Bob Keach is co-chair of Bernstein Shur’s Business Restructuring and Insolvency Practice Group.

His practice focuses on the representation of various parties in workouts and bankruptcy cases, including debtors, creditors, creditors’ committees, lessors, and third parties acquiring troubled companies and/or their assets. Bob has appeared before the bankruptcy courts in the Districts of Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Delaware, the Southern District of New York, the Middle District of Florida, the Middle District of Louisiana, and the Eastern District of New York. Bob regularly serves as a panelist on national bankruptcy, lender liability, and creditors’ rights programs, and is the author of several articles on bankruptcy and creditors’ rights. Bob is a contributing author to the Collier Guide to Chapter 11 Practice.

Bob is the chairman of the board of directors of the American Bankruptcy Institute and a fellow of the American College of Bankruptcy.

Bob has been recognized by Best Lawyers in America for over ten years for his work in bankruptcy and creditor-debtor rights, and by Chambers USA in its Corporate/M&A section, where he achieved the “Star Individual” rating. Bob is a New England Super Lawyer and was selected as one of the Top 100 lawyers in New England (regardless of specialty). He is AV-rated by Martindale-Hubbell.

Recently Bob succeeded in getting mortgage lender New Century Financial Corp.’s Chapter 11 confirmation overturned because of its treatment of deferred compensation program savers. Bob currently represents a similar ad hoc committee in the Nortel Networks case.   Click here to read the article post on the Wall Street Journal’s Bankruptcy Beat blog.

PUBLICATIONS:

“Rule 2004 as a Pre-Litigation Tool in a Post-Twombly/Iqbal World: Part II,” 29 ABI Journal 28 (November 2010)

“Rule 2004 as a Pre-Litigation Tool in a Post-Twombly/Iqbal World: Part I,” 29 ABI Journal 28 (October 2010)

Declarations and Affidavits: Using And Defending Against Written “Nontestimonial” Evidence, 28 ABI Journal 1, 20, 68-69 (February 2009)

Selecting, Qualifying an Expert in Bankruptcy Proceedings: One Type Does Not Fit All, 27 ABI Journal 2, 26, 71-74 (March 2008)

Dead Man Filing Redux: Is the New Individual Chapter Eleven Unconstitutional?, 13 AM BANKR. INST. L. REV.  483 (Winter 2005)

Solvent Debtors and Myths of Good Faith and Fiduciary Duty, 23 ABI Journal 36 (Jan. 2005)

Stalking –Horse Lenders and Good Faith: The Availability of Appellate Protection Under §§363(m) and 364(e) For Asset Purchasers Extending DIP Financing, 23 ABI Journal 28 (June 2004)

When the Committee is Not and When the Committee is No More, 22 ABI Journal 34 (Jan. 2004)

A Hole in the Glove: Why ‘Negotiation’ Should Trump ‘Solicitation’, 22 ABI Journal 22 (June 2003)

The Case Against KERPS, American Bankruptcy Institute (2003)

LaSalle, the “Market Test” and Competing Plans: Still in the Fog, 21 ABI Journal 18 (Dec. /Jan. 2003)

Continued Unsettled State of Constructive Trusts In Bankruptcy: Of Butner, Federal Interests and the Need for Uniformity, 103 COM. L. J. 411 (Winter 1998)

“Free To Wander the Commercial Meadows”: Controlling Debtor (and Creditor) Conduct in the Gap Period, American Bankruptcy Institute (1997)

Partners and Partnerships Bankruptcy: A Survey and Analysis of Case Law and Proposed Amendments to the Bankruptcy Code, American Bankruptcy Institute (1996)

Creditors Get “Gas”: The Unsettled State of Constructive Trusts in Bankruptcy After Columbia Gas and Omegas Group, American Bankruptcy Institute (1995)

Creditor Plans in Single-Asset Chapter 11 Cases: Some Issues and Considerations. Restructuring Real Estate Partnerships: Is There Life After Greystone?, American Bar Association (1992)

Negative Amortization Plans, Feasibility, and the Fair and Equitable Test. Current Developments, Restructuring Real Estate Partnerships: Is There Life After Greystone?, American Bar Association (1992)

Allocating Tax Payments Made During a Bankruptcy Case Fist to Trust Fund Taxes After United States v. Energy Resources Co., Inc,  39th Annual Colby College Estate Planning and Tax Institute (1992)

Termination of Commercial Credit Relationships and the Implied Covenant of Good Faith and Fair Dealing, Business Torts Seminar, MSBA (1990)

Partner and Partnership Bankruptcy: The Impact of the Filing of a Petition for Relief Under the Bankruptcy Code by a General Partner or a Partnership Upon the Partnership Assets, the Non-Filing Partners, and Partner and Partnership Creditors, Partnership Investment Seminar, MSBA (1990)

Miscellaneous articles for “Cracking the Code,” 1996-1997, at ABI World, www.abiworld.org