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Brent Weisenberg

Partner
Vice Chair, Bankruptcy & Restructuring Department

New Jersey
T: +1 973.597.6120 F: +1 973.597.2400 bweisenberg@lowenstein.com
  • BIO
  • EXPERIENCE
  • NEWS & INSIGHTS

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In times of crisis, companies and their stakeholders rely on Brent Weisenberg to identify and execute innovative and efficient solutions to solve critical business problems. Brent regularly advises businesses and their constituencies during periods of financial challenge and in other special situations, where he assists clients in negotiating and implementing complex commercial transactions, acquiring and disposing of distressed assets, and prosecuting and defending complex commercial litigation.

Brent has particular experience counseling official and unofficial committees across a wide array of industries, including retail, real estate, construction, hospitality, telecommunications, manufacturing, and technology. Brent has recently served as counsel to official creditors’ committees in such widely known bankruptcies as Work ‘N Gear, Mountain Sports (dba Eastern Mountain Sports and Bob’s Stores), New rue21 Holdco, Nogin, Tuesday Morning Corporation, NBG Home, Century 21 Department Stores, General Nutrition Centers and Modell's Sporting Goods. Brent also represents the Ad Hoc Committee of Unsecured Creditors of Zulily, once a crown jewel of Seattle’s tech scene.

Prior to joining Lowenstein Sandler, Brent also served as counsel to official creditors’ committees in Big M (dba Mandee, Annie Sez, and Afaze), Ritz Camera I and II, Signature Styles (dba Spiegel, Newport News, and ShapeFx), Orchard Brands, Steve & Barry’s, The Sharper Image, Princeton Ski Shops, Montgomery Ward, CompUSA, and Footstar.

Building on Lowenstein’s extensive experience representing committees comprised of victims in mass tort bankruptcies, Brent has become a trusted advisor to sexual abuse survivors across the country. Brent is counsel to official committees representing the interests of survivors in the Diocese of Camden, New Jersey, the Roman Catholic Bishop of Oakland (California), and the Franciscan Friars of California bankruptcy cases.

In the Camden diocese case, Lowenstein helped the Committee negotiate a settlement which will see the Camden diocese pay survivors $87.5 million—the largest cash payment by any Catholic diocese in bankruptcy at that time—plus assign all of its rights to insurance policy proceeds to a trust created to benefit survivors. The settlement concludes a long fight to secure restitution and accountability for survivors who filed lawsuits against the diocese and its parishes under the landmark New Jersey legislation that radically reformed the state’s civil statute of limitations for survivors of sexual assault.

Brent serves as an advisor to CHILD USA, the leading national nonprofit think tank fighting to protect children from future abuse and neglect and bring justice to survivors. Brent has quickly become a thought leader in this field and has spoken across the country on the many issues raised in diocesan bankruptcies.

Brent has been a member of the board of directors for several nonprofits, including Commonpoint Queens, one of the borough’s largest social service agencies. As a director for the agency, Brent helped to further its mission with pragmatic problem-solving skills and by building consensus among diverse stakeholders.

  • Brent’s diverse Chapter 11 experience, prior to joining Lowenstein, extends to the representation of:
    • Chapter 11 debtors, including Interliant, Inc., in the successful sale of its assets; Old UGC, Inc., in its restructuring of more than $1.5 billion in debt, and Metromedia Fiber Network, Inc. (n/k/a Zayo Group) in its restructuring of $5 billion in debt created during the height of the high technology/telecom investment boom
    • Some of the largest landlords in the country in such noteworthy Chapter 11 cases as Aeropostale, Crumbs Bake Shop, Joyce Leslie, Love Culture, and Sbarro
    • ONE World Sports in the sale of substantially all of its assets to Eleven Sports
    • Defendants in multimillion-dollar avoidance actions, including the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania in a $50 million fraudulent transfer action commenced by Foxwoods Casino Philadelphia, wherein the commonwealth’s motion to dismiss the complaint was granted by the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania and Master Data Center, a subsidiary of Thomson Reuters, in the complete dismissal of a $2 million preference action commenced by the Kodak GUC Trust
    • Secured creditors, including KBC Bank N.A. in the Chapter 11 bankruptcy case of continuing care retirement community Capitol Lakes, Inc., where Brent leveraged his restructuring experience in the aid of a not-for-profit health care entity. In recapitalizing, resizing, and restructuring the prominent senior citizen complex, Brent helped preserve a vital institution for those in need in the Madison, WI, area.
  • Brent also has extensive experience in the wind-down of private equity and hedge fund vehicles. Before joining Lowenstein, Brent was General Counsel to the Platinum Partners family of hedge funds. Brent was employed by the funds’ court-appointed receiver, the former head of the criminal division of the United States Attorney’s office and retained by his successor, the former Chief Judge of the Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of New York. As General Counsel, Brent worked extensively with the receiver’s outside counsel and financial advisors, as well as with Platinum’s portfolio managers, to unwind what was asserted to be a fund valued at more than $500 million. In doing so, he:
    • Structured, negotiated, and documented the workout of investments in the oil and gas, real estate, and litigation finance industries
    • Structured and consummated sales of a wide range of assets, including real estate, a portfolio of litigation finance investments, life insurance policies, and oil and gas rights
    • Worked hand in hand with the receiver’s outside counsel in prosecuting and successfully resolving fraudulent transfer actions against the Platinum funds’ purported secured lender, thereby allowing a distribution to the funds’ unsecured creditors

Education

  • Boston University School of Law (J.D. 2001), cum laude

    University of Wisconsin-Madison (B.A. 1998), with honors, Phi Beta Kappa

Affiliations

  • Co-chairperson, Business Reorganization Committee, American Bankruptcy Institute (April 2016-April 2017)
  • Co-chairperson, Unsecured Trade Creditors Committee, American Bankruptcy Institute (April 2014-April 2016)
  • Member, Education Oversight Committee, Turnaround Management Association (February 2015-February 2016)

Admissions

  • New York
  • New Jersey
  • U.S. District Court for the Northern District of New York

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