Jason W. Bank

Biography

Jason is chair of the firm’s Bankruptcy and Restructuring Practice Group, with a focus on commercial bankruptcy, out-of-court workouts, restructurings, receiverships, liquidations, dissolutions and creditors’ rights. Jason also acts as counsel to numerous small- and middle-market businesses and business owners.  He also serves as the firm’s General Counsel.

Jason has successfully guided numerous businesses, business officers and owners, through out-of-court loan workouts, 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.  When necessary, Jason has filed Chapter 11 for businesses to help preserve their assets and operations. He has helped to successfully reorganize numerous businesses in a wide variety of industries, including automotive, retail, construction, education, real estate, health care, and sports and entertainment. He also assists parties with buying and selling assets out of bankruptcy. 

Jason has also represented numerous state court receivers in state and federal court.  He also acts as counsel for liquidating trustees in bankruptcy court and other fiduciaries in workouts and liquidations.

Jason also devotes a significant amount of his practice to matters involving the automotive industry. He represents creditors in distressed situations and workouts, providing counsel, negotiating resolutions, and initiating litigation, when necessary, to enforce his clients’ rights. He serves as creditors’ rights counsel to a Tier One auto supplier. He has prosecuted and defended numerous preferential transfer and fraudulent conveyance actions. Jason also has considerable experience representing clients in the health care industry, including physician groups or practices, who are experiencing financial distress.

Jason is a certified mediator and  has helped to resolve numerous disputes arising from bankruptcy litigation. He serves as Co-Chair of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of Michigan’s Facilitative Mediation Panel. Jason also serves as Co-Vice-Chair of the Debtor/Creditor Rights Committee of the State Bar of Michigan, Business Law Section.  

For ten years, Jason served as an adjunct professor of law at the Michigan State University College of Law. Jason is a former President of the Detroit Chapter of the Turnaround Management Association and served on the TMA’s Board of Directors for several years. He frequently lectures to professional and trade associations, and publishes on the subjects of bankruptcy, restructuring and related topics. 

Jason has consistently been recognized as a “Michigan Super Lawyer” by Thomson Reuters and was named one of the Top 100 Attorneys in Michigan by this publication for three years. 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. He currently serves on the Board of Directors for Saint Christine’s Christian Services, a soup kitchen and food pantry serving northwest Detroit. He has also volunteered in Scouting, youth sports leagues and served on the Southeast Michigan American Heart Association Metro Detroit Heart Walk Executive Cabinet.

Articles

• “Representing a Business in a Workout or Bankruptcy,” Michigan Bar Journal (October 2019)
• “Nuts and Bolts of Evaluating Third-Party Releases in Chapter 11 Plans,” American Bankruptcy Institute Journal (September 2018)

Representative Matters

• Lead counsel for successful Chapter 11 reorganizations of automotive, retail, manufacturing, aviation and health care businesses
• Representation of receiver in a sale of distressed, operating automotive supplier, where numerous jobs were preserved
• Representation of successful out-of-court restructuring of health care business
• Representation of Tier 1 automotive company in connection with distressed automotive suppliers
• Representation of automotive business in successful section 363 bankruptcy sale
• Representation of creditors in large retail bankruptcy cases
• Lead counsel for Chapter 11 reorganization of large automotive dealership
• Represented numerous distressed companies in resort and entertainment industry, including multiple golf courses
• Representation of court appointed receivers and liquidating trustees
• Representation of business owners in resolution of financial issues inside and outside of bankruptcy
• Successfully defended numerous parties in fraudulent conveyance and preferential transfer actions brought by bankruptcy trustees
• Assisted small business owner with liquidation of distressed real estate portfolio and release of personal guarantees through settlements with lenders; protected personal and business assets while avoiding bankruptcy