Is the SBRA Here to Stay? Case Law Developments and Political Will

Robert J. Keach is co-chair of Bernstein Shur’s Business Restructuring and Insolvency Practice Group. He is a Fellow of the American College of Bankruptcy and a Past President (2009-2010) of the American Bankruptcy Institute. Bob is also the co-chair of the ABI’s Commission to Study the Reform of Chapter 11.

Bob focuses on the representation of various parties in workouts and bankruptcy cases, including debtors, creditors, creditors committees, lessors and third parties acquiring troubled companies and/or their assets. He has appeared as a panelist on national bankruptcy, lender liability and creditors rights programs, and is the author of several articles on bankruptcy and creditors’ rights appearing in the ABI Law Review, Commercial Law Journal and ABI Journal, among other publications. Keach is a contributing author to Collier Guide to Chapter 11: Key Topics and Selected Industries (2011 Ed.).

He is recognized as a “Star Individual” in Corporate M&A/Bankruptcy in Chambers USA, in Best Lawyers in America (Ten-Year Certificate), and by New England Super Lawyers (Bankruptcy and Top 100 Lawyers in New England regardless of specialty). Bob is also certified in business bankruptcy by the American Board of Certification.

Currently, Bob serves as the chapter 11 trustee in the railroad reorganization case of Montreal Maine & Atlantic Railway, Ltd., a cross-border restructuring case. Bob is also the fee examiner in the Exide Technologies case in Delaware; he was also the fee examiner in In re AMR Corporation (the chapter 11 cases of American Airlines and its parent and certain affiliates). Bob has also, inter alia, represented ad hoc committees in the Homebanc Mortgage, New Century TRS Holdings, and Nortel Networks cases in Delaware, as well as a public utilities commission in the FairPoint Communications case in the Southern District of New York.

Marc E. Albert is a partner with Stinson LLP in Washington, D.C., and chairs its Bankruptcy and Creditors’ Rights Group. He has concentrated over the past 35 years in the areas of financial restructuring, insolvency and creditors’ rights.

Mr. Albert has represented debtors, creditor committees, lenders and other creditors. He has been appointed by the Office of the U.S. Trustee as operating trustee in chapter 11 and 7 cases, and he has been on the Chapter 7 Trustee Panel in the District of Columbia for over 30 years. He also serves as counsel in a variety of bankruptcy and nonbankruptcy matters, including representing numerous clients who have tax problems with the Internal Revenue Service or state tax authorities.

Prior to joining the firm, Mr. Albert was litigation counsel with the Tax Division of the Department of Justice. With three other attorneys, he started a boutique bankruptcy law firm that grew to become one of the leading bankruptcy firms in Northern Virginia.

Mr. Albert maintains an AV rating from Martindale-Hubbell and is admitted to practice in Pennsylvania, the District of Columbia, Maryland and Virginia, and before the U.S. Supreme Court. He is a member of the District of Columbia, American and Virginia Bar Associations, and the Walter Chandler Inn of Court, National Association of Bankruptcy Trustees, ABI, World Affairs Council – Washington, D.C., and the George Washington University Law School Mentoring and Recruitment Program. He was recognized in 2015 with the Founders Award from World Affairs Council and is listed in The Best Lawyers in America from 2011-17 for Bankruptcy and Creditor/Debtor Rights/ Insolvency and Reorganization Law and Litigation-Bankruptcy, Washington D.C. Super Lawyers from 2012-17 for Bankruptcy & Creditor/Debtor Rights, and the 2015 edition of Chambers USA: America’s Leading Lawyers for Business in Bankruptcy/Restructuring.

Mr. Albert received his B.A. in 1970 and his J.D. in 1973 from George Washington University, and his M.L.T. in 1984 from Georgetown University.

Hon. Michelle M. Harner is a U.S. Bankruptcy Judge for the District of Maryland in Baltimore, appointed in 2017.

Prior to her appointment to the bench, she was the Francis King Carey Professor of Law and the Director of the Business Law Program at the University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law, where she taught courses in bankruptcy and creditors’ rights, business associations, business planning, corporate finance and the legal profession. Judge Harner lectured frequently during her academic career on various topics involving corporate governance, financially distressed entities, risk management and related legal issues. Her academic scholarship is widely published, with her publications appearing in, among others, the Vanderbilt Law Review, Notre Dame Law Review, Washington University Law Review, Minnesota Law Review, Indiana Law Journal, Fordham Law Review (reprinted in Corporate Practice Commentator), Washington & Lee Law Review, William & Mary Law Review, University of Illinois Law Review, Arizona Law Review (reprinted in Corporate Practice Commentator) and Florida Law Review.

Judge Harner has served as the Associate Reporter to the Advisory Committee on the Federal Rules of Bankruptcy Procedure, the Reporter to the ABI Commission to Study the Reform of Chapter 11, and a member of the Dodd-Frank Study Working Group for the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts. She also served as the Robert M. Zinman ABI Resident Scholar for the fall of 2015. Judge Harner is an elected member of the American Law Institute and Fellow of the American College of Bankruptcy. She previously was in private practice in business restructuring, insolvency, bankruptcy and related transactional fields, most recently as a partner at the Chicago office of the international law firm Jones Day.

Judge Harner received her B.A. cum laude from Boston College in 1992 and her J.D. summa cum laude from The Ohio State University College of Law in 1995.