Legal News

For Bankruptcy Lawyers, Things Feels Worse Than 2001

By Jennifer Forsyth

The Law Blog today caught up with Weil Gotshal bankruptcy partner Alfredo Perez (Haverford B.A., Univ. of Chicago J.D). We wanted to get a sense of what it was like to be at the center of the hottest legal practice at the moment.

Perez is lead counsel representing Lenox Group, the maker of high end china, crystal, and home décor items, which filed for bankruptcy last Sunday. The rest of Weil’s bankruptcy team doesn’t lack for work, either; the group represents Lehman Brothers, among many other clients.

Tell us about your background.
I’ve practiced for 28 yeas. I moved to Houston after law school. I worked first at Bracewell & Patterson until 2002 and have been at Weil for six years. I’ve worked in bankruptcy matters pretty much the entire time.

So what have you been doing in the Lenox matter?

We prepared the case for filing then filed it last Sunday. We have key hearings on Dec. 15, so we have about two weeks to get ready. The hearings will cover debtor-in-possession financing and various other motions, involving employee, customer and vendor issues.

How have you been able to work Thanksgiving?

On Wednesday afternoon, we drove out to Harrisburg, Pa. (where his wife’s family lives.) We are there now at my sister-in-law’s house. It’s been extremely busy. Yesterday and today, I’ve been working most of the day. I was able to run one errand, though. I went to an AT&T store to fix my son’s BlackBerry.

What other cases are you working on?

Well, I work on the Lehman matters, on discreet issues. That is the only other public case. I’m also working on other cases that are at various stages of development.

Is this one of busiest bankruptcy periods that you’ve encountered?

This is one of the busier stretches. It is maybe even busier than the 2001-2003 period. This is cyclical business, but I think this will last at least for a couple of years.

Thanks for taking some time out of your schedule this weekend.

Thank you.

Full post as published by Law Blog - WSJ.com on November 28, 2008 (boomark / email).