Money Talks: Getting Retained and Paid (Ethically) by the Bankruptcy Estate

Evan T. Miller is a director at Bayard. Evan concentrates his practice in the areas of corporate bankruptcy and restructuring, representing debtors (both voluntary and involuntary) and trustees, in addition to asset purchasers, landlords, official committees of unsecured creditors, secured creditors, vendors, and preference and fraudulent transfer litigants in bankruptcy courts across the country. His clientele stems from a wide range of industries, including aviation, restaurants, insurance, retail, healthcare, energy, and education, among many others. In addition to in-court and out-of-court restructuring matters, Evan has experience handling commercial litigation in Delaware, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania jurisdictions, as well as Delaware Statutory Trust matters. Evan is also a certified mediator for the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware and is included on the Register of Mediators and Arbitrators maintained by the Court.

Since 2016, Evan has been recognized by Super Lawyers? magazine as a Delaware Rising Star in the practice area of business bankruptcy. Evan was also named to Benchmark Litigation’s 40 and Under Hot List from 2019-2021 for his work in bankruptcy litigation, a practice which expands across the country.

Evan created and maintains the Avoidance Action Update Blog at https://www.bayardlaw.com/blog, which tracks the latest developments in avoidance action case law and jurisprudence.

Evan is very active in the local and national restructuring community, currently serving as Vice Chair of the American Bankruptcy Institute’s (ABI) Real Estate Committee, executive board member of the Turnaround Management Association Philadelphia/Wilmington (TMA) chapter (whose scope covers the Philadelphia metro area, the state of Delaware, and southern New Jersey), Treasurer of Delaware Bankruptcy American Inn of Court, and Vice Chair of the Business Law Section for the Philadelphia Bar Association, of which he was formerly the Communications Chair, Secretary and Treasurer. Previously, Evan served as Chairman of TMA NextGen, Chairman of ABI’s Young & New Members Committee, Chairman and Treasurer of the Delaware State Bar Association’s (DSBA) Young Lawyer Section, Vice Chair of the Bankruptcy Committee for the American Bar Association’s Young Lawyer Division, and Chair of the Philadelphia Bar Association’s Bankruptcy Committee.

Evan currently serves as one of two member contacts for Meritas, an invitation-only international alliance of over 175 business law firms located in over 80 countries. Bayard is the sole Delaware member of Meritas.

Before joining Bayard, Evan graduated cum laude from the Delaware Law School, as well as with Honors from the Delaware Law School’s Institute of Delaware Corporate and Business Law. While in law school, Evan served as the Internal Managing Editor of the Widener Law Review for the 2008-2009 academic year. He was also on the executive board of the Moe Levine Trial Advocacy Honor Society, serving as New Member Competition Chairperson, and being awarded Outstanding Executive Board Member during that time. During 2006-2007, Evan served as a legal intern to the Honorable Chandlee Kuhn, Chief Judge of the Family Court of the State of Delaware. In his final year of law school, Evan served as a judicial extern to the Honorable Jane R. Roth of the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit.

Prior to law school, Evan was the recipient of the John J. Serff academic scholarship and a member of several honor societies while attending Bloomsburg University.

Meredith Grabill has practiced law primarily in the areas of bankruptcy, commercial, and oil and gas litigation in Louisiana and New York. In 2019, she was appointed as a U.S. Bankruptcy Judge for the Eastern District of Louisiana. Prior to her appointment, Judge Grabill was a shareholder at Lugenbuhl, Wheaton, Peck, Rankin & Hubbard and focused her practice in the areas of bankruptcy, corporate law and commercial litigation. She is the first Lugenbuhl attorney to transition to a judge.

While in practice, Grabill served on bankruptcy teams representing a commercial real estate finance firm in bankruptcy, an insurance company in a demutualization and acquisition process, and the Official Unsecured Creditors’ Committee in an E&P company’s bankruptcy proceedings. She also represented a multinational high-tech corporation in antitrust proceedings in multiple countries, a professional players’ association in labor and contract disputes, insurance and reinsurance companies in contract disputes, and both individuals and corporations in fraudulent transfer and other commercial and oil-and-gas disputes. She had the privilege of serving as the clerk to the Special Master appointed by the United States Supreme Court to preside over an interstate water-rights dispute. To build upon the skills and experience she gained in her bankruptcy practice, Grabill served as a judicial clerk to Judge Martin Glenn, U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York, from 2011-2012.

Prior to entering the private practice of law, she served as a judicial clerk to Judge Edith Brown Clement, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, from 2007-2008; and Judge Martin L.C. Feldman, U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana, from 2006-2007.

Grabill earned her J.D. from Tulane University School of Law in 2006, where she served as Editor In Chief of the Tulane Law Review from 2005-2006. The faculty honored her with the John Minor Wisdom Award for Academic Excellence and Legal Scholarship that is awarded annually to an outstanding student of the graduating class. In 1997, she received her B.A. in Political Science and History from The Evergreen State College in Olympia, Washington.

Grabill has published articles regarding Chapter 11 venues for distressed oil-and-gas companies as well as state-law oil-and-gas issues. She has been recognized as a Super Lawyers Rising Star (2016) and received the New Orleans CityBusiness Leadership in Law Award (2016), as well as the Louisiana State Bar Association’s Pro Bono Publico Award (2016). She is a member of several professional associations, including the Women’s Energy Network and the International Women’s Insolvency & Restructuring Confederation.

Grabill is licensed to practice law in New York and Louisiana and is admitted to practice in the following jurisdictions: United States Supreme Court, United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, U.S. District Courts for the Eastern, Middle, and Western Districts of Louisiana, and the U.S. District Court for the Southern and Eastern Districts of New York.

With more than 38 years of experience, John Duck represents financial institutions and other creditors in all aspects of creditors’ rights litigation, primarily in the bankruptcy practice area. His clients have included creditors and lessors committees, bankruptcy trustees, bankruptcy court-appointed examiners and commercial Chapter 11 debtors. His practice focuses on creditors’ rights, loan workouts and restructuring, troubled asset management and dispositions, bankruptcy proceedings and related commercial and bankruptcy litigation.

John has successfully confirmed many Chapter 11 reorganization plans in various industries, ranging from oil and gas assets, marine operations, technology, commercial real estate and hospitality, to franchising operations. He has successfully litigated numerous complicated cases involving fraud committed against lenders and creditors. He represents clients across the southeastern United States where he is admitted to practice in numerous federal districts.

In keeping with the firm’s commitment to community service, John is the chairman of the New Orleans Ballet Association Board of Directors. He also serves on the Men of Fashion Board, which helps sponsor the activities of the New Orleans Ballet Association, and recognizes men and women in the community for their public service. Previously, he served on the Urban League Board for a number of years, and as the League’s board vice chair for two years as well.

Ariane R. Holtschlag is partner with FactorLaw in Chicago and serves as a member of the panel of chapter 7 bankruptcy trustees for the Northern District of Illinois. In her legal practice, She focuses primarily on consumer bankruptcy.

Ms. Holtschlag regularly represents debtors, trustees, and creditors in chapter 7 and 13 as well as bankruptcy-related litigation. She has spoken at several bankruptcy education programs and also volunteered for CARE, speaking to high school students about credit and bankruptcy. In 2017, she was chosen as one of ABI’s inaugural “40 Under 40” award recipients in recognition of her achievements.

Ms. Holtschlag was a commissioner on ABI’s Commission on Consumer Bankruptcy and in 2018 testified before congress on chapter 7 trustee fees. She received her undergraduate degree in 2004 from Illinois Wesleyan University and her J.D. from the University of Iowa in 2007.