Members in the News

Journal Issue

Sep 2004

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ABI's Business Reorganization
Committee is by far our largest, consisting of nearly 1,500
members. Augmented by four specialized subcommittees, the group was
formed to study, analyze and make reports and recommendations on
the operations of business reorganization cases. It is co-chaired
by Robert J. Keach and Anthony H.N. Schnelling, who both also serve on ABI's Board of
Directors.

<div class="para23">
Robert J. Keach, who will become a 20-year ABI
member in 2005, is the chair of the Bankruptcy and Insolvency
Practice Group at Bernstein, Shur, Sawyer & Nelson in Portland,
Maine. His practice focuses on the representation of various
parties in workouts and bankruptcy cases, including debtors,
creditors, creditors' committees and third parties acquiring
troubled companies and/or their assets. Mr. Keach is a member of
the federal bars of Maine and Massachusetts, as well as the First
Circuit, and has appeared before the bankruptcy courts in the
Districts of Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, the Central
District of California and the Eastern District of New York. He is
currently co-counsel to the debtors in Maine's largest-ever
chapter 11 case, involving a satellite television provider and
affiliates, and recently represented purchasers of two of New
England's largest independently owned pulp and paper
companies.

Mr. Keach has also appeared as a panelist on
national bankruptcy programs, and is the author of several articles
on bankruptcy and creditors' rights. He is currently a
contributing editor to the ABI Journal's News at 11 column and is a past co-chair of
the ABI's Northeast Bankruptcy Conference.

In 1998, Mr. Keach was inducted into the
American College of Bankruptcy as a member of their 10th Class. He
is also a member of the American Bar Association's Section on
Business, Banking and Corporations and the Section on Real Estate,
Probate and Trust Law. He has been certified by the American Board
of Certification in business bankruptcy law since 1994 and was
elected to the ABC Board of Directors in January 2004.

Anthony H.N. Schnelling is a founding member and
managing director of Bridge Associates LLC in New York. After earning a
B.A. in history from Swarthmore and an M.B.A. from Harvard Business
School, Mr. Schnelling became a commercial banker with JP Morgan in New
York, where his responsibilities included financing and mergers and
acquisitions assistance for bank clients in the shipping, insurance,
paper, steel and heavy equipment industries in Scandinavia and the
Netherlands. Later, as a consultant with international investment bank
Warburg Paribas Becker, he provided mergers and acquisitions advice to
and undertook private placement activities on behalf of bank clients in
the United States, Germany, France and the United Kingdom.
Subsequently, Mr. Schnelling was chief executive and the principal
shareholder of Colora Printing Inks, a group of privately owned
international specialty chemical companies that manufactured industrial
inks and nail polish bases in the United States, Europe and Australia
and marketed the products worldwide.

Mr. Schnelling heads Bridge's crisis
management advisory team at Crown Central Petroleum Corp., a
multi-billion operator of Texas refineries and wholesale and retail
distributor of petroleum and convenience products in the
Mid-Atlantic and Southeast regions of the United States. Other
recent engagements include heading the bankruptcy advisory and
crisis-management team of Conseco Finance Corporation, for which he
has been named plan administrator.

Mr. Schnelling's past engagements have
included TransCom USA, distributors of heavy-duty truck parts;
InaCom Corp., a $5.9 billion reseller of computer design services
and hardware provider to Fortune 1000 companies; and Sentry
Technology Corp., the country's largest manufacturer and
supplier of bingo gaming equipment and supplies. In addition to his
management and financial activities, Mr. Schnelling has taught at
Columbia University's School of Business in New York and has
served as a guest lecturer at the Jones Graduate School at Rice
University in Houston on topics relating to troubled company
turnarounds, workouts and bankruptcies.

<h3>More Members in the News</h3>

Jean R. Robertson has been named "Ohio Super Lawyer" in 2004
by both Law & Politics Magazine and Cincinnati Magazine. A shareholder in the Business Restructuring
Department of McDonald Hopkins Co. LPA in Cleveland, she has been
practicing law in Ohio and Pennsylvania for 14 years. Shawn M. Riley, a
shareholder and chair of the Business Restructuring Department of
McDonald Hopkins Co. LPA in Cleveland, also has been named
"Ohio Super Lawyer" in 2004 by Law & Politics Magazine
and Cincinnati Magazine. Mr. Riley has been practicing law in Ohio for
18 years. McDonald Hopkins also has an office
in Columbus, Ohio, and focuses on middle- and upper-middle-market
businesses nationally.

Hinkle Elkouri Law Firm L.L.C. announced it has opened a new east
office in the Wilson Estates Office Park in Wichita, Kan. The
expanded office will house nine attorneys and a support staff of
approximately 15. Hinkle Elkouri will continue to occupy the 20th,
21st and 22nd floors of the Epic Center. It is relocating its
estate planning and business succession planning practices from the Epic Center to the
east office. Attorneys J. Scott Pohl and John Pearson also moved to the new office. Established in
1987, Hinkle Elkouri is the second-largest law firm in Wichita, serving
both the private and public sectors with a portfolio of practice areas
structured to address all legal aspects of its clients' business
and personal lives. The office address is 8621 East 21st Street North,
Suite 200, Wichita, KS 67206-2991, (316) 267-2000.

George L. Clauer III, formerly of Seale & Ross PLC of Baton Rouge, La.,
has relocated his practice to Greenville, S.C. He has practiced
bankruptcy and creditors' rights for 29 years and will continue
that practice with Skinner & Associates Law Firm LLC. Mr. Clauer
was formerly a panel trustee for the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the
Middle District of Louisiana. He will also continue his seminars and
lectures to creditors and attorneys on bankruptcy and collection
issues.

Textron Financial Corp. announced that Russell E. Brant has
joined its Business Credit Division as president based in its
headquarters in Alpharetta, Ga. Most recently, Mr. Brant was a
senior executive in Ernst & Young's Corporate Finance
Group, where his financial advisory expertise centered on designing
optimal capital structures and raising capital for clients.

Christian Onsager, a 20-year ABI member and a former ABI director,
now has his own firm, Onsager & Staelin LLC, located at 1873 S.
Bellaire St., Suite 1401, Denver, CO 80222. The firm is dedicated
to bringing quality representation to businesses in all aspects of
commercial law at an affordable rate. Mr. Onsager has practiced in
the areas of bankruptcy reorganization, litigation, finance,
M&A and real estate since 1975. He may be contacted at (303)
512-1123 or <a href="mailto:consager@comcast.net">consager@comcast.net</a>.

The Association of Insolvency and
Restructuring Advisors (AIRA) announced that Amy Lynne Long of Hilco
Appraisal Services LLC in Northbrook, Ill., has been certified as a
Certified Insolvency Restructuring Advisor (CIRA). She is
Hilco's vice president of Business Development and previously
was a vice president at Ernst & Young Corporate Finance LLC.

The Dallas office of Fulbright & Jaworski
LLP announced that Toby L. Gerber is a partner, and Mark
A. Platt and John N. Schwartz are senior
associates of the firm. Mr. Gerber has more than 28 years of legal
experience in bankruptcy matters and commercial litigation, and is
experienced in reorganization, syndicated lending and troubled-debt
workouts. He received a Lawyer of the Year Award from the Dallas
Association of Young Lawyers and was named "One of the Best
Lawyers in Dallas" by D Magazine. He has served on numerous bar association
committees and is a frequent speaker on bankruptcy matters. He
currently focuses his practice on bankruptcy litigation and has
represented secured and unsecured creditors and creditors'
committees, as well as debtors. Mr. Schwartz has represented
clients in bankruptcy matters and litigation for more than seven
years, representing debtors, unsecured creditors' committees,
secured lenders and creditors throughout the United States. He is
admitted to practice in the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, the
Northern, Southern, Eastern and Western Districts of Texas, the
District of Arizona and the Eastern District of Wisconsin.

Kirkpatrick & Lockhart LLP (K&L)
announced that Edward M. Fox has joined the firm as a partner, resident in
the New York office. He was formerly with Pryor Cashman Sherman
& Flynn LLP, where he headed the firm's bankruptcy
practice. Mr. Fox is experienced in virtually all aspects of
bankruptcy, corporate reorganizations and financial restructurings,
and represents indenture trustees, landlords and other creditors in
some of the country's largest bankruptcy cases. He has also
represented banks, pension funds, labor unions and other creditors
in numerous chapter 11 reorganization cases involving retailers,
hotel and motel properties, office buildings, casinos and other
businesses.

Conway MacKenzie & Dunleavy announced
that Frank R. Mack has joined the Chicago office as a director. He has more
than 18 years of experience in the turnaround industry. Prior to
joining CM&D, Mr. Mack was a principal and vice president of
Kugman Associates Inc., where he provided expert testimony on the United Airlines
bankruptcy case, managed several sell-side transactions,
represented debtors and secured creditors, and is currently serving
as post-confirmation plan monitor in the National Steel case. He is a
Certified Turnaround Professional, Certified Fraud Examiner and
Certified Public Accountant. CM&D also announced that Van E. Conway has
been named "Entrepreneur of the Year - Consulting" by
Ernst & Young. As one of the founders of CM&D, Mr. Conway
has been with the firm since its inception in 1987. He is
nationally recognized in the fields of insolvency/bankruptcy;
financing, reorganization and management of troubled companies;
mergers and acquisitions; debt restructuring and litigation
support.

GE Commercial Finance Business Credit
announced that it has named Michael P.
McCormick as senior vice president
of origination based in Chicago, where he will manage new business
development initiatives in Ohio, as well as through intermediaries
in the Chicago market. With more than 22 years of experience in the
asset-based lending industry, Mr. McCormick previously served as
senior vice president of Bank of America Business Capital, where he
closed transactions with commitments totaling $325 million.

Dallas-based commercial law firm Munsch Hardt
Kofp & Harr P.C. merged on Aug. 1 with Houston law firm Floyd
Jones Rios Wahrlich P.C., forming one of the largest commercial
reorganization, creditors' rights and bankruptcy practices in
Texas. The Munsch Hardt office in Houston also provides
transactional and litigation services. This merger creates a
statewide presence for Munsch Hardt, with more than 100 attorneys
in Dallas, Houston and Austin. Among the prominent bankruptcy
attorneys brought together by the merger are Ben B. Floyd, a shareholder of
Floyd Jones who serves as incoming co-chair of the International
Bar Association's Insolvency, Restructuring and
Creditors' Rights Section, and Russell
L. Munsch, one of the founding
shareholders of Munsch Hardt and co-managing shareholder of Munsch
Hardt's Austin office. Texas
Monthly selected both Mr. Floyd and Mr.
Munsch as Texas's "Super Lawyers," and The Texas Lawyer
selected Mr. Munsch as one of Texas's "Top Notch
Lawyers." ABI members include Thomas
S. Henderson, David R. Jones, Kevin M. Lippman, Joe E. Marshall, E. Lee Morris, Jay H. Ong, Deborah M. Perry, Mark Harrington Ralston, Randall A. Rios, Blake E. Rizzo, Eric J. Spett, Raymond J. Urbanik, Joseph J. Wielebinski and Michael F. Wurst.

Journal Authors

ABI

Journal Date

Wednesday, September 1, 2004 - 12:00

Bankruptcy Rule

2004

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