Hit 'em Below the Belt (and in the Wallet): Professional Fees and Leverage Post-ASARCO

Kyle S. Hirsch is a partner in the Phoenix office of Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner LLP and litigates all types of business disputes, with a strong focus representing financial institutions and nontraditional lenders in connection with loans secured by real estate and operating business assets. His practice spans state, federal and bankruptcy courts in Arizona, as well as California, Texas and Nevada on a pro hac vice basis.

Mr. Hirsch has litigated matters across numerous industries, including hotels, multifamily housing, commercial and residential development, retail, health care, laboratory sciences, energy, construction, manufacturing and distribution. He also applies his Spanish language fluency to provide pro bono legal assistance to the Phoenix community. Mr. Hirsch is a member of the Maricopa County Bar Association’s Bankruptcy Section, the State Bar of Arizona’s Bankruptcy Section, Los Abogados, ABI and the Turnaround management Association’s Arizona Chapter. He has been listed in Southwest Super Lawyers each year since 2016, was the February 2017 Voluntgeer Lawyer’s Project Attorney of the Month and the 2009 Children’s Law Center Attorney of the Year, and has sat on the Maricopa County Superior Court Commissioner Performance Review Committee.

Mr. Hirsch received his B.A. in 1996 from Middlebury College and his J.D. magna cum laude in 2005 from Arizona State University, where he was a member of the Order of the Coif.

Amy’s practice is focused on the representation of debtors, creditors, and other significant parties in connection with some of the country's largest restructurings and reorganizations. She has cultivated industry-specific experience in the energy, health care, retail, automotive, financial institution, and airline sectors.

Barbara J. Houser is the chief bankruptcy court judge for the Northern District of Texas. Judge Houser was sworn in by Chief Judge Carolyn Dineen King as the first female bankruptcy judge in the Northern District on January 20, 2000.

Upon graduation from law school, Judge Houser joined Locke, Purnell, Boren, Laney & Neeley in Dallas and became a shareholder in 1985. She joined Sheinfeld, Maley & Kay PC in 1988 as the shareholder in charge of the Dallas office and remained there until she was sworn in as a bankruptcy judge on Jan. 20, 2000.

Judge Houser was named President-Elect of the National Conference of Bankruptcy Judges, her term began on Oct. 21, 2009.

Judge Houser was born in Scottsbluff, Nebraska, in 1954 and was admitted to the Texas Bar in 1978. She received her B.S. degree with honors in 1975 from the University of Nebraska and her law degree from Southern Methodist University School of Law in 1978.

Kathryn A. (Katie) Coleman, a partner in Hughes Hubbard & Reed’s New York office, has handled a wide range of insolvency-sensitive and other high-stakes matters in her more than 30 years in practice, including dealing with “bet-the-company” litigation claims, chapter 11 cases for US and non-US companies, cross-border insolvency matters, out-of-court restructurings, acquisitions and investments. Her clients include individuals and companies defending trade-secret theft and Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act lawsuits, companies restructuring their financial affairs, traditional and nontraditional secured lenders, unsecured creditors (both official committees and significant creditors for their own account), equity holders, potential acquirers, equity sponsors, and financial and strategic buyers.

Ms. Coleman is a trusted advisor to the inner management circles of her clients, with substantial expertise in advising management and boards of directors on corporate governance, fiduciary duty, and D&O insurance matters.

Ms. Coleman has advised clients on, and litigated at the trial and appellate levels, the significant legal issues inherent in modern restructuring and financial practice, including contested plan confirmations, prepackaged plans, credit bidding, exclusivity, debtor-in-possession financings, valuation, adequate protection of security interests, the ability to collaterally attack orders of the bankruptcy court and cash collateral usage. She has substantial experience litigating venue, remand, removal and stay issues, and has represented recovery trustees dealing with a myriad of post-confirmation issues and litigation.

Ms. Coleman is a Fellow of the American College of Bankruptcy. She serves on the board of directors of the American Bankruptcy Institute, and co-chairs its annual Complex Financial Restructuring Program. She frequently speaks on bankruptcy law and distressed investing, participating in programs sponsored by the Practising Law Institute, the American Bankruptcy Institute, Turnaround Management Association, ARA, the M&A Advisor, the New York City Bar Association, California Continuing Education of the Bar and the American Bar Association. She also serves on the Steering Committee of the NYC Bankruptcy Assistance Project.

Ms. Coleman was named a 2018 Bankruptcy MVP by Law360 and one of the 100 Most Influential Women in Business by the San Francisco Business Times. She is ranked by Chambers USA as a leading restructuring lawyer. Ms. Coleman was also designated a leading lawyer in bankruptcy in The Best Lawyers in America, and her expertise in cross-border insolvency was noted in the IFLR 500 and in PLC’s Cross-Border Restructuring and Insolvency Handbook.

Ms. Coleman graduated magna cum laude from Pomona College. She earned her J.D. from Boalt Hall School of Law (U.C. Berkeley), where she was elected to the Order of the Coif. She served as Senior Articles Editor of the California Law Review and is the author of “Arnel Development Co. v. City of Costa Mesa: Rezoning by Initiative and Landowners’ Due Process Rights,” 70 Cal. L. Rev. 1107(1982).

Ms. Coleman clerked for the Honorable C. Martin Pence, U.S. District Judge for the District of Hawaii.