Business Bankruptcy, Restructuring and Creditors' Rights

We represent and counsel clients both regionally and throughout the United States in a broad range of corporate recovery, bankruptcy and insolvency matters. Our practice encompasses counseling and advising secured creditors, unsecured creditors, borrowers, debtors, creditors' committees, equity holders, boards, officers and directors, trustees, examiners, receivers, landlords, lessors and preference defendants in out-of-court restructurings and workouts and in federal and state court reorganization, liquidation and litigation proceedings. We also represent purchasers of, and investors in, financially distressed businesses and assets.

Our Team
We have an experienced insolvency practice group with a national reputation and a proven track record of attaining successful results for our clients. Our attorneys are located in Chicago, St. Louis, Southern Illinois and the Washington, D.C./Maryland/Northern Virginia area. Our core group consists of thirteen attorneys who practice exclusively in the area of business bankruptcy and insolvency law. These attorneys have a reputation as tough negotiators and skilled litigators who are well qualified in all aspects of the insolvency practice. In addition, we have fourteen additional attorneys who devote a significant portion of their practice to insolvency matters. Finally, as a full-service law firm, we are also able to draw on the expertise of other practice areas for assistance on commercial finance, real estate, corporate, securities, healthcare, tax, labor, environmental and ERISA issues to ensure that clients involved in bankruptcy and creditors' rights matters achieve the best possible outcome.

Depth of Experience
Our practice group has significant depth in terms of both size and experience and is fully equipped to handle any insolvency matter efficiently and effectively. We have extensive experience in representing all parties involved in bankruptcy, insolvency, and creditors' rights proceedings. Our wide-ranging expertise in representing both debtors and creditors, as well as creditors with differing perspectives, has enhanced our overall expertise and positioned us to assist our clients in developing effective legal strategies in all types of insolvency and creditors' rights matters. In addition to their comprehensive understanding of general bankruptcy and creditors' rights law, each of the attorneys in our practice group has developed individual expertise in specific aspects of the practice, such as debtor-in-possession financing, replevins and repossessions, receiverships, mechanics' liens, out-of-court restructurings and real estate foreclosures.

Our Approach
We attribute our success in insolvency matters to the teamwork of our practice area and our interdisciplinary approach to managing cases. We effectively assist clients in the largest and most complex of matters, while at the same time retaining an ability to handle smaller, less complicated matters efficiently and cost effectively. With all of the sophistication that you would expect from a large full-service law firm, no client gets lost in the shuffle.

We operate as a team. As a first step, we analyze each matter, focusing on the problems and issues involved and on the client's business objectives. We then assign the best-qualified attorney team to partner with you to help you achieve your objectives. We take a focused approach to problem-solving whereby an attorney with particular experience handles those issues of a case in which he or she is most experienced. Moreover, in many instances, we draw upon the expertise of other practice areas to ensure a constant exchange of useful information to best benefit our clients.

Secured Creditor Representation
We have extensive experience in representing secured lenders of almost every kind and type, including banks and other financial institutions, vehicle and equipment financiers, asset-based lenders, real estate financiers, equipment lessors, hedge funds and private equity groups. We have a long tradition of assisting secured creditors in fully protecting their interests and maximizing their ultimate recovery.

In transactional matters, we represent lenders in negotiating and closing loan workouts and restructurings, and in resolving other issues uniquely affecting troubled credits. We assist secured creditors in negotiating, filing and closing transactions contemplated by plans of reorganization and in navigating "Section 363 sales" (or sales free and clear of interests) in bankruptcy proceedings. We also assist clients in utilizing structured finance techniques and, in conjunction, providing non-consolidation and other "bankruptcy-related" reasoned opinions.

We have extensive experience in representing secured creditors in protecting and enforcing their rights, interests and remedies, both inside and outside of insolvency proceedings. We have represented secured creditors in real and personal property foreclosures and have successfully represented secured creditors in replevin actions involving many types of collateral. We also have significant expertise in defending secured creditors in litigation, including traditional lender liability claims, fraudulent transfer and preference litigation.

Our secured creditor clients include, among others:

• Beal Bank
• DaimlerChrysler Financial Services Corporation
• First Bank
• Fifth Third Bank
• Kawasaki Motors Financial Corp.
• LaSalle Bank, N.A.
• Lehman Brothers Bank, FSB/Capital Crossing Bank
• National City Bank
• U.S. Bank, N.A.
• Washington Mutual Bank, F.A.
• Wells Fargo Bank

Distressed Company Representation
We regularly represent businesses that encounter financial distress. We usually first attempt to work with the client in negotiating with its lenders and creditors in out-of-court restructurings. Although Chapter 11 is an extraordinarily useful remedy for ailing businesses, we believe it is best used as a backdrop for negotiations. When an out-of-court restructuring is not viable, however, we will not hesitate to file a Chapter 11 bankruptcy if appropriate for our client. We have represented numerous businesses as Chapter 11 debtors.

We approach debtor representation with an array of skills that include practical knowledge of the bankruptcy law, creative ideas for using Chapter 11 to the benefit of the client, and acute business acumen that never replaces, but rather supplements, the business knowledge and experience of management. We have experience in Chapter 11 cases from "prepackaged" cases to those in which the parties politely disagree and those in which the parties are fighting bitterly throughout the proceedings. Although we look for effective compromise at every step, we are ready and able to litigate aggressively when necessary.

Our experience in representing debtors includes manufacturers, retailers, distributors, the telecom industry and nearly every other industry.

Our Chapter 11 debtor clients have included:

• Bank Building & Equipment Corporation
• Falcon Products Inc. et. al.
• Galaxy American Communications, L.L.C. d/b/a Cable Direct
• Galaxy Telecom, L.P., et al.
• Juvenile Shoe Corporation
• Medamerica Healthnet, Inc.
• President Casinos, Inc., et.al.
• SLT Warehouse Company

Trade Supplier/Vendor Representation
We have developed an expertise in advising and assisting national and regional trade suppliers and vendors in a wide variety of areas, including collections, billing and payment disputes, and representation in bankruptcy proceedings. We currently serve as national counsel to several large trade suppliers and vendors and represent numerous other trade suppliers and vendors on a regional basis.

Because of our breadth of experience, we are uniquely qualified to develop and implement effective legal strategies for all trade suppliers and vendors, whether they be unsecured creditors or possess potential lien rights or security interests, and whether their operations are national, regional or local in scope.

Drawing on the strength of our commercial litigation practice, we have assisted our trade creditor clients by successfully pursuing judgments in state and federal courts and utilizing various pre-judgment and post-judgment remedies designed to secure the collection and enforcement of those judgments, such as pre-judgment attachments, garnishments, executions, debtor’s examinations and other proceedings. We have also successfully assisted our trade creditor clients in enforcing other available remedies, including reclamation rights, setoff rights, rights of recoupment, lien enforcement, assignments for the benefit of creditors and the commencement of involuntary bankruptcy proceedings.

We have wide-ranging skills and experience in representing trade creditors in connection with claims or liabilities asserted against them in a bankruptcy or similar proceeding, including preferences, post-petition transfer claims, fraudulent transfers, lien avoidance actions and claims objection litigation. As a result of our knowledge and experience in these areas, we are able to successfully eliminate or minimize potential exposure our clients might face in connection with such claims or liabilities.

We have also advised national and regional trade creditors extensively on various credit enhancement issues, including purchase money security interests, consignments, letters of credit, guaranties, and trade credit insurance.

Our trade supplier/vendor clients have included:

• Angelica Corporation
• AT&T
• Bunge North America, Inc.
• Bunzl USA, Inc.
• Charter Communications, Inc.
• Dean Foods Company
• Edward Don & Co.
• Energizer Battery Co., Inc.
• Ferguson Enterprises, Inc.
• Huttig Building Products, Inc.
• Lafarge North American, Inc.
• Marmon Group LLC
• Macsteel Service Centers, Inc.
• McLeodUSA Incorporated
• Molex, Inc.
• Siemens Building Technologies
• Square D Co.
• United States Gypsum Co.
• United Van Lines, Inc./Mayflower Transit, Inc.

Committee Representation
We regularly represent unsecured creditors' committees and bondholder committees in Chapter 11 cases, as well as ad hoc committees in out-of-court restructurings and workouts. In committee representation, we have been actively involved in every stage of the reorganization process, including the formulation and preparation of plans of reorganization, the negotiation and establishment of asset sale procedures, the resolution of objections to claims, and the prosecution of avoidance actions (preferences and fraudulent transfers) and other bankruptcy litigation. We approach committee representation as a consensus-building process for negotiating solutions, but are prepared to pursue creditors' remedies aggressively when circumstances require litigation. The breadth and depth of our experience means that committees can rely upon us for advice in various other substantive areas of law in addition to bankruptcy representation.

Cases in which we have represented committees include:

• A.E. Wease, Inc. Official Committee of Unsecured Creditors
• Books & Beyond, Inc. Official Committee of Unsecured Creditors
• Candlelight Terrace Apartments Bondholder Official Committee
• Consolidated Medical Transport, Inc. Official Committee of Unsecured Creditors
• Jernberg Industries, Inc. Official Committee of Non-Union Retirees
• LeCarnassier, LLC Official Committee of Unsecured Creditors
• NHB, LLC/Warrenton Products Official Committee of Unsecured Creditors
• North Port Associates, Inc. Official Committee of Unsecured Creditors
• Pen Ultima, Inc. Official Committee of Unsecured Creditors
• South Plaza Ventures Official Committee of Unsecured Creditors
• Unit Power, Inc. Official Committee of Unsecured Creditors

Distressed Business Acquisition Representation
We have developed special expertise in representing clients that desire to acquire businesses in financial distress. Over the past decade, acquisitions of financially troubled companies have been an effective strategy for many of our clients. We have teamed attorneys who are skilled in insolvency matters with attorneys who are skilled in mergers and acquisitions to effectively represent these clients in transactions throughout the country. Whether an acquisition occurs in a bankruptcy proceeding—under Section 363 of the Bankruptcy Code—or through a plan of reorganization, or outside of a bankruptcy proceeding, we can complete the transaction promptly and skillfully.

Purchasers of distressed businesses that we have represented include:

• Barry-Wehmiller Companies, Inc. (purchase of Marquip Inc. out of bankruptcy in Madison, Wisconsin)
• Carpet Co-op of America Association (purchase of selected retail stores and assets of Flooring America, Inc. and its subsidiaries out of bankruptcy in Atlanta, Georgia)
• DTE Biomass Energy, Inc. (purchase of selected assets of Resource Technology, Inc., out of bankruptcy in Chicago, Illinois)
• Schroeder & Treymane, Inc. (purchase of Garden Botanika, Inc. in Redmond, Washington)
• Thorco, Inc. (purchase of assets of Unarco Co., out of bankruptcy in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma)
• Weiss and Newman Shoe Co. (purchase of Bakers Division of Edison Brothers Stores, Inc. out of bankruptcy in Wilmington, Delaware; and purchase of selected retail stores of SLJ Retail LLC, and Shoebilee, Inc. out of bankruptcy in Atlanta, Georgia)