Show Me the Money! How to Get Paid Ethically!

Hon. Madeleine C. Wanslee is a U.S. Bankruptcy Judge for the District of Arizona in Phoenix, sworn in on March 17, 2014. Previously, she was an associate and then partner at Gust Rosenfeld, PLC, where she was active in the firm’s management committee and co-chaired the firm’s bankruptcy practice group. Her practice focused on bankruptcy and creditors’ rights, and she represented small businesses, financial institutions, corporations and state agencies. While in private practice, Judge Wanslee was a certified bankruptcy specialist. She also argued a number of appeals, including United Student Aid Funds Inc. v. Espinosa before the U.S. Supreme Court.

Judge Wanslee is a member of the Ninth Circuit Bankruptcy Education Committee and chairs Arizona’s Bankruptcy Court local rules committee. She is a charter member and past president of the Arizona Bankruptcy American Inn of Court and is past chair of the Ninth Circuit Bankruptcy Judges Education Committee, the Ninth Circuit Lawyer Representatives Coordinating Committee, the Arizona Lawyer Representatives and the Bankruptcy Section of the State Bar of Arizona. She also served on the American Board of Certification’s Standards Committee and on the Arizona State Bar’s Bankruptcy Advisory Committee, which both certify bankruptcy specialists.

Judge Wanslee received her B.F.A. and B.A. from the University of Arizona and her J.D. from Gonzaga University School of Law, where she served as a writer and executive editor of the Gonzaga Law Review. Following law school, she clerked for Chief Bankruptcy Judge Robert C. Jones of the District of Nevada.

Monique D. Hayes practices in the areas of business transactions, commercial litigation, and corporate restructuring. She has extensive experience advising fiduciaries, corporate and non-profit board members, entrepreneurs, and small businesses. Monique has successfully represented clients in a broad range of matters including asset sales and acquisitions; finance transactions, bankruptcy plan confirmations, avoidance actions, directors and officers claim litigation, Ponzi scheme and other fraud litigation. She also has substantial experience representing franchisors in franchisee bankruptcy proceedings. In the innovation and technology sector Monique has represented start-ups, entrepreneurs, and founders in corporate formations and restructuring, due diligence, and related transactional matters.

Ms. Hayes is a member of the American Bar Association – Business Law Section, the Bankruptcy Bar Association S.D. Fla., the American Bankruptcy Institute, the International Women’s Insolvency and Restructuring Confederation (“IWIRC”) – Florida Network Chair, and the Wilkie D. Ferguson Jr. Bar Association – President Elect. She is also a member of the ABA Business Bankruptcy Committee and served as its 2013-2015 Fellow. Ms. Hayes frequently serves as a writer, commentator, and panelist on business issues.

Ms. Hayes was included in the 40 under 40 Outstanding Lawyers of Miami-Dade County, received the IWIRC Rising Star Award, and has recently been recognized by Brickell Magazine as one of the Top 20 Professionals Under 40. She has also been lauded as a “Florida Rising Star” by Super Lawyers Magazine and a “Top Up and Comer” by Florida Trend magazine. Most recently she received the prestigious Kathryn Heidt Award from the Business Law Section of the American Bar Association.

Ms. Hayes is a member of the Florida Bar and has been admitted to practice before the United States District Courts for the Southern and Middle Districts of Florida. She received her Juris Doctor degree, cum laude, from the University of Miami School of Law. While at UM Law, Ms. Hayes was a member of the Bar and Gavel Honor Society. She was named to the Dean’s List, awarded the Dean’s Honor Scholarship, and received the C.A.L.I. Excellence for the Future Award in Chapter 11 Bankruptcy Skills. She received her undergraduate degree in Political Science, with honors, from the University of South Florida.

Hon. Michael A. Fagone is a U.S. Bankruptcy Judge for the District of Maine in Bangor, appointed in April 2015. He is also a member of the U.S. Bankruptcy Appellate Panel for the First Circuit, appointed in April 2016.

Judge Fagone previously clerked for Associate Justices Leigh I. Saufley and Robert W. Clifford of the Maine Supreme Judicial Court. Following his clerkship, he joined Bernstein, Shur, Sawyer & Nelson in Portland, Maine, and was a member of its Business Restructuring and Insolvency Practice Group from 1998-2000, and from 2001-15, where he represented clients in bankruptcy cases and in out-of-court restructurings. While practicing law, Judge Fagone was recognized in The Best Lawyers in America and Chambers USA as one of the top bankruptcy lawyers in Maine. He is Board Certified in Business Bankruptcy Law by the American Board of Certification and served on the board of directors of the Nathan and Henry B. Cleaves Law Library, and on the board of directors of the Dyer/Library and Saco Museum.

Judge Fagone currently serves on ABI’s Board of Directors and volunteers with Credit Abuse Resistance Education (CARE), teaching students about the responsible use of credit and the dangers of credit abuse. He also has volunteered as a coach and an evaluator for Maine Law’s teams in the Conrad B. Duberstein Moot Court Competition.

Judge Fagone received his B.A. from Amherst College in 1993 and his J.D. summa cum laude from the University of Maine School of Law in 1997.

An insightful writer known for his authoritative take on legal developments affecting bankruptcy practice, Rochelle published for Bloomberg every day from 2007 until this fall.

Prior to his second career in journalism, he practiced bankruptcy law for 35 years, including 17 years as a partner in the New York office of Fulbright & Jaworski LLP.

He earned his undergraduate and law degrees from Columbia University, where he won Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar awards in the law school.