Mark L. Prager is a member and former chair of the national Bankruptcy & Business Reorganizations Practice, which focuses on Chapter 11 restructuring, litigation, transactions, regulatory and corporate finance matters. Mr. Prager is retained as lead counsel to financial institutions, secured creditors, debtors, indenture trustees, banks, and creditor committees in national and local reorganization cases, commercial transactions, and complex litigation. These cases include multi-billion dollar official creditor committee representation, indenture trustee representation in major Chapter 11 cases, including General Growth Properties, Corus Bank, and American Airlines, counseling to the Trustees of the $20 billion Deep Horizon Oil Spill Recovery Trust, liquidating trust representation of leading financial institutions and liquidations of broker-dealers under the Securities Investor Protection Act. Mr. Prager is also a member of the Finance & Financial Institutions Practice and the Automotive and Health Care Industry Teams.
Mr. Prager is an adjunct professor of law at Washington University in St. Louis (2008, 2009 and 2010) and teaches a course on advanced corporate restructuring. He is currently an adjunct professor at Northwestern University School of Law in Chicago (2012) and teaches a course on Chapter 11 litigation and strategy. In addition, he was elected secretary to the board of directors of the Chicago Council of Lawyers and was chair of the Council's Legislative Committee. He is also a member of the Association of Trial Lawyers of America. Mr. Prager served as legal intern to former Chief Bankruptcy Judge Robert L. Eisen for the Northern District of Illinois, Eastern Division. For three years, he was an arbitrator for the National Association of Securities Dealers.
Mr. Prager lectures regularly at legal education seminars and has taught advanced bankruptcy strategy for the Chicago Bar Association. His insightful commentary has been utilized by national and local media, such as CNN Business News, The Wall Street Journal, and Crain's Chicago Business.
He received his undergraduate degree, magna cum laude, from the University of Illinois and his law degree from Washington University School of Law, St. Louis, Missouri. He is admitted to practice in Illinois and Wisconsin. Mr. Prager has been Peer Review Rated as AV® Preeminent™, the highest performance rating in Martindale-Hubbell's peer review rating system and was selected for inclusion in the 2005 - 2012 Illinois Super Lawyers® lists.*
Mr. Prager is an avid student of the martial arts and a Black Belt in Tae Kwon Do.
His publications, including co-authored articles, are listed below:
· "Financing the Chapter 11 Debtor: The Lender's Perspective," American Bar Association's, The Business Lawyer, 1990
· "Pursuing Alter-Ego Liability Against Non-Bankrupt Third Parties: Structuring A Comprehensive Conceptual Framework," The Saint Louis University Law Journal, 1991
· "Protecting Secured Lenders in the Workout of LBO Related Loans," Commercial Lending Review, 1992
· "Filing and Contesting Involuntary Bankruptcy Petitions: The Creditor's Perspective," Commercial Lending Review, 1993
· "Environmental Lender Liability: Searching or Safe harbors in the Wake of Kelly v. U.S. EPA," University of Wisconsin Law School, Environmental Law Journal, Summer 1994
· "Realizing Maximum Value When Holding and Liquidating Contaminated Property: Practical Considerations for the Secured Lender After Kelly vs. U.S. EPA," Commercial Lending Review, Fall 1994
· "No Band-Aid Approach Can Heal the Woes of CERCLA / What the EPA Gives, the Courts Take Away," Corporate Legal Times, March 1995
· "Getting to the Bottom Line: The Search for Credibility and Fraud in a Bankruptcy Case," The Corporate Analyst (Business Laws, Inc.), May 1996
· "Key Issues in Chapter 11 Retailer Inventory Sales: The Lender's Perspective," Commercial Lending Review, Winter 1997-98
· "Health Care Finance and Insolvency: The Lender's Perspective," Commercial Lending Review, Winter 1999-2000
· "The Growing Use of Liquidating Trusts in Chapter 11 Cases Practical Considerations," Commercial Lending Review, March 2002
*The Illinois Supreme Court does not recognize certifications of specialties in the practice of law and no award or recognition is a requirement to practice law in Illinois.