MARGARET (PEG) M. ANDERSON PARTNER
Margaret (Peg) Anderson is a capital partner, co‐chairs the Firms Bankruptcy, Restructuring and Creditors’ Rights Group. She has represented secured and unsecured creditors in bankruptcy cases and out‐of‐court restructurings throughout the country. Her clients include numerous lending institutions and insurance companies. Peg has experience advising buyers and sellers of assets of troubled companies. She also represents bankruptcy trustees, debtors and assignees for the benefit of creditors.
Peg has extensive experience advising insurance companies in bankruptcy cases. She frequently represents insurance companies in the collection of premium, deductibles, and other amounts owed to them by insolvent companies, especially with respect to amounts due on loss‐sensitive policies. She has enforced insurers’ rights to collect amounts due from their bankrupt insureds, often involving claims by the insurers in the tens of millions of dollars, in venues throughout the country, including the United States Supreme Court, in cases such as Howard Delivery, Eastman Kodak, Patriot Coal Company,
Smurfit‐Stone Container Corporation, Tribune Company, Pilgrim’s Pride Corporation, Washington Mutual, Inc., Wickes Furniture, Tweeter Home Entertainment Group, Automotive Professionals, Inc., Circuit City Stores, Inc., Chemtura Corporation, Tronox Incorporated, Lear Corporation, ASARCO, Pacific Lumber, U.S. Airways, WorldCom, National Steel, The Fleming Companies, Piccadilly Cafeterias, Bethlehem Steel, Kaiser Aluminum and Owens Corning.
Peg also counsels insurers with respect to the handling of covered claims when their insureds are in bankruptcy. She has represented major insurers in coverage disputes in several prominent chapter 11 cases involving mass tort litigation, including in the TH
Agriculture & Nutrition, Celotex, Dow Corning and Archdiocese of Portland cases. In
addition, Peg counsels insurers and reinsurers in connection with commutation agreements with troubled insurance companies. She has assisted purchasers of books of business from troubled insurance companies in minimizing their operational and financial risks in any subsequent insolvency proceeding involving the seller.
Peg has been rated AV® Preeminent by her professional peers through the Martindale‐ Hubbell Peer Review Rating system. This is a testament from peer legal professionals of the highest level of professional excellence and of unquestionable ethics.
For the past six years and in 2008, Peg has been selected to the list of Illinois Super
Lawyers. In 2013 and 2012, she was also listed among the Illinois Super Lawyers Top 50 Women. Her selection was published in Chicago Magazine. Super Lawyers selects
attorneys using a patented multiphase selection process. Peer nominations and evaluations are combined with third party research. Each candidate is evaluated on 12 indicators of peer recognition and professional achievement. Only five percent of lawyers in Illinois are selected for inclusion to the Illinois Super Lawyers list, and are made on an annual, state‐by‐state basis.
Peg received a B.A. in accounting, maxima cum laude, from Loras College and her J.D. from Yale Law School. Prior to joining FSLC, she was a partner at Locke Lord Bissell & Liddell, LLP. She is admitted to practice in Illinois and Texas.
Peg’s client representations include the following:
Representing the chapter 7 Trustee of five related hedge funds with debts in excess of $1 billion, including representing the Trustee in fraudulent transfer actions seeking recovery of transfers in excess of $80 million
Representing several parties alleged to have received in excess of $30 million of preferences and fraudulent transfers in the Brooke Corporation chapter 7 case Representing insurers in connection with policy buybacks in several mass tort
cases
Winning the defendants’ motion to dismiss a preference complaint filed in the
TWA, Inc. bankruptcy case resulting in a ruling setting heightened pleading
standards for preference complaints
Representing a secured lender in chapter 11 case filed by issuer of extended vehicle services contracts
Representing aircraft financiers in the United Airlines case, including foreclosing out the equity interests in aircraft leased to United
Representing a railcar parts manufacturer in connection with the contested sale of all of its assets in a chapter 11 case, conducting the sales auction only three weeks after the case was filed
Advising the assignee for the benefit of creditors of an employee health benefit plan
Reported Cases Howard Delivery Serv. v. Zurich Am. Ins. Co., 126 S. Ct. 2105, 547 U.S. 651 (2006); reversing In re Howard Delivery Service, Inc. v. Zurich Am. Ins. Co., 403 F.3d 228 (4th Cir. 2005) Peterson v. Atradius (In re Lancelot Investors Fund), 451 B.R. 833 (Bankr. N.D. Ill. 2011)
TWA Inc. Post Confirmation Estate v. Marsh USA Inc. (In re TWA Inc. Post
Confirmation Estate), 305 B.R. 228 (Bankr. Del. 2004) In re Dow Corning Corp., 198 B.R. 214 (Bankr. E.D. MI 1996) Publications “Bankruptcy and the Impact of the Automatic Stay” Conference of Consumer Finance Law Quarterly Report, Vol. 65, Nos. 3 and 4, Page 333, Fall and Winter 2011 “Troubled Companies and Troubling Ethical Issues: A Proactive Approach for Avoidance of Potential Malpractice Liability,” ABA Section of Business Law Spring Meeting, 2009 “How to Complete a Proof of Claim for Non‐Bankruptcy Practitioners,” ABA Webinar, April 7, 2009 “Post‐Bankruptcy Treatment of Insured Claims,” 17 J. Bankr. L. & Prac. 6 Art. 3 (December 2008) “The Creditor That is Always There – The Insurance Company,” 17 J. Bankr. L. & Prac. 4 Art. 1 (July 2008) Seminars and Presentations “You Can’t Say That! – When Lack of Standing or Equitable Mootness Limits Your Ability to Speak,” ABA Business Section, Business Bankruptcy Committee, Fall Meeting, October 26, 2012, Program Chair
“Are the Boundaries of Section 546(e) Really Safe?,” ABA Section of Business Law Webinar, September 12, 2012, Moderator
“Liability Lessons from Law Firm Dissolutions,” ABA Legal Services Division National Legal Malpractice Conference, September 6, 2012, Speaker
“Magistrates and Federal Courts After the Supreme Court Speaks in Stern v.
“Strength in Diversity: Empowering All Lawyers to Thrive in the Workplace,” ABA Section Business Law Spring Meeting, March 24, 2012, Speaker
“Don’t Bet on It: Quirky Security Interest Enforcement Problems in Bankruptcy Cases,” ABA Section Business Law Spring Meeting, March 22, 2012, Speaker “How to Get Sanctioned Without Really Trying – The Perils of Litigating for Estate Fiduciaries,” ABA Business Section, Business Bankruptcy Committee, Fall Meeting, October 13, 2011, Program Chair and Author “Special Ethical Considerations for Forensic Accountants,” Illinois CPA Society – 2011 Forensic Accounting Conference, June 8, 2011, Speaker
“Questions You Never Used to Ask: Emerging Ethical and Liability Concerns in Commercial Loan Workouts,” ABA Section Business Law Spring Meeting, April 16, 2011, Program Chair “Protecting the Creditors’ Rights During Bankruptcy,” National Business Institute, February 28, 2011, Speaker “Too Broke to Pay Attention: Managing Risks in Bankruptcy Practice,” Aon Law Firm Symposium, October 20, 2010, Speaker
“Doing Hard Time in Delaware and New York – Ethical and Practical Issues for Bankruptcy Lawyers Appearing in Cases Outside Your ‘Home’ State,” ABA Business Section, Business Bankruptcy Committee, Fall Meeting, October 16, 2010, Moderator
“Don’t Borrow Trouble: Ethical Traps to Avoid in Representing Troubled Company,” ABA Business Section Fall Meeting, November 21, 2009, Moderator and Program Chair
“Bankruptcy for Non‐Bankruptcy Attorneys: What Every Family Law, Criminal Law, Real Estate and Litigation Attorneys Should Know if a Party Files Bankruptcy,” ABA Annual Meeting, August 1, 2009; repeated as a teleconference, September 24, 2009, Speaker and Author
“Asserting and Defending Claims in Business Bankruptcy Cases,” ABA Section of Business Law Webinar, Part I (April 7, 2009) and Part II (May 12, 2009), Moderator, Panelist, Author
“Caught in the Cross‐Fire: Liability and Ethical Dilemmas for Directors and Advisors of Troubled Companies,” ABA Section of Business Law Spring Meeting, April 18, 2009, Program Chair
“Almost Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Tricky Proof of Claim Issues and Objection Landmines for the Unwary,” ABA Business Section, Business Bankruptcy Committee, Fall Meeting, September 24, 2008, Panelist
“Do the Trade Winds Blow Fair or is BAPCPA Full of Hot Air? – Treatment of Trade Creditors Under BAPCPA,” ABA Business Section, Business Bankruptcy Committee, Fall Meeting, October 12, 2007, Program Co‐Chair
“How High is Your Proof?‐‐Requirements of a Valid Proof of Claim,” ABA Section of Business Law Spring Meeting, March 16, 2007, Speaker
“Non‐Traditional Risk Transfer Options,” Mealey’s 5th Annual Advance Insurance Coverage Conference, January 22‐23, 2007, Speaker
“Bankruptcy Issues Faced by Insurers,” Insurance Society of Philadelphia, September 27, 2006, Speaker
“The Insurance Litigator in Bankruptcy Court,” DRI’s Insurance Coverage and Claims Institute, May 4, 2006
“Class Conflicts: Struggles between Junior and Senior Debt Security Holders,” ABA Section of Business Law Spring Meeting, April 7, 2006, Speaker
“Bankruptcy of the Policyholder,” Mealey’s 4th Annual Advance Insurance Coverage Conference: Top 10 Issues, January 23‐24, 2006, Speaker Education Yale Law School, J.D., 1980 Loras College, B.A., Accounting, 1976, maxima cum laude Bar Admissions Illinois, 1980 Texas, 1984 (inactive) Courts U.S. Supreme Court, 2006 U.S. Court of Appeals (4th Circuit), 2004 U.S. Court of Appeals (6th Circuit), 2001 U.S. District Court, N.D. Illinois, 1980
Civic and Professional Activities Fellow of the American Bar Foundation American Bar Association State Bar of Texas American Bankruptcy Institute International Women’s Insolvency and Restructuring Confederation Turnaround Management Association Lawrence Hall Youth Services, Trustee, 2012 ‐ Charis Ministries, Director, 2006 ‐ 2011 Chicago Hope Academy, Director, 2007 ‐ 2011 Cristo Rey Jesuit High School, Director, 1999‐2005 Loyola Academy, Trustee, 1993‐1999 Peg is Chair of the Insurance Subcommittee of the Business Bankruptcy Committee of the Business Law Section of the American Bar Association. She formerly acted as Chair of the Claims and Priorities Subcommittee and Professional Ethics in Bankruptcy Cases Subcommittee of the Business Bankruptcy Committee. Peg is a Fellow of the American Bar Foundation, an honor limited to one‐third of one percent of the lawyers in America.