Mrs. Alicia M Bendana
Shareholder
Lugenbuhl, Wheaton, Peck, Rankin & Hubbard
https://www.lawla.com/attorneys/alicia-bendana/
Alicia represents clients as lead or co-lead counsel in the prosecution of officer and director liability litigation, legal and accounting malpractice liability litigation, fraud and RICO litigation, fraudulent transfer/preference avoidance litigation, contract disputes, insurance disputes, the partitioning of marital property in bankruptcy court, the excepting of debts from discharge, the opposing of plans of reorganization and the proposing of competing plans, and the purchase of assets from bankruptcy estates. Alicia is board certified in business bankruptcy law by both the American Board of Certification and by the Louisiana Board of Legal Specialization. She is also a Certified Fraud Examiner. Alicia holds an “AV” Preeminent Peer Review Rating from Martindale-Hubbell, the highest possible rating for legal ability and ethical standards. She has a distinguished ranking in Chambers and Partners, USA in the areas of bankruptcy and restructuring. Additionally, Alicia is recognized in The Best Lawyers in America for her work in bankruptcy, creditor-debtor rights, insolvency and reorganization law, and bankruptcy litigation, and is listed among Lawdragon’s 500 Leading U.S. Bankruptcy and Restructuring Lawyers. She is also recognized in Super Lawyers in the areas of business bankruptcy, business litigation, and debtor/creditor rights and in New Orleans Magazine as one of the “Top Lawyers” in the city. Alicia has authored numerous articles for professional publications, is a frequent lecturer at professional programs, and is currently an Adjunct Associate Professor of Trial Advocacy at Tulane University School of Law.
Ms. Hilary B Bonial
Managing Director
Bonial and Associates, PC
http://www.Bonialpc.com
Hilary B. Bonial is managing director of Bonial and Associates in Dallas, TX. She received a Bachelor of Arts degree, with honors, from Loyola University in New Orleans in 1993, and her law degree from Louisiana State University Law Center in 1996.
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.
Professor B. Summer Summer Chandler
LSU Law Center
Professor Chandler joined the Law Center faculty in 2021. Prior to joining the Law Center faculty, she served as a visiting assistant professor at Southern University Law Center. She also served as an assistant professor at Concordia University School of Law. Prior to joining Concordia University School of Law, she was as a visiting assistant professor at the Georgia State University College of Law. She brings a wealth of practice experience to her teaching. Prior to joining the academy, Professor Chandler practiced for fifteen years in large national and international law firms, focusing her practice on business bankruptcy, commercial real estate related litigation and transactions, and other business transactions and disputes.
Professor Chandler’s research interests are in the areas of bankruptcy and legal ethics. She teaches business and commercial law courses. Professor Chandler is a graduate of the University of Michigan Law School. She obtained her undergraduate degree from the University of North Carolina – Asheville.
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.
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 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.
Mr. Ernest Eugene Hastings
Chapter 13 Trustee
E. Eugene Hastings, Chapter 13 Trustee
E. Eugene Hastings has been serving as the Chapter 13 Trustee for the Monroe Division of the Western District of Louisiana since 2004. In February of 2015 he was also appointed as the case Trustee for all of the Chapter 12 cases pending in the State of Louisiana. Prior to serving as a Chapter 13 Trustee he was a Chapter 7 Trustee for approximately eight years and during this same time period he was appointed Trustee in several Chapter 11 cases. In addition to his duties as a Trustee, Gene Hastings has operated Bayou DeSiard Title Company, LLC since 1997. He received his undergraduate degree from Louisiana Tech University and is a 1984 graduate of the Paul M. Hebert Law Center at LSU. He is married to Margaret Adkins Hastings and they have two sons.
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.
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.
Judge Marvin Isgur
US Bankruptcy Court Southern District of Texas
Marvin Isgur has been a United States Bankruptcy Judge since February 1, 2004. He was appointed to a second term as a Bankruptcy Judge, which began on February 1, 2018. Chief Justice John Roberts, Jr. appointed Judge Isgur to the Judicial Conference Committee on Court Administration and Case Management. He is the sole bankruptcy judge appointed to the Committee by the Chief Justice. Judge Isgur was recently reappointed to a second term on the Judicial Conference Committee.
Judge Isgur currently presides over more than 4,000 bankruptcy cases. He has been instrumental in reforming consumer bankruptcy practices and rules both in the Southern District of Texas and nationally.
Judge Isgur is one of two judges who is assigned complex bankruptcy cases in the Southern District of Texas. In that capacity, he has presided over multiple bankruptcy cases with liabilities exceeding one billion dollars. In 2018, he was assigned the largest bankruptcy case filed in the United States.
In 1974, Judge Isgur received his bachelor’s degree from the University of Houston. In 1978 he received his MBA, with honors, from Stanford University. After earning his MBA, Judge Isgur served as an executive with a large real estate development company in Houston. In 1987, Judge Isgur returned to the University of Houston to attend law school. Judge Isgur was awarded his law degree, with high honors, in 1990 and began representing debtors and trustees in chapter 11 and 7 bankruptcy cases until his appointment as a Bankruptcy Judge. Judge Isgur is also one of a handful of attorneys in the nation with experience representing various parties in chapter 9 bankruptcy cases.
Judge Isgur has written over 500 memorandum opinions. He was one of the first judges to issue opinions interpreting the 2005 Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act.
Judge Isgur was a founding member and served on the board of directors for the Houston Urban Debate League, a non-profit organization that works in partnership with local schools to bring policy debate to high school students. He is one of the principal organizers of the annual University of Texas Consumer Bankruptcy Conference and is a frequent speaker at continuing legal education programs.
When his volunteer and court activities permit, Judge Isgur spends his weekends sailing on Galveston Bay.
