Bankruptcy, Third Party & Professional Liability
Diamond McCarthy represents corporations, creditors’ committees, shareholders, trustees, secured and unsecured creditors, court-appointed trustees and others in bankruptcy litigation as well as parties involved in disputes arising from business dissolutions or restructurings. Our premier practice is known for its ability to handle virtually every type of litigation arising from financially distressed and insolvency situations.
We handle disputes between partners, business entities and the holders of their equity and debt securities, licensees, business entities and third party contract entities, as well as conflicts between business entities and their own officers, directors and professional advisors.
We identify what factors are at the heart of a company’s failure, including misappropriation of corporate assets and opportunities, and intentional, reckless or negligent breaches of fiduciary, contractual or other duties. Our well-regarded forensics area includes investigations into RICO, the Lanham Act, trademark and other statutory torts, fraud and misrepresentation, securities fraud, fraudulent transfers and other bankruptcy court causes of action. Many of our lawyers also have backgrounds as accountants, certified fraud examiners and MBA's, which provides our clients with a broad spectrum and depth of experience in tackling these issues.
Diamond McCarthy trial lawyers are known for cases with important and long-ranging legal repercussions, often involving issues of first impression before the courts. The Firm currently is lead counsel in the three largest law firm bankruptcy cases in U.S. history, the Dewey LeBeouf, LLP, Howrey, LLP and Heller, LLP bankruptcy cases. Diamond McCarthy partner, Allan Diamond, is the court-appointed Chapter 11 bankruptcy trustee in the San Francisco based Howrey bankruptcy case in which cutting edge issues of first impression facing the legal profession as well as leasing markets have been litigated and are currently on appeal in the Ninth Circuit. The Firm also has made cutting edge new law in the Dewey Lebeouf law firm bankruptcy action under New York law and cutting edge issues under California law are the subject of a pending appeal before the Ninth Circuit in the Heller law firm bankruptcy.
Diamond McCarthy was lead special trial counsel in the Southeast Bancshares bankruptcy in Miami, Florida in which the litigation and asset recoveries made that case the most successful Chapter 7 bankruptcy in United States histor. In this bankruptcy creditors received a 100% distribution of principal as well as pre and post petition interest and equity receiving distributions.
The Firm also was lead counsel for the Chapter 11 bankruptcy Trustee in Dreier, LLP, in its bankruptcy proceedings pending in the Southern District of New York (the Trustee appointed by the U.S. Department of Justice was a Diamond McCarthy LLP partner in its NY office). That prominent case involved the Ponzi scheme perpetrated by lawyer Marc Dreier and is one of the largest fraud/Ponzi scheme case(s) involving the legal profession in U.S. history. The fraudulent scheme involved losses to hedge fund investors and others of more than $750 million. Diamond McCarthy’s representation of the Trustee included the prosecution of many high profile lawsuits against the recipients of fraudulent transfers and preferences, often involving legal issues of first impression before the federal courts. In addition, our representation in the case has pioneered new roads challenging the complex issues facing the intersection of criminal and civil government forfeiture proceedings, SEC Receivership and bankruptcy proceedings. The Firm’s work in the Dreier case resulted in one of the largest and most successful coordination agreements between a bankruptcy estate and the United States government involving asset seizure and forfeitures in U.S. history.
The Firm has been involved in some of the largest, high profile corporate bankruptcy cases involving accounting irregularities, fraud and breaches of fiduciary duties in the world including Enron (LJM2), Italian dairy conglomerate, Parmalat, and many others. Please see our website for a complete listing of representative bankruptcy related litigation cases.
- Diamond McCarthy Welcomes Five Attorneys in Los Angeles Office
- Five Diamond McCarthy Attorneys Selected as "Best Lawyers in America" by Best Lawyers
- Diamond McCarthy Partners Mark K. Sales and Christopher D. Sullivan Recognized as "Lawyer of the Year" by Best Lawyers
- Diamond McCarthy Receives Six Tier 1 Recognitions for "Best Law Firms"
- Bankruptcy Snapshot: Stephen Darr
- Ex-Howrey Partners' Clawback Deal Will Pressure Holdouts
- Ex-Howrey Partners To Pay $4.2M To Settle Clawback Claims
- Diamond McCarthy Snags Heller Bankruptcy In 7-Atty Hire
- Covington, Shearman End Howrey Rows for $2M
- Covington, Kirkland, Shearman Settle with Howrey Estate
- Howrey Strikes Settlement With Ropes & Gray
- Howrey Trustee Settles Claim Against Paul Hastings
- Howrey Trustee Reaches Major Settlement
- Trustee Strikes Key Deals in Winding Down Howrey
- Howrey Estate in Major Settlements with Baker, Citibank
- Ex-Dewey Partners Face New Foes
- Howrey Creditor Can't Target Equity Holders in Class Action
- Trustee Adds Firms to Clawback List
- Howrey Trustee Sues 7 More Law Firms
- Howrey Estate Tussles with 50 Law Firms
- Diamond McCarthy Attorneys Argue Against in pari delicto Defense at 9th Circuit
- Dreier Trustee Demands Ex-IP Head, Partners Cough up Funds
- Howrey Trustee to Former Partners: Cut Deals or I'm Suing You
- Howrey Trustee Makes First Round of Settlement Offers
- Howrey Trustee, Akin Gump Standoff Over Question of Attorney-Client Privilege
- Howrey Estate Searching for Money
- Howrey Officially Begins Process of Clawing Back Money from Former Partners
- After Howrey's Fall: Winding Down IT and Dealing With Data
- Sadler Clinic files Chapter 11
- The Fracturing of Big Law
- Diamond McCarthy Partner is Quoted regarding Dewey & LeBoeuf
- One Year and Millions of Dollars Later, Howrey Bankruptcy Plods On
- Judge approves Howrey plan to return client files
- The Law Firm may have Dissolved, but the Records Remain
- No Holiday Respite for Lawyers Working on Howrey Bankruptcy
- District Courts May Get Firms' Unfinished Business
- Andrea Kim becomes Certified Fraud Examiner
- The Litigation Trust and Theories of Recovery Regarding D&O / Insurance Policy Claims
- American Bankruptcy Institute Webinar Series "Administration of a Mega Ponzi Scheme Case: Receivership v. Bankruptcy"
- Kathy Phelps' Podcast for the American Bankruptcy Institute Discussing Forensic Accounting and Commercial Fraud Issues
- Webinar: "The In Pari Delicto Defense to Bankruptcy Claims Against Directors, Officers and Other Third Parties"
- Alfred Peacock v. The Squab Family: Can Mediation Save the Golden Goose?"
- TMA Central Texas Chapter - "How to Earn Your Keep While Keeping What You Earn: Preference Exposure for the Turnaround Professional"
- Reconstructing the Fraud: E-Discovery Issues for Trustees and Their Professionals
- Trends in Good Faith Findings in Fraudulent Transfer Litigation
- The California Bankruptcy Forum's 2014 Insolvency Conference
- Richard I. Janvey presenter, Ponzi’s Revenge: Clawback and Financial Fraud Litigation, 2010 ABA Section of Litigation Annual CLE Conference, New York, NY (April 2010)
- Karen Diep to speak on "Walks, Talks, and Smells Like Fraud: Ponzi Schemes in Bankruptcy"
- The Red Flags in Securities and Exchange Commission v. Blockvest, LLC
- The Litigation Trust and Theories of Recovery Regarding D&O / Insurance Policy Claims
- SCOTUS: No Safe Harbor Protection Where Financial Institutions Are Mere Intermediaries
- Chris Sullivan, Panelist, Eastern District Conference, United States District and Bankruptcy Court, The Bankruptcy Law Breakout Session: Judicial Estoppels, October 2017
- Bankruptcy Basics: What Every Business Lawyer Needs to Know About the Bankruptcy Process
- Fraud and Forensics: Piercing Through the Deception in a Commercial Fraud Case By: Kathy Phelps
- Fraudulent Transfer Claims Against FDIC in Bank Holding Company Cases, C
- Recent Developments Affecting Professionals', Officers', and Directors' Liability
- Speaker, FDIC's Expanded Role in Bank Holding Company Insolvencies, Stafford Legal Webinar (July 26, 2012)
- Allan B. Diamond author and speaker, Bankruptcy, Forfeiture and SIPC Receivership: Three Regimes for the Compensation of Ponzi Scheme Victims - March 2011 Update, South Florida Bankruptcy Bar Association Retreat, Naples, Florida (May 6-8, 2011)
- In Ratings We Trust? The Role Played By Rating Agencies in the Subprime Debacle