Current Economics and the Continuing Effects of COVID-19

Geoffrey S. Goodman is a partner and litigation lawyer with Foley & Lardner LLP in Chicago, where his practice covers broad areas of bankruptcy and insolvency law and has focused on commodities and securities bankruptcies, as well as health care and energy bankruptcies. He is co-chair for the firm’s Bankruptcy & Business Reorganizations Practice and a member of its Appellate Practice.

Mr. Goodman has represented chapter 11 debtors, official creditors’ committees, ad hoc committees, trustees, secured lenders, purchasers of assets and unsecured creditors in chapter 11 cases, including some of the largest chapter 11 cases in the country. In addition, he counsels clients in liquidations, workouts, assignments for the benefit of creditors and transactions, and handles bankruptcy and creditors’ rights litigation in both federal and state court. Mr. Goodman has experience in the area of commodities and securities bankruptcies, having represented a consortium of customers holding over $100 million in claims in the MF Global bankruptcy case and serving as special commodities counsel to the chapter 7 trustee in the Peregrine Financial Group, Inc. bankruptcy.

Mr. Goodman also served as counsel to one of the largest creditors in the multi-billion dollar chapter 11 case of In re Refco, Inc. in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York and as counsel to an ad hoc committee of customers in the billion dollar case of In re Sentinel Management Group, Inc. in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Illinois. He has counseled large mutual funds, hedge funds, futures commission merchants, exchanges and other entities in this area. His practice also covers the areas of health care and energy bankruptcies, having served as counsel to the debtor and large secured and unsecured creditors in significant health care cases and counsel to the creditors’ committee in the large chapter 11 cases of coal companies Horizon Natural Resources Co., Trinity Coal Corp. and Black Diamond Mining Company, LLC.

Prior to joining Foley, Mr. Goodman clerked for Hon. Francis D. Murnaghan, Jr. of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. He received his B.A. in political science with honors in 1996 from Illinois Wesleyan University and his J.D. summa cum laude in 1999 from the University of Illinois College of Law, where he was notes editor of the Law Review and elected to the Order of the Coif.

Hon. Charles R. Merrill is a U.S. Bankruptcy Judge for the Western District of Kentucky in Louisville, sworn in on Dec. 29, 2020.

Prior to his appointment to the bench, he practiced with the U.S. Trustee Program for more than 15 years in Louisville.

Judge Merrill joined the U.S. Trustee Program through the Attorney General’s Honors Program immediately after graduating from Tulane University Law School. Before entering the practice of law, Judge Merrill lived and worked in Asia for five years.

Teri L. Stratton, CIRA is a managing director with Piper Sandler Companies restructuring group, TRS Advisors in El Segundo, Calif. Prior to joining Piper Sandler in 2010, she spent 10 years at Macquarie Capital Advisors (and predecessor firms) in the restructuring group.

Prior to her investment banking career, Ms. Stratton had eight years of experience in corporate banking, serving in both credit administration and special assets. She is a Certified Insolvency and Restructuring Advisor, a board member of the Turnaround Management Association, and a member of the Association of Insolvency and Restructuring Association and ABI.

Ms. Stratton received her bachelor’s degree in economics from the University of California at Los Angeles and her M.B.A. in finance with honors from the Anderson School at UCLA.

Ryan maupin is a principal in the firm’s Corporate Finance practice and advises U.S.-based and international companies, secured and unsecured creditors, sovereign wealth and private-equity funds in workout situations both in and out of court. He also manages several firm-wide key accounts.

Ryan held the CFO position at a luxury brand merchandiser during the restructuring of its U.S. and Italian divisions, served as interim general manager of Seattle-based casinos during a British Columbian insolvency proceeding, and assisted Grant Thornton liquidators in the Cayman Islands in a large cross-border insolvency. He also led an engagement team that advised Centro Properties during the sale of its U.S. portfolio to The Blackstone Group for $9.4 billion. In addition, he led a cross-border restructuring of over ?97 million of debt related to a mixed-use development project in Bristol, U.K., and recently served as CEO of an oil and gas services business, selling the assets successfully through a ? 363 sale process.

Ryan grew up on a farm in Illinois; his first job at 10 years old was walking beans for his father and grandfather. He hasn’t stopped since. A frequent speaker for the Practicing Law Institute and ABI, he is a member of ABI, the Association of Insolvency & Restructuring Advisors and the Turnaround Management Association.