Litigation: Expert Cross-Examination Stratego!

Lisa D. Tingue is a trial attorney in the Department of Justice for the Office of the U.S. Trustee in Worcester, Mass. From 2011-12, she served as associate general counsel for consumer practice in the Executive Office for the U.S. Trustees in Washington, D.C., where she oversaw the litigation activities for the U.S. Trustee’s 21 Program Regions and 93 field offices. Ms. Tingue received the Attorney General’s Award for Distinguished Service in 2011 for her work in the implementation and coordination of a nationwide initiative to address misconduct and abusive practices by mortgage servicers in the bankruptcy system.

Prior to joining the Office of the U.S. Trustee, she was an associate in the Worcester law firm of Mountain, Dearborn, and Whiting, where she focused her practice in the areas of civil litigation, bankruptcy and employment law. From 1994-96, she served as law clerk to Hon. James F. Queenan, Jr.

Ms. Tingue received her B.A. from Vassar College and her J.D. from Boston College Law School.

Ms. Austin Smith specializes in M&A and bankruptcy disputes with subject matter expertise in valuation and credit and solvency analysis.

She provides testifying and consulting expert services in litigation matters related to mergers and acquisitions, dissenting shareholder actions, leveraged buyouts, recapitalization, debt recharacterization and avoidance actions. As representative engagements, Ms. Austin Smith has been retained as a solvency or valuation expert in connection with the bankruptcies of Lehman Brothers (on behalf of JPMorgan Chase), Caesars Entertainment Operating Company (on behalf of Apollo Global Management), Energy Future Holdings (on behalf of Wilmington Trust Company), and U.S. Steel Canada (on behalf of United States Steel). Ms. Austin Smith has also testified, on multiple occasions, as a valuation expert before the Delaware Court of Chancery on appraisal and other M&A litigation matters. In addition, she has been retained as a valuation expert in similar dissenting shareholder matters in New York.

Ms. Austin Smith has written a number of publications and presented on valuation and credit analysis, for organizations including the American Bar Association, the American Bankruptcy Institute, the National Conference of Bankruptcy Judges, the Delaware State Bar Association, Thomson Reuters, and Bloomberg Law. She is a contributing author to the Model Merger Agreement for the Acquisition of a Public Company, published by the ABA’s Mergers and Acquisitions Committee, and a contributing researcher to The Standard & Poor’s Guide to Fairness Opinions: A User’s Guide for Fiduciaries. She is Co-Chair of the American Bar Association Joint Task Force on M&A Litigation and is founder and former Co-Chair of the ABA Financial Advisor Task Force.

Ms. Austin Smith is also a member of the teaching faculty of Harvard University Extension School, where she teaches a graduate finance course and a faculty member of the American Bar Association’s National Institute of Negotiating Business Acquisitions.

Ms. Austin Smith serves on the Board of Directors for The Brattle Group.

Mr. Hellman’s practice is focused on the representation of individuals and businesses in complex commercial litigation. Mr. Hellman’s practice regularly includes contract disputes, prosecution and defense of preference and fraudulent transfer litigation, partnership and inter-company disputes and various types of debtor and creditor disputes. Mr. Hellman’s practice also includes various types of real estate litigation including title disputes, lease disputes and trespass actions. Mr. Hellman regularly appears in the Connecticut Superior Court, the United States District Court for the District of Connecticut and the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Connecticut. Mr. Hellman has lectured to the Connecticut Bar Association and the Norton Bankruptcy Litigation Institute. Mr. Hellman has been a member of the Executive Committee of the Federal Practice Section of the Connecticut Bar Association from 1996 to the present and a member of the Section since 1989. Mr. Hellman is also a member of the Commercial Law and Bankruptcy Section of the Connecticut Bar Association.

Mr. Hellman was an Assistant District Attorney in Philadelphia, PA from 1986 to 1989.

Jeremy is Drummond Woodsum’s Practice Group Leader for Bankruptcy, Restructuring & Creditors’ Rights. He represents clients in distressed commercial matters from the first sign of trouble through the most complex financial restructuring or chapter 11 bankruptcy.

Jeremy has substantial experience in bankruptcy, bankruptcy litigation, and bankruptcy appellate matters across northern New England and around the country, and he has been recognized as one of the top 40 bankruptcy professionals under the age of 40 nationally by the American Bankruptcy Institute. His clients include secured and unsecured creditors (including official and ad hoc committees), asset purchasers, trustees, DIP lenders, insurance companies, contract counterparties, directors/officers, and debtors. He also regularly represents parties in out-of-court debt restructurings, receiverships, and debtor/creditor litigation.

Jeremy previously served three terms in the Maine Legislature, where he was House Chairman of the Appropriations Committee. He now teaches business law at the University of Maine School of Law, serves on numerous civic and professional boards and committees, and regularly appears as a political analyst on local TV and radio.