Subchapter V Recent Case Law Updates and Issues: Navigating the New Small Business Roadmap to Reorganization

Michelle V. Lee is an associate in the Bankruptcy Department at Margolis Edelstein in Philadelphia. She is admitted to practice law in Pennsylvania and New Jersey.

Ms. Lee has been a presenter at PBI’s 19th, 21st and 22nd Annual Bankruptcy Institutes and the Eastern District of Pennsylvania Bankruptcy Conference’s 27th and 31st Annual Forums. She is a member of the NBA Women’s Lawyer Division, National Association of Consumer Bankruptcy Attorneys and the Eastern District of Pennsylvania Bankruptcy Conference, and she is a board member of the People’s Emergency Center.

Ms. Lee received her Bachelor’s degree in international relations and Japanese studies from the University of Pennsylvania. An accomplished double-bassist, she performed with the University’s orchestra and toured China performing Beijing opera. She received her J.D. from Georgetown University, where she was selected to join its Criminal Justice Clinic, advocating for impoverished clients before the District of Columbia Superior Court and the U.S. Parole Commission.

Additionally, she was one of just seven law students chosen for a competitive in-house counsel internship with Sodexho Inc., a Fortune 500 Company. Following law school, Ms. Lee clerked for Hon. Frederica Massiah-Jackson, President Judge Emeritus, in the Philadelphia County Court of Common Pleas.

Patricia B. Jefferson is a principal at Miles & Stockbridge P.C. in Baltimore in its Creditors’ Rights and Bankruptcy group. She represents diverse clients (lenders, commercial lessors, committees, trustees and other creditors) in all aspects of bankruptcy cases, including cash-collateral use, debtorin- possession financing, dischargeability litigation, claims objections, executory contract and lease disputes, asset sales, automatic stay litigation and avoidance actions.

Ms. Jefferson also represents and advises secured lenders in formulating and executing workout strategies outside of bankruptcy cases, as well as secured and unsecured creditors in commercial collections matters. In addition, she advises clients regarding distressed real estate and commercial foreclosures.

Ms. Jefferson is a regular speaker at legal education seminars sponsored by the Bankruptcy Bar Association for the District of Maryland. She received her J.D. with honors from the University of Maryland School of Law, where she was elected to the Order of Barristers and served as an associate editor of The Business Lawyer and as vice-president of the Moot Court Board.

Trinitee G. Green is an associate in Polsinelli’s Chicago and Houston offices, and focuses her practice on complex bankruptcy matters. Her restructuring experience includes the representation of debtors, creditors, committees, post-confirmation trustees and bankruptcy trustees in bankruptcy cases and adversary proceedings throughout the U.S. Since the enactment of the Small Business Reorganization Act of 2019 (SBRA), she has represented debtors and lenders in subchapter V cases.

Ms. Green has experience representing lenders and special servicers in the enforcement and foreclosure of commercial mortgage loans. She has experience prosecuting and defending avoidance actions, as well as pursuing D&O claims.

Ms. Green received her B.B.A. summa cum laude in 2004 from the University of Louisiana Monroe and her J.D. cum laude in 2012 from Southern Methodist University.

Hon. Maria Ellena Chavez-Ruark is a U.S. Bankruptcy Judge for the District of Maryland in Baltimore, appointed in 2020. Prior to joining the bench, she was a partner in the Bankruptcy and Restructuring practice group at Saul Ewing Arnstein & Lehr LLP in Baltimore, where she represented debtors, creditors’ committees, secured creditors, unsecured creditors, landlords, lessors, purchasers of assets and trustees in complex insolvency proceedings, including chapter 11 bankruptcy cases, receiverships and assignments for the benefit of creditors. She also represented parties in workouts, restructurings and complex commercial litigation, including fraudulent transfer, deepening insolvency, breach of fiduciary duty and preferential transfer litigation.

Judge Ruark was admitted to practice in the State of Maryland and the District of Columbia and represented clients in state and federal courts throughout the U.S. She is a past president of the Maryland Bankruptcy Bar Association, a member of ABI, the Immediate Past President of the Chesapeake Chapter of the Turnaround Management Association, a former member of the global executive board for the Turnaround Management Association, and the Immediate Past President of the Pro Bono Resource Center of Maryland. She is also a frequent speaker and author on various bankruptcy subjects.

Judge Ruark was named to the Lawdragon 500 Leading U.S. Bankruptcy & Restructuring Lawyers in 2020. She was also named one of “America’s Leading Lawyers for Bankruptcy/Restructuring” by Chambers USA from 2015-20, named in The Best Lawyers in America for Bankruptcy and Creditor-Debtor Rights Law from 2013-20, and selected for inclusion in Maryland Super Lawyers from 2010-20. In addition, in 2009, 2011 and 2020, she was named one of Maryland’s Top 100 Women in Business by The Daily Record, an annual award that recognizes leadership roles and outstanding professional, civic and mentoring achievements of professional women who reside and work in Maryland and who are making an impact on the state. Also in 2010, Judge Ruark was named one of the Pro Bono Resource Center of Maryland’s “pro bono stars” for her exemplary service and commitment to providing pro bono legal representation to Maryland’s underrepresented citizens. In 2006, she earned the first annual Educator of the Year Award by Maryland Volunteer Lawyers Service for her pro bono service in the State of Maryland.

Judge Ruark served on her firm’s Pro Bono Committee and Diversity and Inclusion Committee for many years, chaired the firm’s Minority Attorney Resource Group in 2019 and 2020, and has mentored law students and young lawyers throughout her 26-year career. She received both her B.A. in accounting and her M.B.A. from Salisbury University and her J.D. from the University of Baltimore School of Law.

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.