Jason W. Bank

Jason focuses his practice in the areas of commercial bankruptcy, out-of-court workouts, corporate restructuring and creditors’ rights. Jason is the chair of the firm’s Bankruptcy and Restructuring Department.

He has successfully guided numerous businesses through out-of-court restructurings and Chapter 11 reorganizations. He has negotiated resolutions of complex financial issues and debtor-creditor disputes and achieved consensual restructurings while avoiding bankruptcy or litigation.  Where necessary, Jason has filed Chapter 11 petitions on behalf of businesses to protect their assets and operations. He has helped to reorganize businesses in a wide variety of industries, including automotive, retail, construction, education, real estate, sports and entertainment.

Jason has considerable experience representing clients in connection with Chapter 11 bankruptcy and out-of-court restructurings in the health care industry. Many organizations within the health care industry—from physician groups to hospitals to health systems— are experiencing distress due to economic challenges, regulatory changes, technological advances, and competitive pressures. He helps clients navigate these challenges and get their businesses back on firm footing.

Jason also devotes a significant amount of his practice to the representation of creditors in distressed situations and workouts, providing counsel, negotiating resolutions, and initiating litigation, when necessary, to enforce his clients’ rights. He represents creditors across a wide variety of industries, with a particular emphasis on the automotive industry, including serving as creditors’ rights counsel to a Tier One auto supplier. He also assists numerous parties with buying and selling assets out of bankruptcy, and in connection with bankruptcy-related litigation, including prosecuting and successfully defending preferential transfer and fraudulent conveyance actions.

In addition to his bankruptcy practice, Jason provides general legal counsel and advice to numerous small- and middle-market businesses and business owners. His corporate work includes representing clients in connection with transactional and litigation matters. He also assists businesses and individuals with resolution of tax collection disputes.

Jason has served as an adjunct professor of law at the Michigan State University College of Law on the subject of Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization. Jason served as President of the Detroit Chapter of the Turnaround Management Association and served on the TMA’s Board of Directors from 2012 through 2018. He frequently lectures to professional and trade associations, and publishes on the subjects of bankruptcy and restructuring. He represents Kerr Russell on the Southeast Michigan American Heart Association Metro Detroit Heart Walk Executive Cabinet.

Jason is a certified mediator and serves on the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of Michigan’s Facilitative Mediation Panel. He also serves as Vice-Chair of the Mediation Panel.

Jason has been recognized as a “Michigan Super Lawyer” by Thomson Reuters for ten years and was named one of the Top 100 Attorneys in Michigan by this publication for 2015-2017. He has also been recognized by Best Lawyers in America and has been selected as a Top Lawyer by DBusiness Magazine in the areas of Bankruptcy and Creditor/Debtor Rights and Insolvency and Reorganization Law

Jason is an active member in his community and in connection with various causes, including volunteering with Boy Scouts of America, coaching Little League baseball, and being an active member of his church St. Thomas a Becket in Canton, Michigan.

Articles

• “Representing a Business in a Workout or Bankruptcy,” Michigan Bar Journal (October 2018)
• “Nuts and Bolts of Evaluating Third-Party Releases in Chapter 11 Plans,” American Bankruptcy Institute Journal (September 2018)