Greenspoon Marder Poaches Bankruptcy Lawyers as Filings Rise

Commercial law firm Greenspoon Marder is expanding its bankruptcy and reorganization practice, poaching a group of nine lawyers from California’s SulmeyerKupetz.

The new hires, which also includes eight SulmeyerKupetz staff members, will continue to be based in Los Angeles. They’ll remain their current office space, under the Greenspoon Marder banner.

June was the busiest month for large corporate bankruptcies since March 2021, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Among the household names that filed for bankruptcy is Revlon, Inc., the beauty company which has been under pressure for years.

This year promises to be active on the bankruptcy and restructuring front as a tide of government stimulus money dries up and indebted companies look to refinance their borrowings, despite headwinds from inflation, rising rates and supply chain disruption.

“We are starting to see a larger number of bankruptcies, with some big names like Revlon,” said Mark Horoupian, who joins Greenspoon as a partner after nearly three decades at SulmeyerKupetz. Horoupian has represented clients such as the historic ship attraction Queen Mary, Snow Valley ski resort and recreational vehicle company Fleetwood Enterprises, Inc.

Horoupian said while he expected bankruptcies and restructurings to pick up, such activity “does follow the economy.”

“We have seen increases and decreases in cycles,” he said in an interview. “Bankruptcies started declining in 2019 and we thought that would continue in 2020 following Covid-19 but no one initially anticipated the backstop of federal government money.”

Howard Ehrenberg, SulmeyerKupetz’s former managing member, is also among those making the jump, along with partners Daniel Lev, Elisa Miller, Victor Sahn and Alan Tippie. Asa Hami and Steven Werth are joining as senior counsel and Steve Burnell as an associate.

“We call ourselves ‘insolvency professionals’ which captures both liquidations and reorganizations,” Horoupian said.