pat Vance is a partner in and leader of the Litigation Practice Group. He focuses on business litigation, debtors' and creditors’ rights litigation, and business bankruptcy. Pat has the distinction of being one of the few lawyers who is both a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers and a Fellow of the American College of Bankruptcy. He is also a life member of the American Law Institute and a member of the National Bankruptcy Conference. As a trial attorney, Pat has handled mor...
David F. Waguespack is a partner in the Firm, practicing in bankruptcy, commercial litigation, creditor’s rights, and gaming law. He has represented lenders, debtors, creditor committees, and other parties in complex Chapter 11 reorganizations and related litigation and has served as a Chapter 11 trustee. Mr. Waguespack regularly represents investors acquiring property in and out of bankruptcy. He has handled litigation relating to liens, real estate, construction, shareholder’s r...
Steve has practiced in the commercial litigation and bankruptcy areas for 40 years. His practice centers around the oil and gas and maritime industries. He has represented oil field service providers, vessel providers, aviation interests, geopositioning companies, shipyards and lease interest owners in bankruptcy matters in Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Delaware. Steve has also represented pipeline interests and property owners in environmental litigation. Since 2013, he has taught Inter...
Erin K. Arnold is a partner in the firm's Bankruptcy & Business Reorganization section. She focuses her practice on bankruptcy and business reorganization, including the representation of both individual and business clients in various debtor/creditor matters. In addition to her practice at Kelly Hart, Ms. Arnold is the co-director of the Pretrial Civil Litigation Intersession Program at Tulane Law School and is also a member of the Trial Advocacy Faculty at Tulane Law School.
Amelia L. Hurt is an associate in the firm’s Bankruptcy and Business Reorganization section. Her practice focuses on bankruptcy and bankruptcy litigation, where she represents debtors, debtors-in-possession, creditors, and trustees in Chapter 11 cases throughout the country. Ms. Hurt also handles bankruptcy-related litigation matters and appellate work, including cases before the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals. Ms. Hurt’s legal expertise includes prosecuting and defending preferen...
Elliot is a partner in the firm’s New Orleans office. He represents sureties in all manner of disputes and regularly negotiates and litigates performance bond claims, payment bond claims, bad faith claims, and claims against indemnitors. He often gets involved in matters before a lawsuit is filed and takes a business approach to resolve matters early on and in creative ways. Elliot thinks the best solutions to a client’s problems are not always the most obvious and that in order t...
Originally from Alabama, James W. Thurman (Jim) now practices in our New Orleans office where he works primarily with the firm's Bankruptcy, Restructuring & Creditors' Rights group. His personal experience as a small business owner guides Jim's approach in addressing the legal problems his clients face. This approach centers on achieving a client's long-term operational goals while limiting their short-term costs. From the New Orleans office, Jim assists the firm’s leading attorneys...
Rebekka Veith is a partner in Fishman Haygood’s litigation section. Her diverse practice includes appellate work, class actions/mass actions/MDLs, fraudulent transfer and specialized bankruptcy litigation, and insurance coverage cases. Rebekka is known by her clients for being diligent and for her ability to resolve issues cordially but without concession. She has successfully handled all aspects of litigation, from initiating lawsuits to arguing appeals. Rebekka has gained significant ...
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