Subchapter V 101: A Guide to the Bankruptcy Code’s Newest (Sub)Chapter

Richard P. Cook is the owner and managing attorney of Cape Fear Debt Relief, a boutique bankruptcy firm in Wilmington, N.C. Founded in 2011, Cape Fear Debt Relief represents individuals and small businesses in chapter 7, 11 and 13 cases before the U.S. Bankruptcy Courts in Eastern North Carolina.

In February 2020, Mr. Cook was named a subchapter V trustee for the Eastern District of North Carolina. He is one of only three attorneys in Wilmington recognized by the North Carolina State Bar as a Board-Certified Specialist in both Business and Consumer Bankruptcy Law.

Mr. Cook served on the board of the North Carolina State Bar Association’s Bankruptcy Section Council from 2013-16. He currently serves as the Fourth Circuit chair for the National Association of Consumer Bankruptcy Attorneys.

Prior to founding Cape Fear Debt Relief, Mr. Cook was an associate with Butler & Butler, LLP in Wilmington, N.C., and prior to that, he was an associate with Brock & Scott, PLLC in Winston-Salem, N.C. He received his undergraduate degree and J.D. from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 2003 and 2007, respectively.

Jolene E. Wee, CIRA is the owner, managing director and founder of JW Infinity Consulting, LLC in New York, a financial advisory firm specialized in providing transaction advisory, interim management, litigation consulting, and forensic accounting services to distressed companies and its stakeholders. Using her mathematics and computer science background, she deploys large-scale data analytics to derive forward-looking business insights based on her professional training in accounting, finance and economics.

Ms. Wee has served as an advisor to investors, fiduciaries, creditor committees, debtors, legal counsel, distressed companies, high-net-worth individuals, and public agencies on restructuring, bankruptcy, litigation, forensic, financing, merger and buyout matters. She has also performed fraudulent-transfer analyses and business valuations on bankruptcy litigation matters. Her case experience includes companies in the banking, e-commerce, financial services, health care, insurance, manufacturing, professional services, real estate and retail industries with revenues of up to $15B. Fluent in several Chinese and Southeast Asian languages, Ms. Wee was selected as a member of ABI’s 2020 “40 Under 40” class. In 2018, she was named Valuation Adviser of the Year by Finance Monthly Global Awards.

Ms. Wee is a subchapter V trustee in Region 2, covering the Eastern and Southern Districts of New York, and Region 4, covering Maryland, the District of Columbia and the Eastern District of Virginia. She received her bachelor’s degrees in mathematics and business administration with a focus on finance from Berea College, and her M.B.A. from Miami University of Ohio.

Ryan J. Richmond is a partner at the New Orleans-based law firm of Sternberg, Naccari & White, LLC, where his practice focuses on small business clients, both in and out of bankruptcy. Since 2020, he has served as a subchapter V trustee throughout Louisiana. Mr. Richmond clerked for Hon. Douglas D. Dodd from 2006-07. He received his J.D. in 2006 and his M.B.A. in 2015 from Louisiana State University.

Kesha Tanabe is a bankruptcy attorney with Tanabe Law in Minneapolis and is licensed in North Dakota, Minnesota and New York. She started her career as an assistant attorney general in New York.

Prior to starting her own firm about five years ago, Ms. Tanabe was a partner at ASK LLP, Maslon LLP and Faegre Baker Daniels. She is also a professor of bankruptcy law at the University of St. Thomas Law School, a member of the editorial board of the MSBA’s Bankruptcy Bulletin and a co-founder of the Minnesota Chapter of IWIRC, and she served as a Special Projects Leader for ABI’s Bankruptcy Litigation Committee. She was recently appointed to serve as a subchapter V trustee in Region 12.

Ms. Tanabe is a graduate of the London School of Economics and received her J.D. from Cardozo School of Law.