Robert Mercer. (Courtesy photo)

After 20 years at larger firms, Robert Mercer has started his own bankruptcy and insolvency firm, Mercer Law.

Mercer's career change comes as bankruptcy and restructuring practices are expected to see higher demand this year amid the pandemic. Court closures have put somewhat of a damper on bankruptcy filings so far, Mercer said, but he expects to see more middle-market companies filing in Georgia by the fall.

"The collective wisdom is that, come August or September, those type of filings for the middle market will pick up," he said, noting the wave of national retail bankruptcies so far, such as J.C. Penney, J. Crew, Neiman Marcus—and, last week, glassmaker Libbey.

Somewhat uniquely, Mercer, who most recently practiced at Schulten Ward Turner & Weiss, does not represent banks in bankruptcies. Instead, he focuses on advising fiduciaries, creditors, borrowers and other parties. More recently, he has started advising plaintiffs firms in high-stakes class and collective action claims against corporations to protect plaintiffs' interests in the event of a judgment.

Going solo at Mercer Law allows Mercer to avoid any larger-firm bank conflicts, he said—and at 49, he was ready to run his own firm. "I really enjoy the practice of law. I felt like—life is short and this would be fun to do," he said.

Mercer started out at Powell Goldstein, where an early mentor was Wendy Hagenau, now the chief judge of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Georgia, then continued as a partner at Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner after that firm acquired Powell Goldstein in 2009. For the past five years, he's been a partner at Schulten Ward, which he joined to avoid bank client conflicts at Bryan Cave, which has a large banking practice.

Mercer, who is financing his firm's launch through savings, said he'd already made the decision to open Mercer Law before the coronavirus pandemic hit. "I'd been thinking about this for a long time," he said.

He and Tasheba Fulcher, his assistant from Schulten Ward, moved into Mercer Law's new digs at the Promenade Building at 1230 Peachtree St. N.E. in May. Mercer said the office move was complicated by "wearing gloves and hand-sanitizing and not wanting to touch anything."

For his traditional bankruptcy practice representing significant parties other than banks, such as fiduciaries, boards of directors, asset purchasers and the like in insolvency cases, Mercer said his hourly rate is similar to that of a bankruptcy partner at his level at a large firm.

But, he added, "Now I have the luxury of taking cases that would be more difficult to take at a large law firm."

In some bankruptcy cases, he might represent parties—often on contingency—to challenge a leveraged buyout or other leveraged transaction of the bankrupt company as a fraudulent transfer in an effort to maximize its recovery.

He also advises plaintiffs lawyers in high-stakes class and collective actions against companies to preserve the plaintiffs' interests as potential creditors. "We want to make sure the plaintiffs' rights are protected—and there is money for a potential judgment," he explained.

For instance, plaintiffs firm Pope McGlamry brought Mercer in to represent plaintiffs' interests against Wright Medical Group after Stryker in November announced that it would acquire Wright Medical for $4 billion.

Pope McGlamry is lead plaintiffs counsel in multidistrict litigation against Wright Medical over defective hip implants. The MDL, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia, is made up of almost 2,000 plaintiffs' claims being settled for about $340 million, according to Pope McGlamry.

Mercer said he is working with Mike McGlamry and Kurt Pope to make sure the money is there for all of the injured plaintiffs. Neither Wright Medical or Stryker is in bankruptcy, Mercer noted, explaining that Stryker's tender offer is part of a complicated transaction, so his job is to assess it from a creditor standpoint. "We want to make sure that at the end of the day there is money for the plaintiffs and they don't get left out in the cold," he said.