Chris' primary areas of concentration include multi-jurisdictional litigation, business bankruptcy and international law. He represents primarily secured creditors and creditors' committees in complex financial restructurings and bankruptcy reorganizations. He also serves as a Chapter 11 and Chapter 7 trustee. Chris' experience in international litigation has been focused on assisting secured creditors in acting both as a gatekeeper advising clients and coordinating with foreign counsel, and advice as to rights and remedies available to secured creditors enforcing their rights and remedies in multinational jurisdictions.
Chris has been admitted as a member of the FraudNet section of the International Chamber of Commerce which specializes in asset recovery in complex fraud and insolvency matters of assets transferred to overseas jurisdictions. Chris is widely recognized for his involvement in international insolvency and international litigation matters, specifically concerning pursuing assets transferred to offshore jurisdictions. He has been featured in articles that dealt with recovery of assets that appeared in offshore accounts, by the Wall Street Journal, Business Week and The National Association of Bankruptcy Trustees. His unusual practice was first featured in Forbes in June 1993 and most recently in the American Bar Association Journal. His asset tracking and recovery skills are now sought worldwide by attorneys, individuals and governments.
Since 1986, Chris' international litigation has taken him to numerous overseas jurisdictions while pursuing the recovery of millions of dollars for creditors, trustees and receivers. Some of his experience includes litigation in the Isle of Man, the Channel Islands, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, England, Wales, Norway, France, Italy, the Netherlands and other European countries, Cayman Islands, Nevis and other Caribbean Islands, the Netherland Antilles and South America.
Chris is a representative on behalf of the United States of America to the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) and was instrumental in assisting the development of the UNCITRAL Legislative Guide on Insolvency. He serves as a member of the expert group to UNCITRAL and in addition has served as a representative on behalf of UNCITRAL in coordination with The Hague Conference on Insolvency matters. Chris also serves as a representative of the American Bar Association to UNCITRAL on Insolvency matters. In addition, he has served as a member of the United States Delegation to the United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime (UNODC).
Awards & Recognitions
· American Bar Foundation, Fellow
· American College of Bankruptcy, Fellow
· The Best Lawyers in America, Bankruptcy and Creditor-Debtor Rights/Insolvency and Reorganization Law, Litigation-Bankruptcy, 1987-2012
· Martindale-Hubbell AV Preeminent
· Missouri & Kansas Super Lawyers, Bankruptcy & Creditor/Debtor Rights, 2005-2011
Professional Associations & Memberships
· American Bankruptcy Institute, Former Associate Editor
· American Bar Association
- Business Law Section, Business Bankruptcy Committee, Subcommittee on Claims, Priorities and Exemptions, Former Chair
- Business Law Section, Business Bankruptcy Committee, Subcommittee on International Bankruptcy, Former Chair
- Business Law Section, Business Bankruptcy Committee, UNCITRAL Task Force, Chair
- Business Law Section, International Coordinating Committee, Chair
- Business Law Section, Subcommittee on International Organizations, Former Chair
- Section of International Law and Practice, International Litigation Committee, Working Group on Provisional Measures and Asset Freezes in Native and Foreign Proceedings, Former Co-Chair
· FraudNet, a Division of the International Chamber of Commerce Specializing in Asset Recovery
· International Bar Association
· International Insolvency Institute
· International Insolvency Institute, Fellow
· Kansas Bar Association
· Kansas City Metropolitan Bar Association, International Law Committee, Former Chair
· The Missouri Bar
· National Association of Bankruptcy Trustees
· United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL), United States of America delegate
· United States Department of States and Advisory Committee on Private International Law (ACPIL)
· Wichita Bar Association
Experience
· Represented the Unsecured Creditors Committee in the Chapter 11 proceedings of Farmland Industries, Inc. whose debt at the time of filing was in excess of $2.8 million. The Unsecured Creditors Committee filed a Chapter 11 Plan which was confirmed and ultimately the payment to the unsecured creditors was in excess of 100% of their debt.
· Represented a diverse conglomerate of companies in a multi-billion dollar Chapter 11 proceeding in Delaware and through the representation the client was able to effectuate a substantial recovery of millions of dollars of the companies' claims.
· Represented an international beef-packing company in which the client was able to be paid his reclamation claim of over $2 million in full and also successfully defended a $5 million preference action without any payment by the client.
· Represented an international bank in a multi-jurisdictional recovery action of a $60 million loan spanning five continents; ultimately the client received payment on its loan balance plus accrued interest after a small discount was negotiated.
· Represented a client whose primary creditor conveyed and transferred assets to the Cook Islands to frustrate recovery by the client; in a relatively short period of time a full re-conveyance of assets transferred to the Cayman Islands was returned to the United States, so that the same could be applied against the outstanding balance due to the client.
· Acted as a consultant to the World Bank on international insolvency issues and provided advice and recommendations.
· Represented a bankruptcy trustee in Houston in an international pyramid Ponzi-scheme proceeding and established a procedure to recover assets from the Isle of Man both as to the multi-million dollars transferred plus related attorney fees and expenses.
News & Publications
News
10.19.11, Super Lawyers 2011 Names 71 Husch Blackwell Attorneys from Missouri and Nebraska; an Additional 15 Listed as Rising Stars
9.6.11, More Than 100 Husch Blackwell Attorneys Named to Best Lawyers 2012
10.13.10, Missouri &
Kansas Super Lawyers 2010 Names 64 Husch Blackwell Attorneys; An Additional 20 Listed as Rising Stars
10.22.09, Missouri &
Kansas Super Lawyers 2009 Names 73 Husch Blackwell Sanders Attorneys
Publications
8.1.10, Chapter 15 Bankruptcies, Financier Worldwide
1.1.10, COMI: In Search of Predictability, Norton Annual Review of International Insolvency
1.1.09, Basics of International Insolvency Law, Asset Tracing & Recovery, The FraudNet World Compendium
1.1.09, United States of America, Asset Tracing & Recovery The FraudNet World Compendium
Events
9.23.11, International Insolvencies: Basic Principles and Current Problems, Including Lessons from Lehman, Stanford and Other Recent Cases
London, England
Speaking Engagement
6.14.11, Preserving Going Concern Values: Developing D&O Guidelines
New York, NY
Speaking Engagement
10.28.10, Overview and Analysis of Cross-Border Insolvency Proceedings and Current Developments
Washington, D.C.
Speaking Engagement
10.1.10, Resolved: Chapter 7 Debtors' Counsel Must be Employed by the Bankruptcy Estate Before Being Paid from the Estate Assets for Post-Petition Work
Kansas City, MO
Speaking Engagement
9.29.10, The Challenge of Determining Whether to Use a Receivership Action or an Insolvency Proceeding to Effectuate the Recovery of Assets in Cross-Border Fraud Actions
London
Speaking Engagement
5.1.10, Insolvencies and Receiverships Gone Wrong: Fee, Pigs and 'The Dripping Roast, Eighth Annual Offshore Alert, Financial Due Diligence Conference
South Beach, FL
Speaking Engagement
4.1.10, Update on the Status of UNCITRAL, American Bar Association Spring Meeting
Speaking Engagement
2.1.10, Chapter 15 Updates: What's Hot Since We Last Talked?, American Bar Institute, Caribbean Insolvency Symposium
Speaking Engagement
2.1.10, Introduction to Chapter 15 and Related Cross-Border Proceedings, Missouri United States Bankruptcy Judges
Speaking Engagement
1.1.10, What Every Lawyer Should Know About International Business Law and International Insolvency: Drastic Changes for Turbulent Times, Kansas City Metropolitan Bar Association
Speaking Engagement
10.1.09, UNCITRAL's Work on Cross-Border Protocols: Enterprise Groups (Domestic and International), and the Status of COMI (with a Cayman Islands Perspective), National Association of Bankruptcy Judges
Speaking Engagement
9.16.09, What Every Lawyer Should Know About International Business Law, International Law Committee of the Kansas City Metropolitan Bar Association
Kansas City, MO
Speaking Engagement