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LakeLaw – An interstate attorney firm specializing in Bankruptcy Law with locations in Waukegan, La Crosse, Kenosha, Chicago and Skokie.

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Business Bankruptcy, Insolvency and Restructuring

We have helped hundreds of businesses of all sizes to resolve their financial difficulties.   Unlike the “big firms”, our focus is on small and medium sized businesses.  While we do not represent publicly held corporations in bankruptcy cases, we have represented many people and businesses with issues in “mega-cases” such as Kmart or United Airlines.  We offer sophisticated representation and smart solutions.  We will treat you and your business with the care, kindness, courtesy, respect, professionalism and dedication that you want and deserve.  Our interstate practice, with offices in Chicago, Waukegan, Kenosha and La Crosse uniquely situates us to represent your interests over a wider geographic area than the typical firm.  We practice in the bankruptcy courts in Chicago, Rockford, Milwaukee, Madison and Eau Claire as well as bankruptcy courts in down-state Illinois and other parts of the country.

If your small or medium sized business is facing bankruptcy, insolvency, or financial distress, Lakelaw offers many alternatives:

If your customer has filed a chapter 11 bankruptcy, we can help you swim with the sharks in deep water.  Click here for Mega-Case Representation.

If your customer simply is not paying and collection is not the answer, maybe an involuntary chapter 7 petition is the answer.  Click here for Involuntary Chapter 7 Petitions.

Lakelaw believes that your business is unique.  Each business faces its own particular challenges.  We design a custom solution particularly for your company.  We are concerned about your personal welfare as well as that of your business. 

David Leibowitz and Jim McNeilly, our practice leaders in Illinois and Wisconsin, have had over 60 years of experience in helping businesses recover from financial difficulties.  We have been recognized as leaders and innovators both locally and nationally in this practice area.

Case Study – Chapter 11 Reorganization

Our client made highly specialized equipment used in making electronic.  The founder was brilliant but was easily distracted.  He found it hard to focus on the details of his business.  As a result, it was unable to control its costs and was facing financial ruin.  Moreover, his personal life was in a shambles and his wife was threatening to divorce him.  Here’s what we did:

  • Hired turnaround consultant to do a complete analysis of the business strengths and weaknesses within 30 days

  • Hired chief operating officer with strong financial background from an accounting firm we knew who got costs and procedures under control

  • Lined up a bank line of credit in order to support a chapter 11 reorganization effort

  • Filed a chapter 11 reorganization case in order to prevent foreclosure and lawsuits from putting company out of business

  • Negotiated settlement of unsecured claims with creditors’ committee whereby creditors received close to 60% on their claims over 3 years from future profits.

After confirmation of its plan of reorganization, the company was highly successful.  One of the company’s largest competitors bought the company at a very handsome price. 

Case Study – Illinois Assignment for the Benefit of Creditors

Our client sold paintings and art-work with a strong focus on television advertisements in the months after the holiday season.  It had been successful with this model for many years.  After 9/11, people did not seem to be very interested in discretionary purchases and business lost a great deal of money.  It turned out that this was not just a one-time event.  The business model no longer worked because of competition from the internet and other business channels.  The business was facing millions in liabilities.  The owners were scared because they faced personal liability.  Here’s what we did:

  • We found a specialized appraiser to determine the liquidation value of the inventory

  • We interviewed numerous firms specializing in retail liquidations and helped the company hire one with experience in dealing with retail art.

  • We met with the company’s bank to assure it that it had a strong likelihood of being paid through the voluntary liquidation, so the bank worked with the company and supported its liquidation efforts by advancing cash needed to start the process along.

  • We helped the company select an experienced and capable turn-around expert to serve as its assignee for the benefit of creditors.

  • We worked with the assignee to fight off claims of the more aggressive creditors who wrongly asserted that the company and its principals committed fraud

  • We obtained defense coverage from the Officers and Directors liability insurance carrier against the wrongful claims filed by creditors against the company’s president and directors.

  • The company sold all of its inventory, paid the bank in full, paid all priority creditors in full and paid an 8% dividend to unsecured creditors.

  • All claims against the company’s officers and directors were dismissed.

Has this case arisen in Wisconsin, we would have achieved the same result using either a Wisconsin Chapter 128 receivership or Wisconsin Chapter 180 corporate dissolution procedures.

Case Study – “Mega Case Representation”

In recent years, Lakelaw has had the opportunity to represent large and small companies in various aspects of “mega-cases.”  Here are some examples:

Kmart

In Kmart’s bankruptcy reorganization, we represented over thirty counties from the State of Georgia.  Kmart was trying to avoid paying these counties personal property taxes due for the inventory in Kmart’s stores.  County collectors, naturally unfamiliar with claims procedures in chapter 11 bankruptcy cases often failed to file their proofs of claims.  So Kmart sued over 500 counties, all in one suit, to try to eliminate property tax liability.  Here’s what we did:

  • Successfully moved to dismiss the 500 county lawsuit, forcing Kmart to file separate suits against each county

  • Successfully claimed that proofs of claims were not needed until the taxes actually were due and payable

  • Negotiated settlements of tax claims resulting in payments of over $10 million to the various counties

Delphi

Although this case is still pending, we have represented numerous parties, large and small in this matter.  Here’s what we’ve done:

  • Carefully and accurately monitored this case and advised our client as to the impact of the case on its on-going multi-million dollar business with Delphi.

  • Prepared and filed numerous claims involving millions in liabilities to our clients

  • Negotiated and resolved claims objections with Debtor’s counsel

  • Successfully negotiated the filing of late filed claims on behalf of clients who failed to appreciate the need for timely filing.

Case Study – Involuntary Chapter 7 Petition

The debtor, an Illinois company, made metal castings.  It was systematically selling off all of its assets and paying off the bank but leaving the creditors high and dry.  It had scheduled an auction of all of its equipment.  Our client, a metal fabricator from Racine Wisconsin, was its largest creditor.  Here’s what we did:

  • We found out that the bank’s lien was not perfected because it had not kept up on its paperwork.

  • We located 4 other creditors and filed an involuntary bankruptcy petition in Chicago.

  • The Chapter 7 trustee hired us as his special counsel.

  • We were able to keep all of the net proceeds of the sale of the machinery and equipment for the benefit of unsecured creditors including our client.

  • We have sued the bank to recover the money it collected from the debtor during the 90 days prior to the bankruptcy filing as a preferential transfer.

  • We will sue preferred creditors who received money from the debtor during the 90 days prior the bankruptcy filing.

  • We will assist the trustee in liquidating other assets of the estate.

  • As a result, this case which would have paid zero to unsecured creditors will pay a substantial dividend to unsecured creditors.

We represent:

Individuals and businesses in chapter 7, chapter 11 and chapter 13 cases.

David Leibowitz serves as bankruptcy trustee in Cook County, Illinois and the firm has been particularly privileged to represent several other bankruptcy trustees.  He appears in bankruptcy court in Chicago, Illinois as well as other parts of the United States.

James McNeilly serves as a bankruptcy trustee in La Crosse, Wisconsin and represents people and businesses throughout Northwest Wisconsin.  Jim McNeilly also maintains offices in Kenosha, Wisconsin and represents people and businesses in the bankruptcy court in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

Secured and unsecured creditors in chapter 11 cases

Corporations, Limited Liability Companies and other business entities in:

  • Out of court work-outs

  • Non-bankruptcy liquidations

  • Assignments for the benefit of creditors

  • Chapter 128 Receiverships in Wisconsin

  • Chapter 180 Corporate Dissolutions in Wisconsin

  • Title 12 Corporate Dissolutions in Illinois