Robert J. Keach

An experienced, widely respected bankruptcy practitioner.

Robert J. “Bob” Keach is co-chair of Bernstein Shur’s Business Restructuring and Insolvency Practice Group. He is a Member of the Board of Directors and Fellow of the American College of Bankruptcy and served as Past President, President, and Chairman of the American Bankruptcy Institute (ABI). A national leader in Chapter 11 Reform and Subchapter V, Bob is a member of ABI’s Subchapter V Task Force and former co-chair of their Commission to Study the Reform of Chapter 11.

Bob 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. He has appeared as a panelist on national bankruptcy, lender liability and creditors rights programs, and is the author of several articles on bankruptcy and creditors’ rights appearing in the ABI Law Review, Commercial Law Journal, and ABI Journal, among other publications. Keach is a contributing author to Collier Guide to Chapter 11: Key Topics and Selected Industries (2011 Ed.).

Bob is recognized as a “Star Individual” in Corporate Mergers & Acquisitions/Bankruptcy in Chambers USA, Best Lawyers in America (Twenty-Year Certificate), Lawdragon 2023 500 Leading U.S. Bankruptcy and Restructuring Lawyers, New England Super Lawyers (Bankruptcy and Top 100 Lawyers in New England regardless of specialty), and is rated AV^® Preeminent by Martindale-Hubbell. For his dedication to the field, in 2021 Bob received the prestigious American Bankruptcy Institute’s Lifetime Achievement Award. Bob is also certified in business bankruptcy by the American Board of Certification.

Currently, Bob serves as the chapter 11 trustee in the railroad reorganization case of Montreal Maine & Atlantic Railway, Ltd., a cross-border restructuring case. Bob is also the fee examiner in the Exide Technologies case in Delaware; he was also the fee examiner in In re AMR Corporation (the chapter 11 cases of American Airlines and its parent and certain affiliates). Bob has also, inter alia, represented ad hoc committees in the Homebanc Mortgage, New Century TRS Holdings, and Nortel Networks cases in Delaware, as well as a public utilities commission in the FairPoint Communications case in the Southern District of New York.

Publications:

Robert J. Keach and Adam R. Prescott, Confirming Nonconsensual Plans in Subchapter V: Exploring the “Projected Disposable Income” Requirement and What It Means (And Does Not Mean) For Small Business Debtors, 32 No. 2 J. Bankr. L. & Prac. NL Art. 1 (June 2023)

Robert J. Keach and Adam R. Prescott, Balancing Act: How the Small Business Reorganization Act Facilitates Successful Reorganizations (And How Judicial “Rebalancing” Could Affect That Success), 31 No. 6 J. Bankr. L. & Prac. NL Art. 1 (December 2022)

“President Biden Signs Bankruptcy Threshold Adjustment and Technical Corrections Act into Law”, ABI Journal (August 2022)

Robert J. Keach and Lindsay Zahradka Milne, The Unconstitutional Confluence of Statutory Mootness Under Bankruptcy Code §363(m) and Bankruptcy Courts’ Discretion Under Rule 6004(h), 71 Syracuse Law Review 493 (2021)

Robert J. Keach and Lindsay Zahradka Milne, Persuasive Authority: Compelled Third-Party Releases, 37 ABI Journal 12 (December 2018)

Robert J. Keach and Andrew C. Helman, Life After Jevic: An End to Priority-Skipping Distributions?, 36 ABI Journal 9 (September 2017)

Robert J. Keach and Brady C. Williamson, The Boomerang Effect: Is There a Contract Exception to ASARCO?, 35 ABI Journal 14 (April 2016)

Chapter 11 as a Liquidation Tool: Legal, Tactical and Practical Considerations for Debtors, Lenders and Buyers, Collier Guide to Chapter 11: Key Topics and Selected Industries, ^ [4.01] (Alan N. Resnick and Henry J. Sommer eds.) (2015)

Robert Keach and Al Togut, The ABI Commission to Study the Reform of Chapter 11 Enters Its Second Year, ABL Advisor (2013)

Commission to Explore Overhauling Chapter 11, 30 ABI Journal 5, 36-37, 83 (June 2011)

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)

Selecting, Qualifying an Expert in Bankruptcy Proceedings: One Type Does Not Fit All: Part I, 27 ABI Journal 1, 26, 76-77 (Feb. 2008)

BAPCPA and WARN Act ‘Back Pay’: Now, Timing Isn’t Everything, 24 ABI Journal 26 (Dec./Jan. 2006)

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

Afterlife, Reincarnation or Purgatory? Post-confirmation Jurisdiction in the First Circuit, 24 ABI Journal 24 (Oct. 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)

The 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)

Partner 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)