Bankruptcy and Creditors' Rights
Holland & Hart's Bankruptcy and Creditors' Rights Practice Group is a leader in bankruptcy, insolvency, restructuring, and creditors' rights throughout the Mountain West and has been recognized by Best Lawyers in America, The Legal 500 United States, and Chambers USA. Our bankruptcy and creditors' rights practice is broader than the name implies, encompassing virtually everything that may flow from
financial distress faced by our clients or those they deal with. It is a unique area of practice, requiring in-depth knowledge of the law, an understanding of how that law fits into the broader legal and commercial framework, and a full range of both transactional and litigation skills. Our lawyers are particularly effective because we have the experience necessary to bring this combination of skills to bear on virtually any legal problem.
Our clients' goals are our goals. We stand ready to apply our skills, relationships, and experience to get the results our clients need, as quickly and economically as possible.
Our Biggest Strength is Our People
Our bankruptcy lawyers know more than just the law. We are well-established and well-connected members of the legal communities in which we practice. We know and are known by the judges and our counterparts in other law firms. We are justly proud of our reputation for both our legal skills and our integrity. Above all, we get things done.
Among our lawyers are a former chair of the Bankruptcy Section of the Idaho Bar Association and two former chairs of the Bankruptcy Section of the Colorado Bar Association. Four of our lawyers have been
elected fellows of the prestigious American College of Bankruptcy. Our ranks include a contributor to Advanced Chapter 11 Bankruptcy Practice, the leading treatise on reorganization practice, and a member of the Board of Editors and frequent author for The
Bankruptcy Strategist, a long-standing monthly national publication of articles by leading bankruptcy lawyers from around the country. Our members are also active in the American Bankruptcy Institute and the American Bar Association's Business Bankruptcy Committee. One of our lawyers has chaired ABI's annual Rocky Mountain Bankruptcy Conference for the last several years. We have written many articles
Related Professionals Mona L. Burton Doyle S. Byers Kirk S. Cheney Shane P. Coleman Lars K. Evensen Robert A. Faucher Charles W. Hingle Timothy A. Lukas Ronald M. Martin Matthew J. Ochs Sherilyn A. Olsen Ellen E. Ostrow Larry E. Prince Steven T. Small Jack L. Smith Isaac N. Sutphin Engels J. Tejeda Joseph G. Went Risa Lynn Wolf-Smith
Related Practices
Finance Compliance and Defense
Business, Corporate, and Finance
for both national and regional publications and have made countless presentations at conferences and seminars.
Comprehensive Experience
We have extensive experience in virtually all phases of bankruptcy and insolvency. Among the many things we do is bankruptcy litigation, including avoidance actions, stay relief, adequate protection, plan confirmation, dischargeability, dismissal/conversion, and claim disputes, as well as contract and commercial litigation in the bankruptcy context. We call on the firm's commercial litigators for assistance whenever that allows us to most effectively represent our clients.
We have represented a number of buyers, as well as sellers, in major asset sales by Chapter 11 debtors and have a great deal of experience with bid procedures and competitive bidding scenarios. We are well prepared to help our clients benefit from the unique opportunities to acquire assets in bankruptcy cases.
We frequently counsel our creditor and debtor clients, often long before bankruptcy, to structure transactions to best survive
bankruptcy, to exercise rights and remedies most effectively before or during bankruptcy, and to plan for the eventualities of bankruptcy. We work closely with the firm's transactional and litigation lawyers to ease the burdens of bankruptcy on our clients.
We have extensive experience representing all of the major constituencies in bankruptcies, including secured and unsecured creditors, creditors' committees, trustees, asset purchasers, avoidance action defendants, and debtors. We know the bankruptcy system, with all of its subtleties and peculiarities, and we know how to navigate through the process to accomplish our client's goals and resolve difficult issues.
Buying distressed companies or their assets
Bankruptcy court litigation, including preference and fraudulent transfer litigation
Counseling of both creditors and debtors
Negotiations and workouts, for both creditors and debtors Creditor representation, both in and outside of bankruptcy Representation of creditors' committees and committee
members
Formulation and litigation of Chapter 11 plans
Chapters 9 and 11
Representation of receivers and lenders in state and federal court receiverships
Trustee representation
Representation of vendors and suppliers Lien disputes
Administrative claim disputes Franchisor/franchisee disputes
Contractor/subcontractor/developer disputes Landlord/tenant disputes
Tax planning and advice in workouts and bankruptcy Chapter 9 municipal bankruptcies
With the collective talents of the lawyers throughout our regional offices, we have the experience to handle virtually any bankruptcy or restructuring issue.
We Know More than Just Bankruptcy
Our industry experience includes almost every conceivable type of business, both in the region and nationally, including real estate, oil and gas, mining, manufacturing, airlines, computer hardware and software, e-business, telecommunications, agriculture, securities, construction, commercial equipment, healthcare, food service, hotels, insurance, trucking, retail, broadcasting, public utilities, ski areas, and many, many others. Our clients are financial institutions, commercial lenders, landlords, equipment lessors, trade suppliers, asset
purchasers, franchisors, and a variety of others whose interests are affected by bankruptcy or insolvency.
Added to the skill and experience of our bankruptcy and creditors' rights lawyers are the tremendous resources of a full service law firm, including the transactional and substantive knowledge so often required in bankruptcy, receiverships, or other insolvency
proceedings. Our lawyers regularly team with other attorneys within the firm to make the deals and resolve the disputes that are so much a part of bankruptcy practice. Virtually any experience that may be required to get the job done is available from our skilled colleagues.
Experience
With highly experienced practitioners in our Colorado, Idaho,
Montana, Utah, Nevada, and Wyoming offices, we deal efficiently and effectively with bankruptcy and insolvency matters throughout the region. Take a look at some of our recent representations.
Representation of the coal supplier and preservation of its supply contract in the Cajun Electric case, one of the largest utility bankruptcies ever;
Representation of the largest bicycle manufacturer and distributor in the United States in the successful purchase of the bicycle assets in a contested and competitive bidding process in the Schwinn bankruptcy;
Representation of the successful purchaser of Ocean Journey, a major aquarium complex in Denver, in a competitive bidding process, resulting in continued operation of a valuable
community cultural asset;
Representation of the successful purchaser of the assets of the largest broadband services provider in Northern California; Representation of the Creditors' Committee in one of the
largest cases ever filed in Idaho;
Representation of the Creditors' Committee in a major Ponzi scheme case in Northern Colorado;
Representation of the Yellowstone Chapter 11 Liquidating Trust, including prosecution of hundreds of claims objections and adversary proceedings, administration of domestic and foreign assets, and appeals to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals and the Bankruptcy Appellate Panel;
Representation of the franchisor to the debtor/franchisee in one of the largest, most complicated franchise cases in the Rocky Mountain region, resulting in confirmation of the franchisor's reorganization plan;
Representation of the purchaser of an aviation design and manufacturing company in a unique purchase out of Chapter 7, in which the goal was to keep the company alive despite its liquidation proceeding; and
Representation of a national consumer auto lender in a precedent-setting case decided by the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals on trustees' remedies in preference actions, limiting the standard remedy to avoidance and preservation of the lien rather than monetary recovery.
Publications
Ninth Circuit Decision Allows Debtors to Collect Attorney Fees for Enforcing the Automatic Stay in Bankruptcy Cases
Holland & Hart News Update
Author(s): Kirk Cheney
Doing Business With a Potentially Insolvent or Bankrupt Company
Holland & Hart News Update
Author(s): Kirk Cheney The Creditors' Rights Blog Author(s): Mona Burton
U.S. News - Best Lawyers "Best Law Firms"® rankings hit newsstands this week
Tenth Circuit Bankruptcy Appellate Panel Limits Trustee's Remedies in Lien Avoidance Actions
Co-author(s): Jack Smith
Must Suppliers Continue to Supply on Credit During the Slide into Bankruptcy? Heck No!
Co-author(s): Risa Wolf-Smith
Innocent Trustee/Creditors Barred by Debtors' Past Wrongs: It Just Ain't Right Co-author(s): Risa Lynn Wolf-Smith
Bankruptcy Reform and Nonmonetary Defaults - What Have They Done Now? "Prompt and Adequate" is not Strictly Mandated by the Bankruptcy Code. Executory Contracts and the Franchise Relationship
Bankruptcy Considerations in Technology Transactions
American Bankruptcy Institute
Sales Free and Clear - Will the Expansion Continue? Executory Contracts - How Prompt is "Prompt"?
How to Minimize Bankruptcy Risks In Settlement Agreements Intellectual Property Law Committee Newsletter
How to Keep Insiders Inside in a Chapter 11 Reorganization Co-author(s): Risa Lynn Wolf-Smith and Tim Gordon
Sutton's Law and Economics Applied to the Professional Fiduciary Co-author(s): David Prince
Speaking Engagements and Events
September, 2009 Avoiding Common Mistakes of a Failing Business, Bankruptcy vs. Non-Bankruptcy Alternatives, and Piercing the Corporate Veil September, 2009 Avoiding Common Mistakes of a Failing
Business: Piercing the Corporate Veil and How to Avoid It
July, 2005 Chapter 11 Highlights: How the Bankruptcy Reform Act Will Change Your Practice
June, 2005 Breakfast Briefing on the Latest Developments in Bankruptcy Law