Recognized in Best Lawyers since 2018 
Elena Paras Ketchum focuses her practice on Bankruptcy and Creditor Debtor Rights / Insolvency and Reorganization Law, representing clients throughout Tampa and the Middle District of Florida. Her practice centers on guiding businesses and individuals through complex insolvency matters, with extensive experience representing debtors in possession in Chapter 11 proceedings. She has worked with companies across a wide range of industries, including trucking, manufacturing, construction, retail, restaurants, healthcare, printing, and grocery operations.
In addition to her bankruptcy litigation work, Ms. Ketchum regularly advises clients on insolvency-related transactions. Her experience includes representing buyers and sellers in stock and asset sales, as well as borrowers and guarantors in commercial loan transactions. She has served as lead counsel in numerous out-of-court restructurings involving substantial loan portfolios and frequently assists clients with negotiating and documenting workout agreements, loan modifications, and transactions connected to asset dispositions.
Ms. Ketchum also leads the firm’s practice under Chapter 727 of the Florida Statutes, handling Assignments for the Benefit of Creditors. She further represents borrowers in state court litigation, drawing on her prior courtroom experience as an Assistant State Attorney with the State Attorney’s Office for the Thirteenth Judicial Circuit in Hillsborough County, where she was assigned to the Felony Division.
Her professional involvement includes service on the Local Rules Lawyers’ Advisory Committee for the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Middle District of Florida, as President and Chair of the Tampa Bay Bankruptcy Bar Association, and as Chair of the District-Wide Steering Committee for the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Middle District of Florida. Ms. Ketchum has lectured on bankruptcy and insolvency topics and has served as a guest instructor in advanced bankruptcy courses at the University of Florida College of Law and Stetson University College of Law. She is a Tampa native and practices with Stichter, Riedel, Blain & Postler PA.
