Judge Janet E Bostwick
United States Bankruptcy Judge
United States Bankruptcy Court, District of Massachusett
Janet E. Bostwick was appointed as a bankruptcy judge for the District of Massachusetts on September 27, 2019. Before joining the bench, Judge Bostwick practiced as a bankruptcy attorney with more than 30 years of experience with financially troubled companies, dealing with Chapter 11 business reorganizations, liquidations and winddowns, loan workouts, and creditor negotiations. Judge Bostwick practiced at her own firm, Janet E. Bostwick, PC, for eighteen years. Prior to launching her firm, Judge Bostwick practiced in Boston, MA at the firms of Goldstein & Manello, PC and Sherin and Lodgen, LLP.

During her career, Judge Bostwick has been active in professional and bar associations. Judge Bostwick is a current director of the American College of Bankruptcy Foundation, which is the largest funder of bankruptcy pro bono projects and grants, providing more $2,000,000 in funding in the last five years. She chairs the ACBF Pro Bono Committee, overseeing the review and administration of the grant requests. Judge Bostwick is also Co- Chair of the Administration and Courts Subcommittee of the ABA Business Bankruptcy Law Committee.
Judge Bostwick is a member of the National Conference of Bankruptcy Judges, the Boston Bar Association, the American Bar Association, the International Women Insolvency and Restructuring Confederation, and the American Bankruptcy Institute. In 2007, Judge Bostwick was selected to become a member of the American College of Bankruptcy, an honorary association which recognizes distinguished insolvency and bankruptcy professionals.

Judge Bostwick earned a J.D. from Cornell Law School and a B.A. in Economics and Mathematics from the State University of New York at Albany.

Ms. Greta M Brouphy
Heller, Draper & Horn, LLC
Greta M. Brouphy works primarily in the bankruptcy practice group of the firm and is an appointed chapter 11 subchapter v trustee by the United States, Region 5 Districts of Louisiana and Mississippi and a Panel 7 Trustee. Specifically, Ms. Brouphy specializes in negotiating unsecured creditors, secured creditors and debtors through chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings. Ms. Brouphy has experience in representing a broad range of debtors including large, complex companies and small companies in bankruptcy. Her experience includes representation of debtors, liquidating trustees, bondholders, unsecured creditors’ committees and plan agents in commercial bankruptcy and workout business cases in chapter 11 and chapter 7 bankruptcy proceedings, as well as representing secured lenders in chapter 13 and chapter 7 proceedings. Ms. Brouphy also represents individual debtors in chapter 11 proceedings. Clients have included vessels builders, oil and gas companies, grocery stores, apartment complexes, property developers, hotels, and distributors. In addition to representing clients in corporate bankruptcy proceedings, Ms. Brouphy also assisted in the representation of an unsecured creditors committee in a chapter 9 (distressed municipality) bankruptcy proceeding through approval of a debt adjustment plan, and representation of the chapter 9 plan’s trustee.

Mr. Christopher T Caplinger
Shareholder
Lugenbuhl, Wheaton, Peck, Rankin & Hubbard
http://www.lawla.com
Christopher T. Caplinger concentrates his practice on representation of debtors, creditors, and creditor committees in Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization cases, creditors in Chapter 7 and 13 cases, and creditor defendants in all aspects of prosecution and defense of claims and actions before bankruptcy courts and in related litigation before federal district courts. He also represents clients in other commercial litigation matters. Born in Portsmouth, Virginia, Mr. Caplinger has been a resident of New Orleans, Louisiana since 1995. He is married to Samantha Rusk Caplinger, Esq. and together they have a twelve year old daughter and a ten year old son.

Judge Douglas D. Dodd
Bankruptcy Judge
U.S. Bankruptcy Court - Middle District of Louisiana
http://www.lamb.uscourts.gov
DOUGLAS D. DODD is the United States Bankruptcy Judge for the Middle District of Louisiana. He graduated from Stanford Law School in 1982, after receiving his
undergraduate degree magna cum laude with interdisciplinary honors in 1977 from Tulane University, where he was elected to membership in Phi Beta Kappa. Judge Dodd practiced law in New Orleans for nearly 20 years before his appointment to the bench in May 2002. He has taught advanced bankruptcy law at Tulane Law School and currently serves as an adjunct professor of law at the LSU Law Center, teaching a seminar in bankruptcy reorganization.

Mr. Bradley L. Drell
Director
Gold, Weems, Bruser, Sues & Rundell, APLC
http://www.goldweems.com
BRADLEY L. DRELL is a director and shareholder of the law firm of Gold, Weems, Bruser, Sues & Rundell, A PLC, in Alexandria, LA, and serves as chair of the firm's Bankruptcy and Creditors' Rights section. His practice focuses on representing Debtors in Possession and other parties in interest in Chapter 11 and Chapter 12 cases, commercial litigation, construction law, and in handling non-routine legal matters in state and federal courts. In addition to his Louisiana federal and state bar admissions, he is also admitted to practice in the U.S. District Courts of the Southern, Eastern, and Northern Districts of Texas, and the Eastern and Western Districts of Arkansas, the United States Court of Federal Claims, the United States Court of Appeals for the Second, Fourth, Fifth, Tenth, Eleventh, and Federal Circuits, and the Supreme Court of the United States. For ten years he was an adjunct lecturer of business law at Louisiana College, Pineville, LA, and has previously been a speaker on bankruptcy, ethics, and professionalism for continuing legal education presentations. He holds a B.A. in Political Science from the University of the South, Sewanee, TN, and graduated from LSU Law Center in 1996. He clerked for the Honorable Henley A. Hunter, Judge, United States Bankruptcy Court, Western District of Louisiana, from 1996 to 1997. He is past President of the Crossroads American Inn of Court and the Alexandria Bar Association. He is board certified in Business Bankruptcy Law by the American Board of Certification and the Louisiana State Bar Association, and is past chair of the Bankruptcy Law Advisory Commission of the Louisiana Board of Legal Specialization. He is listed in Best Lawyers and Super Lawyers, and has received national awards for his work in Chapter 11 from the Turnaround Management Association, the Global M&A Network, and M&A Advisor. Brad is a Certified Bourbon Steward of the Stave & Thief Society of Kentucky and writes about whiskey at whiskeyjar.blog.

Judge Craig A Gargotta
United States Bankruptcy Judge
Western District of Texas, San Antonio Division
Judge Craig A. Gargotta received his B.A. in History in 1981 and M.A. in History in 1984 from Texas A&M University. He received his law degree from St. Mary’s School of Law in 1989. After law school, he clerked for Bankruptcy Judge Ronald B. King from 1989-1990. He then practiced bankruptcy and affirmative litigation at the U.S. Attorney’s Office in San Antonio from 1990-2007. Judge Gargotta was appointed a bankruptcy judge in Austin in 2007 and served there until 2013 where he changed duty stations to San Antonio.

Judge Gargotta teaches Legal Research and Writing at St. Mary’s School of Law. He is a Master in the Larry E. Kelly Inns of Court and the Chair of the Bankruptcy Section of the Federal Bar Association. Judge Gargotta is a member of Law Review Advisory Board of the ABI Law Review. Previously, he wrote columns for the ABI Law Journal and San Antonio Lawyer. He also served as Editor-in-Chief to The Federal Lawyer from 2003-2008. Most importantly, Judge Gargotta has been married to the former Susan Harbaugh for over thirty years and they have two sons, Randy and Colin, who are working and are both Eagle Scouts.

Judge Meredith S. Grabill
United States Bankruptcy Judge
US Bankruptcy Court, Eastern District of Louisiana
The Honorable Meredith S. Grabill currently serves in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana. Prior to taking the bench in September 2019, she practiced primarily in the areas of bankruptcy, commercial, and oil-and-gas litigation in New York and Louisiana. In her practice, she served on bankruptcy teams representing publicly traded, closely held, and individual chapter 11 debtors; official unsecured creditors’ committees; and corporate creditors. Outside of bankruptcy court, she has represented large and multinational corporations in antitrust proceedings, labor and contract disputes, and insurance and reinsurance disputes.
Judge Grabill served as a judicial clerk to The Honorable Edith Brown Clement in the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, The Honorable Martin L.C. Feldman in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana, and The Honorable Martin Glenn in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York. She earned her J.D. from Tulane Law School, where she served as Editor in Chief of the Tulane Law Review, and received a B.A. from The Evergreen State College in Olympia, Washington.

Judge Harlin "Cooter" D. Hale
United States Bankruptcy Judge
Northern District of Texas, Dallas Division
THE HONORABLE HARLIN D. “COOTER” HALE was appointed as United States Bankruptcy Judge for the Northern District of Texas, on November 1, 1982. He received his B.S. degree in 1979 from Louisiana State University and his J.D. in 1982 from the LSU Paul M. Hebert School of Law, Order of the Coif. In 1982-83, Judge Hale was a law clerk to the Honorable James L. Dennis, Associate Justice, Louisiana Supreme Court, who is now a judge on the United States Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals. In 1983, he went into private practice in Dallas, Texas, with Strasburger & Price, LLP, followed by McGuire, Craddock, Strother & Hale, P.C., and Baker & McKenzie, LLP. Judge Hale is a frequent lecturer at law school and state bar seminars on bankruptcy and litigation topics, and a regular author in legal publications on bankruptcy issues. Beginning January 2009, he became a Visiting Professor at Southern Methodist University on Creditors’ Rights. Besides being a member of various state and local bar associations, he is also on the Executive Committee of the Bankruptcy Section of the State Bar of Texas, and serves as its 2012 Chair; National Conference of Bankruptcy Judges (2012 Fifth Circuit Governor); Master, John C. Ford American Inn of Court (2007-2008 Sergeant of the Inn Award); American Bankruptcy Institute; American Law Institute; Federal Bar Association (2006-07 Bankruptcy Section Chair); and Commercial Law League. He was awarded the 2019 William L. Norton, Jr. Judicial Excellence Award, American Bankruptcy Institute at the National Conference of Bankruptcy Judges. Judge Hale is married to Claire King Hale and they have two sons. He enjoys religion, tennis, reading, travel and history in his spare time.

Ms. Lauren S Havrylkoff
Law Clerk
Lauren S. Havrylkoff has clerked for Bankruptcy Court judges since graduating from LSU Law Center in 2002. She has been the law clerk for Hon. Douglas D. Dodd since November 2019. Prior to clerking for Judge Dodd, she was a law clerk for Hon. Elizabeth W. Magner from 2005 to 2019 and for Hon. Thomas M. Brahney from 2002 to 2004. Before law school, she graduated from LSU with a B.A. in English in 1995 and taught middle school English.

Ms. Jan M Hayden
Shareholder
Baker, Donelson, Bearman, Caldwell & Berkowitz
Jan Hayden has handled bankruptcy and insolvency issues for her clients for over forty years. She is a shareholder in the Baker Donelson’s New Orleans office. Ms. Hayden's practice is concentrated on assisting clients with reorganizations under Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code, and she represents creditors, trustees, debtors-in-possession, and committees in a broad spectrum of industries that includes oil and gas, manufacturing, real estate, hotels, gambling, nursing homes, airlines, convenience stores and retail operations
Ms. Hayden is a member of the board of the American College of Bankruptcy as well as the American College of Bankruptcy Foundation Board. She is a Fellow in the American Bar Foundation and Louisiana Bar Foundation and currently serves as a vice president of the New Orleans Bar Association. She is a recipient of the Michelle Mendez Serviam Award 2016, Woman of the Year in Restructuring Award, International Women's Insolvency & Restructuring Confederation, 2011 and the LSBA 2009 Pro Bono Publico Award. She was named the Best Lawyers New Orleans Bankruptcy and Creditor Debtor Rights/Insolvency and Reorganization Law "Lawyer of the Year;" for 2010 and 2013 and New Orleans Bankruptcy Litigation "Lawyer of the Year;" for 2012 and 2014. Included in Louisiana Super Lawyers since 2007, she has frequently listed as one of the top 10 lawyers in Louisiana by the organization. She served as Chair of The Pro Bono Project of New Orleans and Second Harvest Food Bank of Greater New Orleans and Acadiana Board. A graduate of LSU Law Center in 1979 and chair of both the LSBA CLE and MCLE committees, she is a frequent lecturer and author in the field of bankruptcy and insolvency.

Mr. Henry E. Hildebrand III
Standing Trustee
Middle District of Tennessee
Henry E. Hildebrand, III has served as Standing Trustee for Chapter 13 matters in the Middle District of Tennessee since 1982 and as Standing Chapter 12 Trustee for that district since 1986. He also is of counsel to the Nashville law firm of Belcher Sykes Harrington, PLLC. Mr. Hildebrand graduated from Vanderbilt University and received his J.D. from the National Law Center of George Washington University. He is a fellow of the American College of Bankruptcy and the Nashville Bar Foundation. He is Board Certified in consumer bankruptcy law by the American Board of Certification and serves on its faculty committee. He is Chairman of the Legislative and Legal Affairs Committee for the National Association of Chapter 13 Trustees (NACTT). He is on the Board of Directors for the NACTT Academy for Consumer Bankruptcy Education, Inc. and is an adjunct faculty member for the Nashville School of Law and St. Johns University School of Law. In addition, he served as a commissioner to the American Bankruptcy Institute’s Commission on Consumer Bankruptcy.

Mr. Henry G Hobbs Jr.
Acting U.S. Trustee, Region VII
HENRY G. HOBBS, JR. has served as the Assistant U.S. Trustee in Austin, Texas for the past 26 years. From 2011 until December 2017, he has also served as the Acting U.S. Trustee for Region 5, covering all of the judicial districts in Louisiana and Mississippi. He currently serves as the Acting U.S. Trustee for Region 7, covering the Southern and Western Districts of Texas. He also served as the Acting Chief of the Credit Counseling/Debtor Education Unit of the Executive Office for United States Trustees from 2005 through 2007. In 2006, he received the U.S. Attorney General’s Award for Distinguished Service. Before joining the U.S. Department of Justice and the U.S. Trustee’s office, he earned a B.S. in General Business Administration from Louisiana State University in 1977 and a J.D. from Louisiana State University Law Center in 1980. After serving in a Judicial Clerkship for Louisiana Second Circuit State Court of Appeal, he was in private practice in Shreveport, Louisiana for 12 years practicing bankruptcy, creditors rights and commercial litigation before joining the Department of Justice in Austin in 1992.
He was a frequent speaker on collection and bankruptcy matters while in private practice in Louisiana. He has also been a frequent speaker at the Department of Justice’s National Bankruptcy Training Institute in Columbia, South Carolina. Henry has also been a speaker at the State Bar of Texas, Advanced Consumer Bankruptcy Course, Advanced Business Bankruptcy Course, The UT Consumer Bankruptcy Conference and the LSU Bankruptcy Conference and the Mississippi Bankruptcy Conference. Mr. Henry is an avid trail runner and has completed over thirty ultra-marathons (50K to 100 miles).

Judge John S. Hodge
United States Bankruptcy Judge
U.S. Bankruptcy Court
http://www.lawb.uscourts.gov
John S. Hodge serves as a U.S. Bankruptcy Judge for the Western District of Louisiana. Prior to his appointment in 2018, he served as a Chapter 7 bankruptcy trustee and was a member of a Shreveport law firm where his practice focused on bankruptcy, commercial litigation and commercial real estate. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Accounting from Louisiana State University, and a J. D. from Louisiana State University Law Center.

Mr. B. Slattery Johnson Jr.
Law Clerk to the Hon. John S. Hodge
US Courts
B. Slattery Johnson, Jr. is the Career Law Clerk for Judge John S. Hodge in the Shreveport Division of the Western District of Louisiana Bankruptcy Court. Prior to that, he was a Partner in the law firm of Blanchard, Walker, O’Quin and Roberts where he practiced in commercial bankruptcy and general litigation. Mr. Johnson graduated from LSU Law in 2007. He is married to another lawyer, Julie Payne Johnson, and they have two beautiful daughters (aged 6 and 8) together.

Mr. Richardo I Kilpatrick
Managing Partner
Kilpatrick & Associates, P.C
Richardo I. Kilpatrick is the managing partner of Kilpatrick & Associates, P.C. in Auburn Hills, Mich., and specializes in creditors' rights and insolvency law while focusing on corporate, consumer and commercial litigation and bankruptcy, real property remedies for creditors, real property transactions and general corporate counseling. He is a past president of the American Bankruptcy Institute (ABI) and has served on the Board of Directors for the American College of Bankruptcy (ACB). Mr. Kilpatrick is a member of the State Bar of Michigan, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern and Western Districts of Michigan, the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals and the U.S. Supreme Court. He was inducted as a Fellow into the American College of Bankruptcy in March 1999 and appointed to its Board of Directors in July 2001. In October 2008, Mr. Kilpatrick was invited to be a conferee at the National Bankruptcy Conference (NBC). As a member of the National Bankruptcy Conference, Mr. Kilpatrick worked with Judge Thomas Small on the NBC’s Small Business Proposal, a portion of which was incorporated into the Small Business Reorganization Act of 2019. Mr. Kilpatrick also served as a member of the Judicial Conference Advisory Committee on Bankruptcy Rules from August 2011 to 2017 where he worked to directly craft, tweak, update, and change bankruptcy rules in an ongoing effort to improve the practice of bankruptcy for all involved. He is Board Certified in Consumer Bankruptcy Law by the American Board of Certification (ABC), and he received his B.A. in economics in 1973 from Harvard University and his J.D. in 1982 from the University of Michigan Law School.
Mr. Kilpatrick has spoken at the National Conference of Bankruptcy Judges (NCBJ) and is a presenter at numerous seminars focusing on bankruptcy and collections presented by the Institute of Continuing Legal Education, faculty for the Norton Litigation Institute, PESI, ABI, NACTT, and NABT. He is an editor for Norton's Treatise on Bankruptcy and is adjunct professor at St. John’s University Law School where he teaches a course on small business bankruptcies.

Judge John W. Kolwe
Chief United States Bankruptcy Judge
US Bankruptcy Court for the Western District of Louisiana
John W. Kolwe was appointed United States Bankruptcy Judge by the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, effective August 12, 2015. He was sworn in by Bankruptcy Judge Robert R. Summerhays and served in the Alexandria and Monroe Divisions of the Western District of Louisiana until April 25, 2019. On October 5, 2018, he was appointed to the Lafayette and Lake Charles Divisions to fill the vacancy left by Judge Summerhays. He served as Chief Judge for the Western District of Louisiana from April 2018 to April 2023. He received his B.S. in Accounting from Centenary College of Louisiana in 1985. Following graduation from Centenary, Judge Kolwe worked as a CPA. Judge Kolwe received his J.D. in 1991from the Paul M. Hebert Law Center. He practiced law in Lafayette, Louisiana from 1991 until joining the bench. John is presently the Fifth Circuit Governor of the National Conference of Bankruptcy Judges. He is also a member of the Dean’s Council for the LSU Paul M. Hebert Law Center. John and his wife, Miriam, reside in Lafayette, Louisiana, where they raised their two children.