Ms. Leah Fiorenza McNeill Related Seminars and Products

Alston & Bird LLP

Leah Fiorenza McNeill represents lenders, investors, debtors, trustees, trade creditors, funds, and other parties in a range of restructuring matters, including Chapter 11 cases, out-of-court workouts, financings, and restructuring matters.

Leah has experience handling restructuring matters from a wide range of industries but has specifically honed her skills in the distressed health care space and the food and beverage industry, where she has niche expertise in the Perishable Agricultural Commodities Act to assist with insolvencies, restructurings, and corporate transactions.

Chambers USA has recognized Leah for Bankruptcy/Restructuring – Georgia since 2021, she has been listed in The Best Lawyers in America^® since 2020, and she has been recognized in the Atlanta community as a Super Lawyers “Rising Star” since 2016. Leah also co-chairs the ABA’s Business Bankruptcy Committee’s Healthcare and Nonprofits in Bankruptcy Subcommittee, is the chair of the Bankruptcy Section of the Georgia Bar, and is a member of the State Bar of Georgia’s Special Committee on Artificial Intelligence and Technology.

Representative Experience

• Representing and advising a regional food distributor as a creditor in bankruptcy cases, obtaining critical vendor status for it throughout the United States, and asserting its rights under the Perishable Agricultural Commodities Act (PACA) to get paid in full before payment of other creditors.
• Representing and advising a national food distributor as a creditor in bankruptcy cases, obtaining critical vendor status and priority claim status, asserting PACA claims and rights, and navigating contract assumption issues.
• Represented the official committee of unsecured creditors in a Chapter 11 reorganization of a Tier 1 auto supplier.
• Represented multiple financial institutions in connection with secured real estate transactions.
• Represented a Chapter 11 trustee in liquidating a world-renowned luxury resort.
• Defended various corporations in preference and fraudulent transfer actions.
• Represented a distressed corporation in the sale of substantially all its assets outside of bankruptcy for over $20 million.
• Represented a middle market radiology business as a stalking horse bidder in a Section 363 acquisition of an Arizona-based radiology business.
• Represented the largest secured creditor and DIP lender of a skilled nursing facilities operator in bankruptcy in the Northern District of Texas.
• Represented a community hospital in a Chapter 11 bankruptcy where substantially all its assets were sold in a Section 363 acquisition.
• Advised clients in preparing COVID procedures, including analyzing risks associated with accepting alternative payment methods, offering support for issues expected to arise due to COVID fallout, including breach of a MAC clause, and advising on steps to take in preparation to address those issues.
• Defended a nationwide food distributor in a procedurally complex PACA mass action in which unpaid creditors and lenders were seeking to recover $2 million. This lawsuit involved complex nuanced areas of PACA law.
• Represented a Canadian company in an expedited Section 363 acquisition of Casa Systems’ 5G mobile core and RAN assets for $32.2 million.
• U.S. counsel for liquidators based in the Cayman Islands and British Virgin Islands in a major fraud liquidation involving more than a dozen foreign jurisdictions.

Ms. Michon Danielle Walker Related Seminars and Products

Arthur L. Walker & Associates LLC

Michon Walker is a partner with Arthur L. Walker and Associates, LLC, a boutique firm specializing in consumer bankruptcy and represents debtors in Chapter 7 and Chapter 13 cases in the Middle and Southern Districts of Georgia.  Michon is a member of the Bankruptcy Lawyers Advisory Committee for the Southern District of Georgia (BLAC) and the Criminal Justice Act Panel for the Southern District of Georgia.

Pamela Foohey Related Seminars and Products

Pamela Foohey is a Professor of Law at University of Georgia School of Law. She specializes in bankruptcy, commercial law, consumer finance, and business law. Her work primarily involves empirical studies of bankruptcy and related parts of the legal system. She is a co-investigator on the Consumer Bankruptcy Project, a long-term research project studying persons who file bankruptcy. Her work in business bankruptcy focuses on how non-profit entities, particularly churches, use reorganization. Her two in-progress book projects, forthcoming with University of California Press and University of Chicago Press, draw on data from these two research projects. She also is a co-author for Secured Transactions: A Systems Approach, a leading textbook on the topic.

Professor Foohey is a member of the American College of Bankruptcy and the American Law Institute, holds leadership roles in the Association of American Law Schools and the Law & Society Association, and served a three-year appointment to the editorial advisory board of the American Bankruptcy Law Journal. She is an active member of the American Bankruptcy Institute (ABI), and has served as part of the ABI Diversity Working Group since its formation. In 2019, the ABI named her a “40 Under 40” Emerging Leader in Insolvency Practice. 

Professor Foohey joined UGA School of Law in 2024 from the Cardozo School of Law. She previously taught at Indiana University Maurer School of Law and University of Illinois College of Law. Prior to teaching, she clerked for the Honorable Thomas L. Ambro of the Third Circuit Court of Appeals, worked as an associate in the Bankruptcy and Financial Restructuring Group of Dorsey & Whitney LLP in Minneapolis, and clerked for the Honorable Peter J. Walsh of the Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware.

Ms. Maria C. Joyner Related Seminars and Products

Nancy J Whaley Chapter 13 Trustee

Maria C. Joyner is a Staff Attorney in the Office of Nancy J. Whaley ( Chapter 12 and 13 Trustee).  She is the Secretary of the Atlanta Bar Association Bankrupty Section and the President of the Metro Atlanta Consumer Bankruptcy Association. 

Ms. Shayna M. Steinfeld Related Seminars and Products

Steinfeld & Steinfeld, PC

Shayna Steinfeld, Board Certified by the American Board of Certification in both Consumer and Business Bankruptcy Law, is a shareholder of Steinfeld & Steinfeld, PC, and practices with her husband, Bruce, a Fellow of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers. She is a past-President of the Atlanta Bar Association, and the Georgia Association for Women Lawyers; a co-founder and past-president of the Georgia IWIRC (International Women’s Insolvency and Restructuring Confederation) Network; a past-chair of the Sole Practitioner/Small Firm Section of the Atlanta Bar and the Bankruptcy Sections of both the Atlanta Bar and the State Bar of Georgia; she is past Chair of the Bankruptcy Committee the ABA Family Law Section and currently is a subcommittee Co-Chair for the ABA Litigation Section. She has received many accolades, including “Section of the Year” and “Outstanding Woman in the Profession;” and is regularly named a “Georgia Super Lawyer,” one of the top 50 women attorneys in Georgia and has been previously recognized as one of the top 100 Lawyers in the State of Georgia.  A graduate of Emory (BA, JD and MBA), Shayna frequently lectures and has authored many publications, including The Family Lawyer’s Guide to Bankruptcy, which is published by the ABA Family Law Section and is in its 4th edition and she is a co-editor of the recently published series:  Her Story: Lessons in Success from Lawyers Who Live It, released by the ABA Litigation Section in the Summer of 2017 and Her Story 2:  The Resilient Woman Lawyer’s Guide to Conquering Obstacles, released by the ABA Litigation Section in the Winter of 2023.

Ms. Brooke Leigh Bean Related Seminars and Products

King & Spalding LLP

Brooke Bean is an associate in King & Spalding’s Finance and Restructuring group and is resident in the firm’s Atlanta office. Brooke’s practice focuses on finance, financial restructuring and bankruptcy. She represents debtors, lenders, and creditors in a broad range of restructuring matters, including chapter 11 cases, out-of-court restructurings, and bankruptcy-related acquisitions.

Brooke holds a Bachelor of Arts in Journalism and Mass Communication from George Washington University, where she graduated summa cum laude. She later earned her J.D. from the University of Virginia School of Law.

Mr. Ishaq Kundawala Related Seminars and Products

Professor Ishaq Kundawala joined Mercer Law in the Fall 2021 as a Professor of Law and as the Southeastern Bankruptcy Law Institute & W. Homer Drake Jr. Endowed Chair in Bankruptcy Law.  He has taught full-time for over sixteen years in the areas of bankruptcy, contracts, secured transactions, and legal ethics. At Mercer Law, he partnered with Georgia Legal Services Program to create and launch an innovative consumer bankruptcy externship program that enables students to gain practical experience representing consumer debtors in bankruptcy proceedings on a pro bono basis.  Prior to beginning his teaching career, Professor Kundawala was in private practice in Dallas, Texas for over five years where he handled complex chapter 11 bankruptcy cases.  He also clerked for the Chief Bankruptcy Judge of the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Texas.  Professor Kundawala’s scholarly interests include writing about bankruptcy reform and legal ethics with a particular focus on improving and expanding access to justice.  He has discussed bankruptcy and contract-related issues on national and local television, radio, and online media.  Professor Kundawala is licensed to practice law in both Georgia and Texas.  He earned his J.D. at Tulane Law School and his B.A. at Austin College.