Business Bankruptcy Legal Update 2020

Steven R. Wirth is a partner with Akerman LLP in Tampa, Fla. He is a commercial litigator who focuses a large percentage of his practice on bankruptcy matters representing debtors, creditors, examiners, trustees, corporate monitors, committees, secured and unsecured creditors’ groups/individuals, state and federal court receivers, distressed investors and asset-buyers, and parties to bankruptcy related litigation.

Mr. Wirth has participated in many of the largest bankruptcy cases in the U.S., including WorldCom, Enron Corp., Global Crossing Limited, Refco, Inc., Lehman Brothers, Bernard Madoff Investment Securities, Lyondell Chemical Co. and Winn Dixie Stores, Inc. He is admitted U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit and the U.S. District Courts for the Middle, Northern and Southern Districts of Florida, the District of New Jersey, and the Eastern and Southern Districts of New York.

Mr. Wirth is a member of the Tampa Bay Bankruptcy Bar Association’s board of directors, ABI, the American Inns of Court, Ferguson-White Inn, the Florida Bar Association’s Business Law Section, the New York City Bar Association and the Tampa Chapter of the Turnaround Underground, of which he is a founding member. He clerked for Chief Judge George L. Proctor of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Middle District of Florida.

Mr. Wirth received his B.A. in 1995 from Ursinus College and his J.D. from St. John’s University School of Law in 1998, where he was on the dean’s list, was a senior member of the ABI Law Review, and was a member of the senior board of the St. John’s Moot Court Honor Society.

Edmund S. Whitson III is a partner with Adams & Reese LLP in Tampa, Fla., and has advised clients throughout the U.S. on complex litigation matters in state, district and bankruptcy courts. He is familiar with the needs of financial institutions with regard to loan document enforcement and restructuring and bankruptcy, and he has experience representing banks, receivers and financial institutions in matters involving asset recovery, asset sales and fraudulent-transfer litigation.

Mr. Whitson has also worked extensively with insurance company and private-equity group clients in this area. He represents companies in sophisticated collection/garnishment and judgment-recovery litigation and is experienced in creditors’ rights, landlord-tenant, commercial lending, and real estate lending and development issues. His experience includes counseling clients in contract negotiation and preparing legal opinions in connection with nonconsolidation and other credit transactions and Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act financings.

In addition, Mr. Whitson has represented a variety of clients, including large hospitals, physician groups and other health care providers in mergers, acquisitions and affiliation transactions. He received his B.S. from the University of Virginia, McIntire School of Commerce and his J.D. with honors from the University of Florida Frederic G. Levin College of Law.

Scott A. Stichter is a shareholder in Stichter, Riedel, Blain, & Postler, P.A. in Tampa, Fla., a boutique firm specializing in bankruptcy and insolvency proceedings. He has more than 30 years of experience practicing principally in the areas of bankruptcy, commercial litigation, foreclosure defense, workouts and debtor/creditor relations, and specializing in all aspects of chapter 11 representation: debtors, trustees, creditors’ committees, secured and unsecured creditors, landlords, purchasers and defendants in adversary proceedings in bankruptcy court.

Mr. Stichter has received pro bono awards from the Florida Bar Association and Hillsborough County Bar Association. He received his B.A. in 1984 from Vanderbilt University and his J.D. from Wake Forest University School of Law in 1987, where he served as a member of the Moot Court Board and the American Bar Association National Appellate Advocacy Team.

Damien H. Prosser is co-managing partner of Morgan & Morgan’s Business Trial Group in Orlando, Fla., where he represents clients in state and federal courts throughout the country and has experience in complex commercial litigation, contract actions, professional malpractice, idea theft and trade secret litigation, securities litigation and business torts. He also has experience in the litigation adversary proceedings in federal bankruptcy courts and bankruptcy legal malpractice actions.

Mr. Prosser began his legal career with a prestigious national law firm and quickly realized the economic challenge of litigating cases under the billable hour model applied to most commercial litigation. He also realized that an additional problem is the absence of actual trial experience by most lawyers at many of the national firms. He typically tries at least one business case to verdict a year and has obtained jury verdicts in excess of $1 million.

Mr. Prosser was named a “Rising Star” in 2010, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016 and 2017 by Florida Super Lawyers magazine, and he has been recognized as a “Legal Elite Up and Comer” by Florida Trend magazine.

Prior to joining Morgan & Morgan, he practiced for several years with BakerHostetler and Shutts & Bowen. He received his B.A. cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa from Florida State University and his J.D. from Mercer University School of Law.

Hon. Jeffery P. Hopkins is a Bankruptcy Judge for the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Ohio in Cincinnati, appointed in 1996 and reappointed in 2010.

After graduating from law school, he clerked for Hon. Alan E. Norris on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, then worked as an associate with Squire, Sanders & Dempsey, LLP, specializing in complex commercial litigation.

In 1990, Judge Hopkins sought appointment as an Assistant U.S. Attorney and advanced to become chief of the Civil Division for the Southern District of Ohio. During his tenure on the bankruptcy court, he has served on several committees of the Judicial Conference of the United States and for bar-related and civic organizations.

In 2002, the late Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist appointed Judge Hopkins to the Federal Judicial Center’s Education Committee for bankruptcy judges. Chief Justice John G. Roberts, Jr. appointed him to the Advisory Committee on Bankruptcy Rules, for which he chaired its Business Bankruptcy Subcommittee until 2009.

Judge Hopkins formerly served on the boards of ABI, the ABA Business Bankruptcy Committee and the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, and as chair of the Queen City Foundation. Judge Hopkins is a Fellow of the American College of Bankruptcy and a frequent lecturer on bankruptcy law. He also was an adjunct professor at the University of Cincinnati College of Law.

In 2010, Judge Hopkins received the William K. Thomas Distinguished Jurist Award from his alma mater, The Ohio State College of Law. He also is a past president of the National Conference of Bankruptcy Judges.

Judge Hopkins received his A.B. in government and legal studies and anthro-sociology from Bowdoin College in 1982 and his J.D. in 1985 from The Ohio State University’s Michael E. Moritz College of Law.