Speaker details

Biography

ROBERT M. FISHMAN, born Bloomington, Illinois, December 28, 1953, admitted to bar (1979, Illinois and Federal District Court, Northern District of Illinois), (1998, Federal District Court, Eastern District of Wisconsin), (2002, Federal District Court, District of Minnesota), (2008, Federal District Court, Northern District of Florida), (2016, New York and Federal District Court, Southern District of New York), (1994, Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals), (2003, Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals). EDUCATION: University of Illinois (BA, 1976), George Washington University School of Law (JD, 1979). PRACTICE: Shaw Fishman Glantz & Towbin LLC, Member (1998- ), Ross & Hardies, Partner (1990-98), Levit, Mason and Fishman, Ltd., Partner (1985-90), Associate (1980-85), Special Assistant Attorney General-Welfare Litigation Division, Illinois Attorney General (1979-80). My practice is concentrated in the areas of debtor-creditor relations, insolvency and bankruptcy, representing a wide range of clients in business cases throughout the United States. I have extensive experience in all aspects of bankruptcy cases, including significant representation of Trustees, Debtors in Possession, Creditors’ Committees, and individual creditors and equity holders. I have represented numerous financial institutions and other secured creditors in both the protection of and realization on their secured claims. I have represented both plaintiffs and defendants in various types of bankruptcy litigation. Additionally, I have considerable experience in the area of informal, out-of-court workouts and assignments for the benefit of creditors. Lastly, I have significant experience as a bankruptcy mediator. LITIGATION: I have extensive experience, on behalf of both plaintiffs and defendants, in the litigation of numerous cases seeking the avoidance of preferential transfers and fraudulent conveyances, including analysis of the claims, drafting of pleadings and presentation of the cases to the court. In the cases of Santa Fe Trail Transportation Company, B.N. Transport, Inc., Telesphere Communications, Inc., Telesphere Network, Inc., and Telesphere Limited, Inc. (all before the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Illinois), I was lead counsel for the plaintiff in hundreds of preference cases, ranging from the garden variety type to the extremely complex, resulting in the recovery of several million dollars for those bankruptcy estates. In those same cases, I was one of the lead counsels in fraudulent conveyance/preference cases against the various lenders, involving alleged claims of over $10,000,000 in the aggregate in the Santa Fe/BN Transport cases, $50,000,000 in the Telesphere cases, and $11,000,000 in the McCook Metals, LLC case. I was lead counsel in a substantial fraudulent conveyance case asserting claims of almost $80,000,000 against J.P. Morgan/Chase pending before the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Oklahoma in Commercial Financial Services, Inc. I was one of the lead counsel in the preference cases pending before (i) the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Illinois in the McCook Metals, LLC, Northwestern Steel, Braude Jewelry and Bachrach Clothing, Inc. cases, (ii) the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware in the Beloit Corporation and SSA, Inc. cases, (iii) the U. S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Arizona in the Megafoods, Inc. case, (iv) the U. S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Montana in the Jore, Inc. case and (v) the U. S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Nevada in the Mego/Leisure Industries case. I have also represented numerous defendants in preference and fraudulent conveyance actions, again ranging from the relatively small cases to multi-million dollar claims. Further, I was one of plaintiff’s counsels in Levit v. Ingersoll Rand (In re Deprizio Construction). In August of 2013 I was appointed as the Fee Examiner in the chapter 9 case of the City of Detroit, In re City of Detroit, Michigan, No. 13-53846, pending before the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of Michigan. In January 2018 I was appointed as the Fee Examiner in the chapter 11 case of Velocity Holding Company, Inc., et al., No. 17-12442 (KJC), pending before the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware. MEDIATION: I have provided services as a mediator in multiple cases. Specifically, in the chapter 11 cases of Lauth Investment Properties, LLC, et al., case no. 09 06065 BHL 11, pending in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Indiana (the “Lauth Cases”), I was appointed the Special Mediator by the Court to address the case-wide disputes between the Debtors and their principal investor partner, ultimately resulting in a global resolution between those parties that cleared the way for plans of reorganization to be proposed and confirmed. Additionally, in the Lauth Cases I also handled two traditional mediations between the Debtors, the guarantors and several banks respecting motions to lift the stay, disposition of certain properties, the settlement of multiple disputed claims, and the terms for refinancing of certain loans. In May, 2012, Bankruptcy Judge A. Jay Cristol of the Southern District of Florida named me as one of two Court appointed co-mediators in the Fontainebleau Las Vegas Holdings, LLC, et al. cases to handle the numerous adversary proceedings pending in those cases. In October 2012, I was retained to be the mediator in the chapter 11 case of Eastern Livestock Co., LLC (case no. 10 93904 BHL 11) pending in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Indiana, to engage in non-binding mediation on the issue of the reasonableness of a proposed settlement with the principal secured creditor as embodied in the plan filed by the Chapter 11 Trustee. I have also mediated numerous other two party disputes in bankruptcy cases involving preference, fraudulent conveyance, breach of fiduciary duty, and related type claims. In December 2011, I received a certificate of completion of the American Bankruptcy Institute/St. John’s University School of Law Bankruptcy Mediation Training Program. In 2012 – 2016, I was a member of the faculty for the ABI/St. John’s Mediation Training Program. I served as the Chairman of the American Bankruptcy Institute's Bankruptcy Mediation Committee from 2012 - 2016. MEMBERSHIPS: American Bankruptcy Institute, Chairman of the Board of Directors [1999-2000], Immediate Past President [1998-1999], President [1997-1998], Member, Executive Committee [1992-2000], Member, Board of Directors [1989-2002], Chairman of the Advisory Committee on Bankruptcy Remote Entities to the ABI Commission to Study the Reform of Chapter 11 [2012-2014], American Bar Association: (Business Section, Business Bankruptcy Committee, Secured Creditors and U.S. Trustee subcommittees, Litigation Section, Bankruptcy Litigation Committee), Chicago Bar Association, Illinois State Bar Association (Member, Commercial, Banking and Bankruptcy Law Section Council [1998-2002]), National Association of Credit Managers-Oregon, Inc. (Bankruptcy and Insolvency Group), Bankruptcy Bar Association of The Southern District of Florida and the George Washington University Law Alumni Association (Board of Directors [1997- 2001]). HONORS: Fellow of the American College of Bankruptcy (Class of 1998), Member, Board of Regents (2007-2011), Member, Board of Directors (2011- 2017). OTHER: Author and lecturer for the American Bankruptcy Institute, National Conference of Bankruptcy Judges, Association of Insolvency and Restructuring Advisors, American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, Turnaround Management Association, Urban Land Institute, Illinois Institute of Continuing Legal Education, Bankruptcy Seminars of Iowa, Inc., Executive Enterprises, Inc., Law Education Institute and Practicing Law Institute (co-author) on a variety of business bankruptcy topics. Co-author of law review articles entitled What is Your “Interest” in Section 363(f)? in the Norton Annual Survey of Bankruptcy Law, 2008 Edition, What’s Driving Section 363 Sales After Chrysler and General Motors? in the Norton Journal of Bankruptcy Law and Practice, Vol. 19, No. 4 (2010) and Revisiting the Indubitable Equivalent Standard: Undoubtedly the Same or Close Enough? in the Norton Journal of Bankruptcy Law and Practice, 20 J. Bankr. L. & Prac. 4 Art. 1 (2011). Co-author of the chapter entitled Bankruptcies and Workouts in Engineering a Hospital Turnaround (American Hospital Publishing, Inc. 1993). Member of BNA’s Bankruptcy Law Reporter Advisory Board (1995- ), the Editorial Board of Credit Today magazine (1997-2003) and the Bankruptcy Strategist (1999 - ). Listed in the Guide to the World’s Leading Insolvency Lawyers, the Guide to Leading US Insolvency Lawyers and The Best Lawyers in America. Selected as one of Illinois’ leading business bankruptcy attorneys by Leading Illinois Attorneys and SuperLawyers.