Lane Powell was one of the first major law firms in the Northwest to recognize and encourage bankruptcy/creditors' rights as a subgroup practice area. Since 1972, members of the Firm have regularly appeared in bankruptcy courts, representing secured creditors, trustees, debtors, creditors' committees and other parties of interest in business bankruptcy cases in Washington, Oregon, Alaska, California and other states. Members of the Group also regularly represent defendants in various fraudulent conveyance, preference and lender liability actions, and are fully acquainted with the developing law in these areas. In representing mortgagees of commercial real property, members of the group have been successful in litigating issues pertaining to the use of cash collateral, relief from the automatic stay or dismissal of a case filed in bad faith and, on occasion, they have successfully prepared and obtained confirmation of creditors' plans of reorganization, where reorganization or sale of the mortgaged property through a plan was advantageous to our clients.
Members of the Group frequently serve as lecturers at various programs sponsored by ALI/ABA, the Washington State Bar Association, Oregon State Bar Association, the University of Washington Law School, the American Bankruptcy Institute, the King County Bar Association, the National Association of Credit Management, the Northwest Bankruptcy Institute, and the National Business Institute. In addition, members of the Group serve on international, national and local committees relating to bankruptcy practice and procedure and have received national and international recognition for their work in the bankruptcy field.
The Firm has successfully represented debtors and creditors in a wide variety of industries including agriculture, fishing and maritime, health care, retail, real estate, and construction and equipment.
Our Firm frequently represents banks, insurance companies and other institutional lenders in connection with commercial, agricultural, residential and administrative foreclosures, contract forfeitures, deeds in lieu of foreclosure and negotiation of loan workouts. Our experience ranges from residential foreclosures under FHA and VA guidelines to workouts or foreclosures of loans secured by office buildings, shopping centers and agricultural property. Representative clients include Transamerica Commercial Finance Corporation, The Mutual Life Insurance Company of New York, General Electric Capital Corporation, Associates Commercial Corporation, Wells Fargo Bank, ATT Commercial Finance Corporation, Navistar Financial Corporation, Washington Mutual, West Coast Bank, Blue Cross of Washington and Alaska, and IDS Life Insurance Company. We frequently provide legal opinions to lenders covering issues raised under state foreclosure and forfeiture statutes and related case law.
Members of the Group have also represented and advised creditors, debtors and trustees in connection with foreign insolvencies, ancillary proceedings and cross border international insolvency situations.
