A Primer on the Uniform Voidable Transactions Act: Substance, Implementation and Legal Interpretation

Thomas R. Walker is a partner with McGuireWoods LLP in its Atlanta office, and his practice includes representing creditor and debtor clients in bankruptcy and pre-bankruptcy workout matters. His creditor representations include lending institutions, energy companies, real estate companies, and other secured and unsecured lenders. His debtor representations include a major health care company, a supermarket chain, and the largest auto-hauling company in North America.

Mr. Walker’s practice also includes representing clients in general commercial litigation matters with a primary focus on lending litigation, collections and similar matters. In addition, he represents lending institutions in loan workouts. Previously, Mr. Walker clerked for U.S. Bankruptcy Judge James D. Walker, Jr.

He received his B.A. in political science from The George Washington University in 1991 and his J.D. cum laude in 1995 from Tulane University Law School.

Erika L. Morabito is a partner, litigator, trial attorney, and restructuring lawyer at Foley & Lardner LLP. From 2012 - 2015, Ms. Morabito served as the national department vice chair for Litigation, as well as the vice chair of the firm’s Business Litigation & Dispute Resolution practice. For nearly a decade, she also served as the hiring partner for general practice for the firm’s Washington, D.C. office. Ms. Morabito concentrates her practice in bankruptcy, creditors’ rights, debtor reorganizations, and out-of-court restructurings. She represents chapter 11 debtors, creditors' committees, Chapter 7 and Chapter 11 Trustees and Federal Court appointed Receivers, and she frequently advises and represents clients in creditors’ rights litigation, avoidance actions, claims disputes, out-of-court restructurings and the purchase and sale of assets under the Bankruptcy Code. In addition, she works in the areas of complex commercial litigation, commercial real estate, including foreclosures, FDA litigation, loan transactions, insurance claims, fiduciary duty litigation, compliance work, and environmental liability disputes.

Ms. Morabito is a member of the firm’s Bankruptcy & Business Reorganizations and Business Litigation & Dispute Resolution Practices, as well as the Automotive and Airport & Aviation Industry Teams. In addition, she is a member of Foley’s Innovation Committee, Recruiting Committee, and Alumni Advisory Counsel. Ms. Morabito also serves as the co-chair of the Women’s Retention Initiative, which supports an increase in women in leadership positions throughout the firm.

Ms. Morabito has extensive experience representing individuals, officers and directors, businesses, financial institutions, corporations, partnerships and other entities involved in commercial transactions, large bankruptcy and litigation matters, including retail, airline, automotive, coal, health, fraud, and Ponzi scheme matters. Additionally, she has represented debtors, creditors’ committees, and secured and unsecured creditors before many Federal Bankruptcy and District Courts, as well as clients in loan workouts, lender liability claims, domestic and international arbitrations, foreclosure proceedings, and contractual dispute resolutions. She also frequently advises purchasers and sellers in transactions involving insolvent entities in anticipation of a future bankruptcy filing. This advice includes fiduciary duty responsibilities, liability as it relates to environmental claims, and the rights of licensees and licensors to intellectual property.

In addition to her bankruptcy and restructuring work, Ms. Morabito has been involved in a wide variety of complex commercial litigation cases in both state and federal courts throughout the country, and international arbitration matters, including business tort, breach of contract, employment, large commercial collection, FDA, construction litigation, and non-compete actions. She regularly practices in the state and federal courts of the Commonwealth of Virginia and actively litigates in several courts throughout the country.

Prof. Kenneth C. Kettering is presently lecturer in law at Columbia University School of Law in New York and previously taught at Case Western University School of Law, the University of Miami School of Law, Loyola University New Orleans School of Law and New York Law School, and at the University of Pittsburgh School of Law.

Before joining academia, he was a partner at Reed Smith Shaw & McClay (now Reed Smith LLC), where his practice centered on sophisticated transactional work, including derivatives and foreign exchange transactions, syndicated lending, highly leveraged transactions, asset-based lending, structured finance and securitization, and mergers and acquisitions. He clerked for Judge John Minor Wisdom of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. Prof. Kettering is a Fellow of the American College of Commercial Finance Lawyers and a member of the American Law Institute. He served as Reporter for the drafting committee that prepared the 2014 amendments to the Uniform Fraudulent Transfer Act (renamed the Uniform Voidable Transactions Act).

Prof. Kettering received his B.S. in mathematics with University Honors from Carnegie Mellon University, and his J.D. magna cum laude from Harvard Law School, where he served as editor and Supreme Court co-editor on the Harvard Law Review.

Christopher A. Jones is a managing partner with Whiteford Taylor & Preston, LLP in its Falls Church, Va., office, where he specializes in all aspects of chapter 11 bankruptcy law and insolvency related litigation. He regularly represents businesses in their restructuring efforts and throughout their liquidation, has served as counsel to official committees in numerous chapter 11 bankruptcy cases, and represents bankruptcy trustees and liquidating agents in litigation matters. Mr. Jones has testified as an expert witness regarding the reasonableness of attorneys’ fees in a chapter 11 case. In addition to his work in the insolvency arena, he also has trial experience in commercial litigation matters in federal court.

Mr. Jones chairs the board of governors of the Bankruptcy Law Section for the Virginia State Bar and is vice chair of the VBA’s Bankruptcy Law Section Council. He also sits on the board of the Northern Virginia Bankruptcy Bar Association and is a past president. Mr. Jones has been recognized by Chambers and Partners as a leading bankruptcy attorney in Virginia, and is listed in Virginia Business Magazine’s “Legal Elite – Virginia’s Best Lawyers” and in The Best Lawyers in America. He has also been selected as a Super Lawyer in Virginia. Mr. Jones is AV Peer Review- Rated by Martindale-Hubbell.

He received his undergraduate degree in 1992 from Duke University and his J.D. in 1996 from the University of Richmond School of Law.

Leanne formed Gould Consulting Services to provide counsel and their clients with forensic accounting, business valuation, financial advisory and expert services in commercial and bankruptcy disputes.

Leanne is a CPA licensed in Georgia with over 20 years experience in valuation, financial and economic damage analysis, forensic accounting, bankruptcy consulting and manufacturing. Her diverse valuation practice includes providing valuation advisory and expert witness services in complex commercial and bankruptcy litigation matters across the nation including voidable transaction and solvency analysis in avoidance actions brought in U.S. Bankruptcy Court and under the U.V.T.A. and related state statutes.

Leanne has testified as an expert in business valuation, economic damages and financial/data analysis at depositions, hearings and jury trials in U.S. Bankruptcy Court, U.S. District Courts and Superior and State courts. She has also provided written expert reports and affidavits in disputed matters in U.S. Bankruptcy Courts, U.S. District Courts and State Courts. Leanne is an Accredited Senior Appraiser (ASA) of the American Society of Appraisers and is designated as Accredited in Business Valuation (ABV) and Certified in Financial Forensics (CFF) by the AICPA.

She holds an MBA and a Bachelor of Science from the State University of New York at Buffalo. She is a member of the Georgia Society of CPAs (GSCPA), American Bankruptcy Institute (ABI), and the International Women’s Insolvency and Restructuring Confederation (IWIRC) where she co-founded the Georgia Network.