We have extensive experience in representing indenture trustees and secured lenders of almost every kind and type, including banks and other financial institutions, vehicle and equipment financiers, asset-based lenders, real estate financiers, equipment lessors, hedge funds and private equity groups. We have a long tradition of assisting secured creditors in fully protecting their interests and maximizing their ultimate recovery. The firm’s attorneys are national leaders in the representation of indenture trustees, both in connection with reviewing and negotiating documentation relating to the establishment of corporate trusteeships, and in administering the trust estate after the occurrence and during the continuance of events of default.

In representing the corporate trust departments of financial institutions, the Firm uses experience in the areas of:

• Corporate and municipal finance
• Trust law
• Commercial credit and lending
• Bankruptcy and creditors’ rights

In transactional matters, we represent lenders in negotiating and closing loan workouts and restructurings, and in resolving other issues that are unique to troubled credits. We assist secured creditors in negotiating, filing and closing transactions contemplated by plans of reorganization and in navigating “Section 363 sales” (or sales free and clear of interests) in bankruptcy proceedings. We also assist clients in utilizing structured finance techniques and, in conjunction with those, providing non-consolidation and other bankruptcy-related reasoned opinions.We have considerable experience representing secured creditors in protecting and enforcing their rights, interests and remedies, both inside and outside of insolvency proceedings. We have represented secured creditors in real and personal property foreclosures and have successfully represented secured creditors in replevin actions involving many types of collateral. Secured creditors also choose us to defend them in litigation, including traditional lender liability claims, fraudulent transfer and preference litigation.

Questions Secured Creditors should always ask are:

• Can the Debtor utilize the lender’s collateral during Chapter 11?
• What is adequate protection?
• What happens if the lender’s collateral decreases in value during the bankruptcy case?
• How can a secured creditor foreclose on its collateral during the bankruptcy case?
• Will a secured creditor continue to receive interest during the bankruptcy case?
• Is the secured position recharacterizable?
• Can the secured creditor sell its claim?
• What would be the effect if the case were converted from Chapter 11 to Chapter 7?
• What is the impact of post-petition financing (DIP Financing) on the secured creditors’ position?
• How will the secured creditor be treated under the plan?