Attorney Profile

I was born in Coronado, California, at the naval air station that used to be across the bay from San Diego. My father was a carrier pilot; my mother was a Kentucky girl who came for work in the war industries during World War II.

We moved frequently as I was growing up because of my father's Navy orders. Among other places, we were stationed in Florida, California, Texas, and Virginia. It took me 11 years to graduate from high school (some would say that had nothing to do with the moving). After my dad retired, we moved to Oxford, Mississippi during the peak of the civil rights storm, where my dad completed his M.B.A. Later, we moved to rural North Carolina when he got a civilian job. It was there that I developed my fondness for pork barbecue, aimless road trips, and that special, curious accent that North Carolinians often develop.

I attended college, graduate school and law school in North Carolina. It was there that I also spent the first eight years of my law practice. It was challenging work, representing the interests of the poor in the courts and before the legislature as a legal aid lawyer. Subsequently, I moved to Richmond, Virginia to manage one, and then another, legal aid program.

In due course, I had one of my periodic mid-life crises, and went to work as a business lawyer for a mid-sized downtown Richmond law firm. I worked my way from associate to partner during these years, and the focus of my practice turned to business bankruptcy and bankruptcy litigation. I like the practice because I seldom do the same thing twice.

Through no fault of mine, my oldest daughter, Elizabeth, graduated with distinction from St. John's College in Annapolis, Maryland, the last of the great books curriculum schools in this country. Elizabeth now lives in Chicago, where her abilities to read ancient Greek and to work out Pythagoras' geometry problems has rendered her unemployed. My younger daughter, Julia, is about to start her third (perhaps second, it's not clear) year as an art student at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond. She is a talented illustrator and will do well in her art career so long as it does not involve math.

I continue apace. I am still at least five years behind on the Fourth Five Year Plan to renovate my house in North Richmond. However, I am slowly but surely culling out my collection of old BMW and Volvo automobiles because the garage will not hold any more parts. There is hope yet.

I started my own commercial bankruptcy practice a couple of years ago, and I'm quite happy with it. It's just me, so I always know where the blame should lie. About a year and a half ago, I spent six months flat on my back due to a head injury. Like the old joke, I still can't play the piano. Things are now coming back to a familiar, but nevertheless warped, normality. Amen.

I am still breathing, which continues to be a pretty good thing, but somewhere along the way have lost my sense of smell. Good exchange, it seems to me.

Areas of Practice

• 25% Bankruptcy - Chapter 11 Reorganization
• 25% Bankruptcy - Creditor's Rights
• 25% Bankruptcy - Small Business
• 10% Bankruptcy - Local Counsel
• 15% Bankruptcy - Defense of Avoidance Actions

Bar Admissions

• North Carolina, 1979
• Virginia, 1988
• U.S. District Court Eastern District of Virginia, 1988
• U.S. District Court Western District of Virginia, 1997
• U.S. District Court Middle District of North Carolina, 1979
• U.S. District Court Eastern District of North Carolina, 1997
• U.S. District Court Western District of North Carolina, 1995
• U.S. Court of Appeals 4th Circuit, 1980
• U.S. Supreme Court, 1986
• U.S. Tax Court, 1998

Education

• The College of William and Mary, Marshall-Wythe School of Law, Williamsburg, Virginia, 1993
  L.L.M.
  Major: Taxation
  
  
• Wake Forest University School of Law, Winston Salem, North Carolina, 1979
  J.D.
  
  
• University of North Carolina at Greensboro, Greensboro, North Carolina, 1984
  M.A.
  Major: History
  
  
• Guilford College, 1973
  B.A.
  
  

Representative Cases

• In re Shelton, 201 B.R. 147 (Bankr. E.D. Va. 1996)
• Whitaker v. Nationwide Mutual Fire Insurance Co., 115 F. Supp. 2d 612 (E.D. Va. 1999)
• In re LCCH Liquidating Corp., 276 B.R. 106 (Bankr. W.D. Va. 2001)
• In re Trak Auto, 277 B.R. 655 (Bankr. E.D. Va. 2002)
• AMF v. Herricks Fore Plan, Inc. (In re AMF Bowling Worldwide, Inc.), 278 B.R. 96 (Bankr. E.D. Va 2002)
• Property Technologies, Ltd., v. Telnet Corp. et al., 296 B.R. 701 (Bankr. E.D. Va. 2002)
• HHC Associates v. Assurance Co. of America, 256 F. Supp. 2d 505 (E.D. Va. 2003)
• In re Rothchild's Jewelers, Inc., 337 B.R. 561 (Bankr. E.D. Va. 2004)
• Receiver v. June, 359 F. Supp. 2d 510 (W.D. Va. 2005)
• Receiver v. Walker, 369 F. Supp. 2d 818 (W.D. Va. 2005)
• Receiver v. June, 420 F. Supp. 2d 493 (W.D. Va. 2006)
• Receiver v. June, 432 F. Supp. 2d 635 (W.D. Va. 2006)
• Kaufman & Canoles, PC, v. RAI Funding, LLC (In re Brandseed Media Commerce Group, LLC , 2006 Bankr. LEXIS 3636 (Bankr. E.D. Va. 2006)
• Professional Delivery Systems v. Penske Truck Leasing Corp. (In re Professional Delivery Systems), 2006 Bankr. LEXIS 3703 (Bankr. E.D. Va. 2006)
• Watts Contractors, Inc., v. Watts (In re Watts Contractors, Inc.), 2007 Bankr. LEXIS 109 (Bankr. E.D. Va. 2007)

Honors and Awards

• Martindale-Hubble-- BV

Professional Associations and Memberships

• Bar Association of the City of Richmond, 1995 - Present
  
  

Past Employment Positions

• Durrette Bradshaw, P.C., Associate & Partner, 1994 - 2007
• Legal Services Corporation of Virginia, Executive Director, 1989 - 1992

Fraternities/Sororities

• Phi Alpha Theta

Birth Information

• January 7, 1951, Coronado, California, United States of America