What's New

Dilworth Paxson Partner Addresses Bankruptcy Issues at CLE Bar Program

Dilworth Paxson Bankruptcy and Insolvency partner, Harold G. Cohen, Esq. recently participated as a panelist for State Court Alternatives To Bankruptcy, a CLE-accredited program sponsored jointly by the Camden and Burlington County Bar Associations.

The program was designed to heighten awareness of attorneys to the state law alternative to federal bankruptcy - beginning the case, different distribution scheme for creditors (that may be significant in some situations), often speedier liquidation of assets in state proceeding, costs and fees, and to reiterate the considerable degree to which state court insolvency proceedings are judicially supervised.

Other panelists included Steven Zurista, Esq. (Wasserman Jurista & Stolz, PC, Millburn, NJ) and the Hon. Ronald E. Bookbinder, Presiding Judge of the Superior Court, Chancery Division, Burlington County.

In his presentation, Mr. Cohen explained how receivership for financially distressed businesses is handled under NJ law. Some of his topics included:

• grounds for appointment of a receiver;
• authority of receiver to operate - but generally to liquidate the assets;
• comparison of receiver's powers (recovery of preferences, fraudulent transfers, etc) to those of a bankruptcy trustee;
• priority of distributions to creditors in a receivership in comparison to a bankruptcy.

As a member of the Firm’s Cherry Hill, NJ office, Mr. Cohen, a Voorhees resident, is a member of the Litigation Department and Bankruptcy and Insolvency Group as well as the Corporate Department. He represents institutional lenders in all aspects of troubled loan negotiations and resolution, including preliminary business and legal evaluations, strategy formulation and implementation, forbearance negotiations, collection, and litigation strategy as well as the representation of secured and unsecured lenders in state, federal and bankruptcy courts. His general business litigation practice is enhanced by his experience regularly representing banks and entrepreneurs in structuring credit facilities, new ventures and providing counsel with respect to legal issues confronting businesses in all aspects of their operations.