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N. Neville Reid

Neville Reid is a capital partner and co-chair of the Firm’s Bankruptcy, Restructuring and Creditors’ Rights Group. Neville has been named among the leading bankruptcy/restructuring attorneys in Illinois by Chambers USA: America’s Leading Lawyers for Business. He has represented a wide array of clients in all aspects of bankruptcy, restructuring, insolvency and creditors’ rights cases and transactions for over 25 years.  He has been a bankruptcy panel trustee (for chapter 7 and chapter 11 bankruptcy cases) since 1994, and in that capacity frequently investigates and recovers fraudulent transfers and various assets for the benefit of creditors of corporate entities and individual debtors. Prior to joining Fox Swibel in 2009, Neville had practiced in the bankruptcy and creditors’ rights group of Mayer Brown LLP for 19 years, including 13 years as a partner.

Neville’s clients include receivers and bankruptcy trustees, distressed businesses seeking to restructure their debt and financial affairs,  corporate unsecured creditors, secured lenders,  and investors seeking to acquire assets from distressed entities. His experience includes investigating fraudulent transfers by corporate and individual debtors and recovering the proceeds of such transfers for creditors; stabilizing distressed entities and seeking the optimal disposition of those entities’ assets for the benefit of creditors and other parties in interest (in accordance with legal priorities); administering bankruptcy estates of corporate and individual debtors; representing receivers in all aspects of administration of receivership estates; negotiating and documenting loan workouts for lenders and distressed borrowers;  structuring acquisitions of distressed assets for investors;  and  litigating in federal and state forums regarding preference, fraudulent conveyance, lender liability, successor liability and other insolvency-related issues.

In 2011, Neville led his firm’s representation of the US Treasury Department in closing  $1.7 billion of Small Business Lending Fund transactions designed to inject capital into middle-market financial institutions and stimulate middle-market lending, as part of the federal government’s economic recovery strategy.

The breadth of Neville’s practice – involving each of the constituencies in distressed situations, including debtors, receivers, trustees, secured lenders and unsecured creditors, and buyers of distressed assets – and his transactional and litigation experience in complex matters, enables him to effectively devise and implement strategies to achieve optimal results for clients in an efficient manner. In addition, as one of a select group of bankruptcy trustees in Chicago for over 25 years, Neville is regularly appointed to oversee the liquidation of Chicago-area companies for the benefit of secured and unsecured creditors. In that capacity he has developed a practical sense of how to uncover avoidable transfers, investigate insider fraud, and pursue claims and optimize the value of assets for creditors, as well as how best to negotiate on behalf of creditors dealing with other bankruptcy trustees.

  • Serving as court-appointed receiver in E.C v. Northridge Holdings Ltd., et al., Case No. 19-cv-5957 (N.D. IL.), with responsibility for overseeing the management and liquidation of nearly 1000 units of multi-family housing estimated to be worth in excess of $80 million, and investigating potential claims, including against defendants’ insiders;
  • Serving as court-appointed trustee in thousands of individual and corporate bankruptcy cases since original appointment to chapter 7/11 bankruptcy trustee panel in 1994, and administering assets of small, intermediate and large estates, including (i) securing and stabilizing real estate and other corporate assets, (ii) hiring professionals to assist with administration of the bankruptcy estate, (iii) where necessary, temporarily operating distressed businesses to facilitate liquidation of assets, (iv) investigating and pursuing claims against insiders and third parties, and (v) marketing, negotiating and closing the sale of assets in all categories (including commercial and residential real estate and receivables);
  • Serving as chapter 11 trustee in the case In re Town & Country (N.D. IL), successfully stabilizing 99-unit distressed multi-family building in Portage, Indiana, negotiating DIP financing and cash collateral facility with secured lender, and structuring auction sale of property for $9.165 million, which resulted in substantial recovery for secured creditor;
  • Among many other chapter 7 trustee engagements, serving as chapter 7 trustee in the case In re P & P Realty (N.D. IL), successfully operating and stabilizing distressed real estate brokerage firm under Section 721 of the Bankruptcy Code during the pendency of the case, securing and closing all pending real estate transactions throughout Cook County after the firm’s nearly 100 independent agents threatened to divert the transactions to other firms, and achieving meaningful distribution to unsecured creditors;
  • Representing the chapter 7 bankruptcy trustee for the bankruptcy estate of Johnson Publishing Company (N.D. IL), LLC, including serving as lead counsel in the trustee’s successful sale of the Johnson Publishing iconic archive of African-American photos and other media items collected since WWII, to a consortium of foundations for $30 million, which helped to contribute to an estimated recovery of over 90% for general unsecured creditors in a case that started with no cash;
  • Representing the U.S. Department of the Treasury in the closing of transactions in its national Small Business Lending Fund program, designed to stimulate loans to small businesses by small to mid-size banks throughout the country (in total our Firm closed 162 SBLF transactions in 2011, representing $1.7 billion of Treasury investments in participating banks);
  • Representing financial advisory firm Leavitt Capital Management (with over $191 million in assets under management) in out-of-court restructuring following sudden death of firm’s principal, resulting in successful stabilization of company and sale of business to third party purchaser;
  • Representing court-appointed receiver of the City of Harvey water system and water fund, assisting receiver in structuring and implementing legal strategies to ensure the legal disposition of cash flow within the Water Department in compliance with consent decree and Illinois law, and investigating alleged unauthorized historical transfers of cash from the water fund;
  • Representing assignee for the benefit of creditors of Leavitt Capital Management in administration of assignment trust for the benefit of Leavitt Capital Management’s creditors;
  • Representing court-appointed receiver in Triad Equity Group case that was concluded in Cook County Chancery Court, including advising receiver on fiduciary duties, negotiating and documenting sale of real estate assets, evaluating and resolving disputes with respect to creditor claims against receivership estate assets, and reviewing and editing receivership reports;
  • Representing successful stalking horse bidder in acquisition of assets from chapter 11 bankruptcy estate of F-Squared Investment Management, LLC (Delaware);
  • Representing stalking horse bidder in competitive and attempted acquisition of substantially all the assets of chapter 11 bankruptcy estate of Naperville Theater, LLC;
  • Representing active corporate creditor member of Unsecured Creditors’ Committee in chapter 11 case of Qualteq, Inc. on all aspects of its role on the committee, including devising strategy for unsecured creditor recovery and analyzing the debtor’s reorganization prospects and plan of reorganization, in case that resulted in 100% payout to unsecured creditors;
  • Representing landlord creditor in enforcement of its rights and claims in the Caesars Entertainment Operating Company, Inc. bankruptcy case;
  • Representing major Chicago-area funeral home on forbearance agreement and loan workout with major secured creditor, corporate restructuring of underlying business and ongoing real estate development project;
  • Representing the bankruptcy trustee of marchFIRST, Inc., a former internet consulting firm, which pre-bankruptcy had a market capitalization in excess of $7 billion, in a multi-year liquidation of the estate’s assets and litigation of avoidance claims;
  • Representing Associated Bank, as secured lender, in the analysis of the lender’s options for maximization of the value of collateral securing multi-million dollar loans to a national real estate developer involving multiple jurisdictions (including potential restructuring of debt and evaluation of forbearance proposals), and in the eventual foreclosure on properties, structuring of receivership for certain properties and structuring and implementation of strategies for post-foreclosure sale of recovered property;
  • Representing other banks and secured creditors, including Byline Bank, Branch Banking and Trust Company and Homestar Bank, in loan restructurings and workouts with various borrowers, and enforcement of their collateral rights in non-bankruptcy and bankruptcy contexts (including automatic stay litigation and settlements related thereto);
  • Representing Cargill, Inc., the country’s largest privately-held company, in its successful strategic acquisition of $22 million of assets of Agway, Inc. through a bankruptcy auction and its competitive bidding for over $450 million of assets from the bankruptcy estate of Farmland Foods;
  • Representing Cargill in its role as member of the Unsecured Creditors’ Committee of CST Industries, and as a corporate creditor of CST Industries, in connection with CST’s chapter 11 restructuring proceedings in Delaware;
  • Representing various privately-held businesses in defending against or pursuing claims in bankruptcy cases;
  • Successfully defending New York Common Retirement Fund, a multi-billion-dollar pension fund lender, against multi-million dollar lender liability claims in Illinois state court, ultimately pressuring the borrower into a very favorable settlement for the lender client;
  • Representing the court-appointed examiner in the structuring and administration of the auction of $50 million of assets of RHC Spacemaster, a manufacturing company;
  • Representing Unsecured Creditors’ Committee of Highland Superstores, Inc. in multiple aspects of Highland’s chapter 11 case;
  • Representing Evans, Inc. in its chapter 11 reorganization and sale; and,
  • Representing the Unsecured Creditors’ Committee of Doctors Hospital of Hyde Park, a sizeable Chicago area hospital, including co-leading (with debtor’s counsel) the investigation into potential causes of action against insiders and the recovery (through litigation and settlement) of over $6 million in proceeds of fraudulent conveyance and unlawful dividend claims from the debtor’s principal.
  • In re Rowe, Case No. 13-1270, 750 F. 3d 392 (4th Cir. 2014) (amicus curiae in support of appellant)
  • Zerand v. Cox, 23 F. 3d 159 (7th Cir. 1994) (Chief Judge Posner)

Neville has been recognized by the prestigious Chambers USA: America’s Leading Lawyers for Business, one of the most highly regarded annual rankings of law firms and attorneys worldwide, as a leading bankruptcy/restructuring attorney in Illinois.

Neville has been rated AV® Preeminent by his professional peers through the Martindale-Hubbell Peer Review Rating system. This is a testament from peer legal professionals of the highest level of professional excellence and of unquestionable ethics.

Since 2012 and in 2006 and 2005, Neville was named to the list of Illinois Super Lawyers. The selections for this list are made by the research team at Super Lawyers, a service of the Legal Division of Thomson Reuters. His selection was published in Chicago Magazine and was based on a rigorous multi-phase review process that includes a statewide survey of lawyers, independent evaluation of candidates by the attorney-led research staff, a “blue ribbon” commission of leading bankruptcy attorneys in Illinois, and a good-standing and disciplinary check.

Since 2011, Neville has also been named a Leading Lawyer by The Law Bulletin Publishing Company in the areas of commercial bankruptcy & workout law, creditor’s rights, and commercial collections law.  In 2022, Neville was designated one of the Best Lawyers in America, a recognition of high achievement and excellence by his peers in the legal profession.

In July 2017, Neville was a co-recipient of the Role Model Award given by the Harvard Law Society of Illinois.  In 2021, Neville was selected by the American College of Bankruptcy to be one of its 37 Fellows for the Class of 2022, a highly prestigious designation based on professional accomplishment, integrity and service in the insolvency profession.

In addition, since 2023, Neville has been selected for inclusion in The Best Lawyers in America© in the field of Bankruptcy and Creditor Debtor Rights / Insolvency and Reorganization Law.

  • “Fourth Circuit Confirms Commission‐Based Formula for Trustee Compensation” NABT Talk, Summer 2014
  • “Trend Favors Limiting Successor Liability; Risks Dictate Abundance of Caution,” Bankruptcy Court Decisions, January 15, 2008
  • “Intellectual Property and Bankruptcy—Salient Issues,” printed in Seminar Materials for the Practising Law Institute’s 26th Annual Current Developments in Bankruptcy and Reorganization Program, May 10‐11, 2004
  • “Debtor‐in‐Possession Financing and Operations Under the United States Bankruptcy Code,” printed in Seminar Materials for the Practising Law Institute’s 26th Annual Current Developments in Bankruptcy and Reorganization Program, May 10‐11, 2004
  • “Effective Use of Bankruptcy Law and Concepts in Equity Receiverships”, Co-Panelist, Annual Conference of National Association of Federal Equity Receivers, September 17, 2022
  • Testified to the U.S. House Subcommittee on Regulatory Reform, Commercial and Antitrust Law, Committee on the Judiciary, on behalf of the National Association of Bankruptcy Trustees, in support of H.R. 3553 related to trustee compensation, September 26, 2018
  • “Special Issues in Fraudulent Conveyance Law”, for the S0utheastern Bankruptcy Law Institute (SBLI), March 2018
  • “Financial Distress Autopsy: Business and Legal Issues”, for SBLI, March 2018
  • “Distressed Businesses: Negotiating Successful Workouts; Considering When Bankruptcy Makes Sense”, for the Chicago Urban League and the Chicago Bar Association, May and June 2017, respectively
  • “Challenging Debtor Issues in 7 & 13: Not All Debtors are Created Equal”, for SBLI, March 2017
  • “Legal Ethics: Protecting the Attorney-Client Privilege”, for SBLI, April 2017
  • “After Wellness”, for the National Conference of Bankruptcy Judges, October 2016
  • “Recovering Assets from IRAs”, NABT Conference, September 2016
  • “Recovering Assets for Bankruptcy Estates from Self-Directed Individual Retirement Accounts,” for UST Annual Trustee Advisory Committee Seminar, February 23, 2015
  • “Issues in Municipal Bankruptcies and Restructurings,” Illinois Municipal League 101st Annual Conference, September 18-20, 2014
  • “Busting the Trust: Recovering Assets and Income from Trusts for the Estate,” Chapter 7 Trustees GSA Conference, November 2013 and National Association of Bankruptcy Trustees Annual Conference, September 2014
  • “Boot Camp: Administration of Individual Cases from Start to Finish,” National Association Bankruptcy Trustees Annual Convention, August, 2013
  • “You Have to Pay Bills? Ethics in Getting Paid in Chapter 7/11 Trustee Cases,” American Bankruptcy Institute Central States Bankruptcy Workshop, June 2013
  • “Principal Considerations in Work-Outs and Bankruptcy,” Entrepreneurial Finance 444 at the University of Illinois at Chicago, March 2013 and November 2013, respectively
  • “Last Man Standing – Trustee as Successor in Chapter 11, Chapter 13 and Receiverships: Avoidance Actions, Equitable Tolling and Operational Issues,” National Association Bankruptcy Trustees, February 2013
  • “Distressed Businesses: Issues and Strategies for Companies At or Near Insolvency,” North Shore Illinois CPA Society, June 2012
  • “Distressed Real Estate: Overview of Workout, Foreclosure and Bankruptcy Issues,” Chicago Bar Association Real Estate and Lender Subcommittees, October 2009 and January 2010, respectively
  • Strategies for Drafting Contracts to Lower Bankruptcy Risk,” ABA Conference on Minority Partners in Majority/Corporate Law Firms, March 27, 2008
  • The Bankruptcy Process: Certain Issues Arising in Distressed Asset Acquisitions,” for Mayer Brown LLP’s May 2008 Corporate University Program
  • Intellectual Property and Bankruptcy—Salient Issues,” for the Practising Law Institute’s 26th Annual Current Developments in Bankruptcy and Reorganization Program, May 10-11, 2004
  • Debtor-in-Possession Financing and Operations Under the United States Bankruptcy Code,” for the Practising Law Institute’s 26th Annual Current Developments in Bankruptcy and Reorganization Program, May 10-11, 2004
  • Fraudulent Conveyance, Successor Liability and Preference Risk in Acquisitions From Distressed Entities,” for Mayer Brown LLP’s Corporate University Program (conducted for various corporate clients), May 20, 2004
  • The Nature and Scope of a Trustee’s Duties in a Potentially Solvent Estate,” 1999 United States Trustee Seminar, March 6, 1999
  • Fiduciary and Ethics Questions for Consideration at U.S. Trustee Seminar,” 1999 United States Trustee Seminar, March 6, 1999
  • The Basics of Substantive Consolidation,” Chicago Bar Association Seminar, March 10, 1999
  • Will a Work-Out Work? Issues from the Lender’s Perspective,” and “Claims Trading,” Southeastern Bankruptcy Law Institute Seminar, March 26-28, 1998
  • Acquiring Assets from Companies in Bankruptcy,” Fifth Annual Wall Street Journal/Our World News Black Entrepreneurship In America Conference, March 1997
  • Successor Liability Issues in Bankruptcy Cases,” American Bankruptcy Institute Winter Leadership Conference, December 1996

Professional:

  • President-Elect, NABT, August 2019 – August 2020
  • Vice-President, NABT, August 2018-August 2019
  • Secretary, NABT, September 2017 – August 2018
  • Member, NABT Amicus Committee, September 2013 – 2016
  • Legislative Liaison, NABT, 2015 – 2020
  • Editor, NABT Journal, January 2017 – September 2017
  • Chairman, Trustee Advisory Council, Northern District of Illinois, October 2014 – 2016
  • Member, National Association of Federal Equity Receivers (NAFER), 2015 – present
  • Co-Chair, NAFER Legislative and Judicial Outreach Committees, 2022-present
  • Co-Chair of Subcommittee of Chicago Bar Association Bankruptcy and Reorganization Committee, which completed a study on the perceived loss of potential Chicago corporate chapter 11 cases to Delaware and potential strategies for reversing that trend, July 2000
  • Panelist for National Bankruptcy Review Commission Midwest Meeting, 1997

Civic:

  • President, Illinois Medical District Board of Commissioners, 2018 – June 2020
  • Commissioner, Illinois Medical District, 2017 – 2020 (Governor-appointee)
  • President, Original Forty Club of Chicago, May 2021 – present
  • Member, Executive Committee, Original Forty Club, 2011 – present
  • Member, Kairos Prison Ministry Advisory Council (Illinois), 2013 – present
  • Chairman, Kairos Prison Ministry Advisory Council (Illinois), 2020-present
  • Member and Volunteer, Kairos Prison Ministries, 2011 – present
  • Board Member, Leadership Fellows Association,  July 2016 – present
  • Sunday School and Men’s Bible Study Teacher (adults and teens), South Shore United Methodist Church, 2011 – 2021
  • Board Member, Habitat for Humanity – Chicago, 2018 – present
  • Board Member, Pursue Scholars, January 2017 – present
  • Board Member, Chicago Scholars, 2009 – 2010
  • Superintendent of St. Mark United Methodist Church School, 2006 – 2011
  • LINK Unlimited sponsor and mentor (for underprivileged children), 2000 – 2009
  • Board Member, LINK Unlimited, 2005 – 2006
  • Sunday School teacher (adults and teens), several United Methodist Churches in the Chicago area, 1999 – present
  • Fellow, Leadership Greater Chicago, 1997 – 1998
  • Chairman, Beverly Area Local Development Corporation, 1996 – 1999
  • Member, Board of Directors, Good Shepherd Community Services Organization, 1995 – 1999
  • President, Harvard Fellowship in Public Interest Law, 1986 – 1987
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