Complex Loan Workout Group Created
Jun 01, 2007
The Florida law firm of Shutts & Bowen LLP announced that it has launched a multidisciplinary Complex Loan Workout Practice Group to focus its extensive resources on serving the needs of clients who are grappling with the effects of a slowdown in the real estate market.
“We are anticipating increased demand for workout advice as Florida’s economy faces headwinds from residential overbuilding; shifting market demands; and soaring construction, insurance and other costs,” said Shutts & Bowen Chairman Bowman Brown. “We have mobilized a talented team of lawyers from our South Florida, Tampa and Orlando offices who are experienced in the fields of bankruptcy, creditors’ rights, real estate, receiverships, taxation and litigation to provide advice and counsel to clients requiring such services.”
The new practice group will be headed by Lee D. Mackson, a partner in the firm’s Miami office. Mackson, who represents financial institutions and other companies in real estate and banking litigation, multimillion-dollar commercial foreclosures, and complex workouts, said the firm’s statewide Complex Loan Workout Practice Group will work with investment banks, pension funds, insurance companies, lending institutions, developers, investors, landlords and private equity funds.
“The collapse of the subprime mortgage market is creating a ripple effect on other sectors of the U.S. economy,” Mackson noted. “Foreclosure rates and mortgage fraud claims are rising, and excess liquidity in the capital markets has been keeping borderline companies afloat. As these stresses mount, we anticipate that companies in a wide range of industries will be seeking our advice on restructuring loans, reorganizing business ventures, and addressing complex contract disputes.”
The Complex Loan Workout Practice Group will advise clients on loan workouts and modifications, restructurings, bankruptcy alternatives, reorganization, capital infusion, and strategic and development alternatives for real estate in all stages of distress.
Other members of the new practice group led by Mackson include: partners Don Wasil, Peter Levitt, and Bob Fracasso in Miami; Peter Shapiro in Fort Lauderdale; Art Menor in West Palm Beach; and Andrew Brumby and Michael Gore in Orlando.
