Ain't Misbehaving

Wesley H. Avery, Esq. is certified as a specialist in Bankruptcy Law by the State Bar of California and by the American Board of Certification, which is recognized by the American Bar Association. He has also been recognized as a Superlawyer since 2007. Mr. Avery is the Past Chairman of the Board of Legal Specialization of the State Bar of California.

Mr. Avery is a Federal Chapter 7 Panel Bankruptcy Trustee and the Federal Chapter 12 Bankruptcy Trustee in the Central District of California and a member of the National Association of Bankruptcy Trustees.

Mr. Avery is admitted to the United States Supreme Court, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, all Federal District Courts of California, other federal courts, and the California Supreme Court.

Mr. Avery received his B.A., with highest honors in Economics from the University of California, Davis in 1980, where he was elected to Phi Beta Kappa and Phi Kappa Phi. He received his M.B.A. from Harvard Business School in 1984 and his J.D. from the University of California at Los Angeles in 1991 with an emphasis in commercial law and bankruptcy. Mr. Avery is a Veteran, and as a Major (Field Artillery) in the U.S. Army was awarded the Meritorious Service Medal.

Hon. Madeleine C. Wanslee is a U.S. Bankruptcy Judge for the District of Arizona in Phoenix, sworn in on March 17, 2014. Previously, she was an associate and then partner at Gust Rosenfeld, PLC, where she was active in the firm’s management committee and co-chaired the firm’s bankruptcy practice group. Her practice focused on bankruptcy and creditors’ rights, and she represented small businesses, financial institutions, corporations and state agencies. While in private practice, Judge Wanslee was a certified bankruptcy specialist. She also argued a number of appeals, including United Student Aid Funds Inc. v. Espinosa before the U.S. Supreme Court.

Judge Wanslee is a member of the Ninth Circuit Bankruptcy Education Committee and chairs Arizona’s Bankruptcy Court local rules committee. She is a charter member and past president of the Arizona Bankruptcy American Inn of Court and is past chair of the Ninth Circuit Bankruptcy Judges Education Committee, the Ninth Circuit Lawyer Representatives Coordinating Committee, the Arizona Lawyer Representatives and the Bankruptcy Section of the State Bar of Arizona. She also served on the American Board of Certification’s Standards Committee and on the Arizona State Bar’s Bankruptcy Advisory Committee, which both certify bankruptcy specialists.

Judge Wanslee received her B.F.A. and B.A. from the University of Arizona and her J.D. from Gonzaga University School of Law, where she served as a writer and executive editor of the Gonzaga Law Review. Following law school, she clerked for Chief Bankruptcy Judge Robert C. Jones of the District of Nevada.

Hon. James J. Tancredi is a U.S. Bankruptcy Judge for the District of Connecticut in Hartford, sworn in on Sept. 1, 2016.

Prior to his appointment to the bench, he was a commercial litigation and business restructuring partner at Day Pitney, LLP (f/k/a Day Berry & Howard), where he cultivated a diverse and challenging practice that crossed major industries, moved from regional to national scope and secured material roles in prominent restructuring and bankruptcies. During his 37-year career at Day Pitney, he tried dozens of cases, represented a full range of constituents, and assembled and led innumerbale teams in often highly contested, first-impression financial reorganizations.

Judge Tancredi frequently lectured at the University of Connecticut School of Law and at bar association CLE programs. His professional activities included service as president and director of the Hartford County Bar Association and the Connecticut Turnaround Management Association. Judge Tancredi has been an active member of the Connecticut Bar Association, American Bar Association and the American Trial Lawyers Association, and he was a director of the Hartford County Bar Foundation and Connecticut Mental Health Association. He is also a Connecticut Bar Foundation James W. Cooper fellow.

In practice, he wrote widely about business restructuring issues and co-authored the Connecticut chapter in Strategic Alternatives for and Against Distressed Businesses, 2016 Edition (Thomson Reuters).

Judge Tancredi received his B.A. in urban studies and political science from the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Mass., and his J.D. from the University of Connecticut School of Law.

Hon. Jerry C. Oldshue, Jr. is a U.S. Bankruptcy Judge for the Southern District of Alabama in Mobile.

Prior to taking the bench in October 2015, he was a shareholder in the firm of Rosen Harwood, P.A in Tuscaloosa, Ala., where he served as the managing shareholder of the firm’s creditor’s rights department. While in practice, Judge Oldshue was admitted to practice before the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals, all U.S. District Courts in Alabama, and all Alabama state courts. His memberships included the Alabama State Bar, where he served six years on the Executive Committee of the Bankruptcy and Commercial Law Section, serving as chairman in 2011. He is also a member of ABI and the Conference on Consumer Finance Law.

In 2001, Judge Oldshue became one of only seven attorneys in the state to achieve board certification as a specialist in creditors’ rights law.

He received his B.S. in mechanical engineering from the University of Alabama, and his J.D. and M.B.A., also from the University of Alabama, as one of only two people invited to participate in the school’s joint degree program.

Hon. David W. Hercher is a U.S. Bankruptcy Judge in the District of Oregon in Portland.

Prior to taking the bench in 2017, he was an attorney and partner at Miller Nash LLP in both their Portland and Seattle offices.

Judge Hercher received his B.A. from the University of Oregon and his J.D. from the University of California at Berkeley School of Law.

Hon. James M. Carr is a U.S. Bankruptcy Judge for the Southern District of Indiana in Indianapolis, appointed in 2013.

Previously, he was a partner at Faegre Baker Daniels LLP and had been in private practice for 38 years, focusing on the representation of business debtors and creditors in chapter 11 cases, financial restructurings and commercial litigation. Judge Carr is Board Certified in Business Bankruptcy Law by the American Board of Certification and is a Fellow in the American College of Bankruptcy and the American Bar Foundation.

Judge Carr was named in The Best Lawyers in America from 1987-2012 in Bankruptcy and Creditor Rights, Insolvency and Reorganization Law and Bankruptcy Litigation, and has been a panelist and chair of many seminars on bankruptcy, reorganization, creditor rights and lender liability sponsored by the Indiana Continuing Legal Education Forum, Federal Bar Association and Indiana Bankers Association. He is also an adjunct professor at the Indiana University Maurer School of Law, served on the law school’s Board of Visitors, and is a past member and president of its Alumni Board.

Judge Carr received his B.A. in English from Indiana University in 1972 and his J.D. magna cum laude in 1975 from the Indiana University Maurer School of Law in Bloomington, where he was a member of the Order of the Coif.

J. Scott Bovitz is a senior partner with Bovitz & Spitzer in Los Angeles, where he practices both consumer and business bankruptcy law and represents debtors and creditors. He is Board Certified in Business Bankruptcy Law by the American Board of Certification, which he chaired, and he is a Certified Specialist in Bankruptcy Law for the State Bar of California Board of Legal Specialization, which he also chaired.

Mr. Bovitz is rated AV-Preeminent by Martindale-Hubbell and has been selected as Southern California Super Lawyer in bankruptcy and creditor/debtor rights. In addition, he is a lawyer representative for the Ninth Circuit Judicial Conference, a coordinating editor of the ABI Journal, a former member of the California Committee of Bar Examiners, a former adjunct professor of law at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles, a former executive editor and author of Personal and Small Business Bankruptcy Practice in California, a former president of the Los Angeles Bankruptcy Forum and a former education and conference co-chair of the California Bankruptcy Forum.

Mr. Bovitz received his J.D. in 1980 from Loyola Law School in Los Angeles.