Best Lawyers in America for Litigation - Bankruptcy
State
Gary Gotto's diverse experience helps him meet his clients' diverse needs. Gary is a member of Keller Rohrback's nationally recognized Complex Litigation Group. He has a broad range of practice experience and interests, including all aspects of corporate and real estate transactional work, securities issuance and compliance, Chapter 11 bankruptcy and workout matters, and general commercial and ERISA litigation. Gary speaks and teaches regularly on a number of topics, including an annual real ...
Stewart focuses on bankruptcy, restructuring, and creditors’ rights; admiralty and maritime; marine finance and vessel documentation; asset-based finance; litigation, corporate and commercial law; and oil and gas. Stewart has been practicing law in New Orleans for more than 38 years. He is a 1974 graduate of Kenyon College, magna cum laude , where he was a member of Phi Beta Kappa. He graduated top in his class in 1977 from Tulane Law School where he was elected to the Order of the Coif...
Susan K. Seflin guides and represents a wide range of businesses through the Chapter 11 reorganization process. She focuses her practice primarily on Chapter 11 reorganizations and related matters, has a proven track record of successfully confirming Chapter 11 plans of reorganization, and has successfully represented over fifty Chapter 11 debtors (excluding related entities).
Laurie Dahl Rea is a partner at Rochelle McCullough LLP in Fort Worth, Texas, with more than two decades of experience practicing bankruptcy law. Her practice focuses on representing debtors, creditors, committees, trustees, and litigants in a wide range of bankruptcy matters, including complex disputes and contested proceedings. Ms. Rea also previously served as a law clerk to the Honorable Russell F. Nelms and the late Honorable Harold C. Abramson, both former bankruptcy judges for the Unit...
Nicholas A. Duston is a top attorney recognized by Best Lawyers in the practice area(s) of Litigation - Bankruptcy. Nicholas A. Duston focuses on complex commercial litigation and arbitration in the state and federal courts of New Jersey and New York and is also often engaged to appear pro hac vice throughout the country. His practice primarily involves disputes among business owners, their managers, and their employees, or complex creditor’s rights issues. Nick has extensive experience...
A Fellow of the American College of Bankruptcy, Michael Goldberg chairs Akerman’s Fraud and Recovery Practice, an experienced team of lawyers focused on unraveling high-profile investor fraud, including Ponzi schemes, receiverships, and EB-5 Immigrant Investor Visa Program wrongdoing. Michael has managed some of the largest Ponzi scheme liquidation recoveries in U.S. history. More recently he has developed a reputation for his work unraveling EB-5 fraud schemes. As noted in Chambers USA...
William H. Patrick, III concentrates his practice in corporate bankruptcy, corporate workouts, and financial restructuring, representing debtors, committees, trustees, equity investors, and other parties in interest. Billy has played major roles in the restructuring of casinos, utility companies, restaurant and fast food chains, hotels, television broadcast companies, orthodontic management companies, and resolving claims arising from asbestos, breast implants, nuclear radiation, and other ha...
Stephen B. Porterfield is a shareholder in Dentons Sirote’s Birmingham, Alabama office, where he leads the Dentons Sirote Restructuring, Insolvency and Bankruptcy team and also serves as Dentons Sirote's General Counsel. Stephen handles a wide variety of commercial litigation matters that routinely arise in bankruptcy proceedings or involve other creditors' rights or creditor liability issues. He tries cases in both state and federal courts, representing creditors and trustees in insolv...
Mr. Ziehl has been a managing partner of the firm since it was founded in 1983, overseeing its growth into the nation’s largest law firm specializing in insolvency matters. Admitted to the bar in both California and New York, he has a national bankruptcy and litigation practice, specializing in complex bankruptcy proceedings and business litigation, with significant trial experience in both state and federal courts. Mr. Ziehl has represented debtors, creditor committees, bondholders, tr...
Ciara L. Rogers is a partner at Waldrep Wall Babcock & Bailey, PLLC. She focuses her practice on bankruptcy and business insolvency. She is certified as a Business Bankruptcy Law Specialist by the North Carolina State Bar and is licensed to practice in all Federal and State Courts in North Carolina and Virginia, as well as the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals. Before joining Waldrep Wall Babcock & Bailey PLLC, Ciara was an attorney with Oliver & Cheek. Prior to that, she was a law ...
DANIEL C. COHN is founding partner of Cohn Whitesell & Goldberg LLP, Boston, Massachusetts, a leading boutique law firm addressing the problems of distressed companies. Formed in 1990, the firm has represented numerous middle market companies (sales of $25 to $500 million) in Chapter 11 proceedings and out-of-court debt restructurings. The firm also represents acquirers of distressed businesses, creditors' committees, landlords, suppliers, equity sponsors and parties to litigation related...
John Morrier works with troubled companies and their owners in business restructuring matters, both court-supervised and out of court, and advises clients in buying and selling assets in distress situations.Both a litigator and a deal lawyer, John has extensive experience in all aspects of bankruptcy and commercial law, including litigation in federal and state courts and structuring and documenting complex transactions. He represents debtors, secured and unsecured creditors, executives, insu...
Our Methodology
Recognition by Best Lawyers is based entirely on peer review. Our methodology is designed to capture, as accurately as possible, the consensus opinion of leading lawyers about the professional abilities of their colleagues within the same geographical area and legal practice area.
The Process
Best Lawyers employs a sophisticated, conscientious, rational, and transparent survey process designed to elicit meaningful and substantive evaluations of the quality of legal services. Our belief has always been that the quality of a peer review survey is directly related to the quality of the voters.
