Debbie’s bankruptcy and litigation experience is extensive. She has represented virtually all constituents in bankruptcy cases, including pre-petition, DIP and exit lenders, unsecured creditors, investors and asset acquirers. Her practice has been focused upon complex, often high stakes, cases, involving confirmation disputes, fraudulent transfer issues, lien avoidance/priority claims, business torts, breach of contract, fraud, misrepresentation, conversion and class and mass actions.
Debbie also has a robust ADR practice, serving as a mediator and arbitrator in business disputes. She is listed on the register of mediators maintained by the Bankruptcy Courts for the Southern District of New York and the District of Delaware, and is included on the panel of mediators and the panel of arbitrators maintained by the American Arbitration Association. Debbie has served as a mediator or arbitrator in numerous commercial disputes, including those arising in the bankruptcy cases of Dewey & LeBoeuf, Lehman Brothers Holdings, Inc. and the Madoff liquidations.
While at CIT Group, a publicly-traded company, Debbie established and chaired CIT’s litigation and government investigations legal team and managed virtually all of CIT’s litigation and pre-litigation matters. She also represented CIT in connection with government inquiries and investigations and assisted CIT in connection with its restructuring. Debbie reported directly to the board of directors on these matters, and in addition, she worked closely with senior management to identify, prevent and mitigate litigation risk.
Debbie also served as general counsel to Fairholme Capital Management LLC and secretary to The Fairholme Funds Inc. Fairholme Capital Management is an investment adviser that had approximately $20 billion under management, including managed accounts and three open-ended, non-diversified mutual funds traded on NASDAQ.