Ms. Jenny A Abshier
Attorney
Big Easy Law
http://www.bacchuslaw.com
Jenny graduated from the Loyola University College of Law, and earned her undergraduate degree from Our Lady of Holy Cross College. Jenny began her bankruptcy practice in 2011 as the Law Office of Jenny Abshier. Jenny's office took great pride in providing options to reduce the upfront costs required for filing bankruptcy, as well as providing access to pro bono services when available. As Jenny's reputation grew, so did her practice. She now owns Big Easy Law Group and operates offices in Metairie, Laplace and Mandeville.
Past clients have described Jenny's assistance in filing for bankruptcy as life-changing. She's been praised for her compassion and understanding, as well as her non-judgmental attitude. Jenny is honored to be the recipient of a 2012 Distinguished Service Award from the Pro Bono Project of New Orleans, as well as a 2013 Pro Bono Publico Award from the Louisiana State Bar Association. Both of these awards hang proudly in her office in recognition of her dedication to pro bono services. Jenny has also been recognized by Super Lawyers as a Rising Star from 2017 to 2020.
Jenny is admitted to the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana, the Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana, and all Louisiana state courts. She is an active member of the National Association of Consumer Bankruptcy Attorneys (NACBA), the American Bankruptcy Institute, the and American Business Women's Association Crescent City Connections (ABWA). Like all lawyers, she is a member of the Louisiana State Bar Association. Jenny is also a graduate of the Leadership Jefferson Class of 2012.
Ms. Brooke W. Altazan
Attorney
Stewart Robbins Brown & Altazan, LLC
http://stewartrobbins.com
Brooke W. Altazan earned her B.A. degree at Samford University in 2005. She received her Juris Doctor from Mississippi College School of Law in 2009, where she served as an executive board member of the Moot Court Board and extern to United States Bankruptcy Judge Neil P. Olack of the Southern District of Mississippi. Ms. Altazan is licensed to practice before the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit and all U.S. District Courts and state courts in Louisiana Mississippi, and Texas. She is also a member of the Federal Bar Association, Louisiana State Bar Association, Baton Rouge Bar Association, the International Women’s Insolvency & Restructuring Confederation, American Bankruptcy Institute, and former president of the Baton Rouge Chapter of the Federal Bar Association. Ms. Altazan is an equity member of Stewart Robbins Brown & Altazan, LLC, where her practice encompasses general litigation and bankruptcy matters, including the representation of corporate and individual debtors, creditors, trustees, and committees.
Ms. Erin K Arnold
Senior Associate
Kelly Hart & Pitre
Erin K. Arnold is a senior associate in Kelly Hart & Pitre's Bankruptcy & Business Reorganization section. She focuses her practice on bankruptcy and business reorganization, including the representation of both individual and business clients in various debtor/creditor matters. In addition to her practice at Kelly Hart, Ms. Arnold is a the co-director of the Pretrial Civil Litigation Intersession Program at Tulane Law School.
Prior to joining Kelly Hart, Ms. Arnold served for almost 15 years as the career law clerk to the Honorable Jerry A. Brown, United States Bankruptcy Judge for the Eastern District of Louisiana.
Laura F. Ashley
Partner
Jones Walker LLP
Laura Ashley is a partner in the Litigation Practice Group. She represents national and international companies in commercial bankruptcy litigation, out-of-court workouts, foreclosure litigation, and other complex litigation.
Laura represents secured and unsecured creditors, banks, hedge funds, committees, trustees, debtors, fiduciaries, and other parties in insolvency and adversary proceedings involving a broad range of industries, including restaurants, retail stores, financial services, maritime, oil and gas, construction, and real estate development. Her experience includes Chapter 11 reorganizations, Chapter 15 filings, and other cross-border insolvency matters, as well as prosecution and defense of preferences, fraudulent conveyances, dischargeability issues, lessor/lessee rights, asset sales, and the automatic stay.
Laura has extensive experience advising creditors and borrowers in out-of-court restructurings, workouts, loan restructurings and liquidations, and various other matters involving distressed financings, properties, and businesses. She regularly negotiates and drafts workout documentation and various motions in related enforcement litigation and bankruptcy cases.
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. Leo D. Congeni
Congeni Law Firm, LLC
Leo graduated cum laude from Case Western Reserve University School of Law and received the Bankruptcy Medal of Excellence. He received a B.A. degree from the University of Pennsylvania. Upon graduating from law school, Leo clerked for The Honorable Margaret A. Mahoney, Chief Bankruptcy Judge for the Southern District of Alabama. He then worked for several years in the Commercial Litigation department at a large New Orleans law firm before beginning his solo law practice. Leo is certified as a Business Bankruptcy Specialist by the American Board of Certification and by the Louisiana Board of Legal Specialization. Leo completed the 40 hour bankruptcy mediation program conducted by the St. John’s Center for Bankruptcy Studies, and St. John’s Hugh L. Carey Center for Dispute Resolution. He has been qualified to serve as a Civil Mediator by the Alternative Dispute Resolution Section of the Louisiana State Bar Association.
Judge Michael A Crawford
Judge
United States Bankruptcy Court MDLA
Michael A. Crawford was sworn in as Chief Bankruptcy Judge of the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Middle District of Louisiana on October 3, 2022. Judge Crawford was previously a member of Taylor Porter law firm in Baton Rouge for over 22 years serving as the chair of its banking, real estate and bankruptcy practice group for several years. He has lectured extensively on bankruptcy-related topics and completed the St. John’s University/American Bankruptcy Institute bankruptcy mediation course in 2014. Judge Crawford received his undergraduate degree in business/finance in 1984 from Louisiana State University. Later, while working full time in the family business in Ruston, he earned his MBA from Louisiana Tech University in 1988. He attended the Paul M. Hebert Law Center at LSU and earned his Juris Doctorate in 1993. Following graduation, he served a one year judicial clerkship with the Honorable Gerald H. Schiff (Ret.), United States Bankruptcy Court for the Western District of Louisiana. Judge Crawford grew up in Winnfield, Louisiana. He currently resides in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. He and his wife have two children.
Ms. Jennifer D. Cruz
Staff Attorney- Chp 13 Trustee Western District Alexandia Division
Jennifer graduated Magna Cum Laude from Southern University Law Center in 2017. While attending law school, Jennifer was a law clerk for 2 years at Derren Johnson & Associates and she also served as an editor for the Southern University Law Review. Currently, she is staff attorney to the Chapter 13 Trustee in the Western District of Louisiana, Alexandria Division. Prior to this position, Jennifer was staff attorney to Chapter 7 Trustee Dwayne Murray in addition to the consumer bankruptcy attorney for the Murray & Murray Law Firm. Jennifer was recently selected by the National Conference of Bankruptcy Judges as a Blackshear Presidential Fellow.
Ms. Robin Ronquillo De Leo
De Leo Law Firm
Robin Ronquillo De Leo is a managing member of The De Leo Law Firm, LLC located in Mandeville, Louisiana. Ms. De Leo received her B.A. from Michigan State University in 1987 and received her J.D. cum laude from Tulane University School of Law in 1990. Ms. De Leo has been practicing bankruptcy since 1990 when she started as an associate at the law firm of Friend, Wilson and Draper in New Orleans. Tired of the commute, in 1998, Ms. De Leo started her own law firm on the northshore.
Ms. De Leo also had the pleasure of briefly practicing law with her father, Allan Ronquillo, who passed away in 2020. Her practice focuses on representing both debtors and creditors in Chapter 7, Chapter 11, Chapter 11 Subchapter V and Chapter 13 bankruptcy proceedings. Ms. De Leo became certified as a specialist in consumer bankruptcy law in 2005 by the American Board of Certification, the American Bankruptcy Institute, and the Louisiana Board of Legal Specialization. Ms. De Leo served on the Bankruptcy Law Advisory Committee for the Louisiana Board of Legal Specialization and received the Pro Bono Publico and the Pro Bono Century Award from the Louisiana Bar Association, as well as the Distinguished Service Award from Southeast Legal Services. Ms. De Leo has conducted a seminar on consumer bankruptcy law sponsored by the National Business Institute and has been a featured speaker on bankruptcy issues at seminars hosted by the Conference on Consumer Finance, the National Association of Chapter 13 Trustees, the Credit Card Organization, the 22nd Judicial District Court Bar Association, and Southeast Louisiana Legal Services. Ms. De Leo has also conducted numerous in-house seminars on the management of bankruptcy caseloads and has drafted in-house procedures to be used in streamlining the handling of consumer bankruptcy cases. Ms. De Leo also served on the bankruptcy local rules committee for consumer cases for the bankruptcy court in the Eastern District of Louisiana. She is a member of the American Bankruptcy Institute, the National Association of Chapter 13 Trustees, the National Association of Consumer Bankruptcy Attorneys, the Louisiana Bar Association, the New Orleans Bar Association, and the 22nd Judicial District Court Bar Association. Ms. De Leo resides in Mandeville with her husband John as “empty nesters.” The De Leo’s have a daughter residing in Atlanta and a daughter residing in Dubai.
Mr. Albert J. Derbes, IV IV
The Derbes Law Firm, LLC
Albert J. Derbes, IV is a founding member and co-managing member of the ten attorney Derbes Law Firm, LLC. He has practiced law for more than 30 years, with a heavy emphasis in commercial bankruptcy - - representing creditors, trustees, debtors and committees. Some of his more well-known cases include Schwegmann Giant Super Market (as Trustee’s counsel), Ormond Country Club (as Debtor’s counsel), and New Orleans Paddlewheel [i.e., the Creole Queen] (as Creditor Committee’s counsel). His other areas of practice include commercial litigation, commercial transactions, successions, succession & trust litigation, and entity law (esp. concerning the division of and liquidation of closely held businesses). Mr. Derbes is a frequent speaker on bankruptcy and other business-related topics. Mr. Derbes’ extensive litigation experience includes litigating in multiple Louisiana District Courts, Federal District Courts, Tax Court, as well as Bankruptcy Courts in Louisiana, Texas, and Mississippi. He recently became certified as a Louisiana Mediator. He obtained his B.A. from Rice University and his J.D. from Tulane School of Law.
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.
Douglas S. Draper
Heller, Draper & Horn, L.L.C.
Douglas S. Draper practices primarily in the creditor and debtor rights area. His practice involves an equal mix of litigation and business negotiation. The creditor and debtor rights work involves representation of bondholders, creditors’ committees and debtors in large commercial and business cases. He has represented clients in successful reorganizations of hotels, grocery chains, apartment complexes, office buildings, oil companies, shipyards, clothing stores, an oil refinery, and fast food franchises. He has developed an expertise in the bankruptcy aspects of environmental issues and plugging and abandonment of oil and gas wells. Chambers USA described Douglas Draper as combining “a very engaging personality” with “the ability to give you the bottom line and the only logical solution in even the most complex of bankruptcies.”
