Jeffrey E. Spiers
Partner
Jeff’s experience includes workouts and commercial bankruptcy proceedings for a wide variety of lending and borrowing clients, including representation of unofficial committees, bondholders and debenture-holders, banks and institutional investors, creditors’ committees and debtors-in-possession. Major cases in which Jeff has actively participated include the Hunt brothers’ trust estate and individual bankruptcy cases, Continental Airlines, Inc., Zale Corporation, NCS, Inc. (Stop-N-Go), Columbia Transmission Corporation, CompuAdd, Texas State Optical, Ninfa’s and Stage Stores (Palais Royal). Jeff represented Mobile Energy Services Company in its chapter 11 case. Jeff was co-debtors’ counsel for Sterling Chemicals and served as special counsel to the debtors in the Enron bankruptcy cases. Jeff also served as committee counsel in the Philip Services Corporation bankruptcy case and represented the non-filing parent in the Palco Lumber Company and Scotia Pacific Company bankruptcy cases. Jeff also served as lender's counsel in the Yukos Oil Company bankruptcy case.
Jeff has received an AV rating from Martindale-Hubbell, indicating “Very High to Preeminent” legal ability. He was selected as one of eight bankruptcy attorneys in the nation honored in the April 2001 edition of the publication Turnarounds and Workouts as “Outstanding Young Bankruptcy Lawyers 2001.” He has been annually selected by his peers in 2003-2011 as a Texas Super Lawyer as published in Texas Monthly magazine, and has been profiled as one of the leading Bankruptcy/Restructuring lawyers in Texas by Chambers USA: America's Leading Business Lawyers in 2006-2011.
Publications
- Payments by Enron are "Settlement Payments" under the Bankruptcy Code's Safe Harbor Provisions (July 18, 2011)
- "Trading Contracts – A Bankruptcy Overview" Houston Chapters of the Energy Bar Association and ABA Gas and Power Marketing Section (2002)
- "Bond Defaults: Critical Issues & Strategies" The Oil and Gas Industry Bankruptcy and Workouts Forum (September 23, 1999)
- "Bad Faith Bankruptcies" The Houston Lawyer (September 1989)
Events
- "Developments and Current Issues in Asbestos," Defense Research Institute Asbestos Medicine Seminar (2004)
- "The Endgame: Getting Out of Chapter 11," The University of Texas School of Law Annual Bankruptcy Conference (2003)
- "New Traps for the Unwary: Protecting Secured Creditors Before, During and After Bankruptcy," ABA 1996 Spring Meeting, Secured Creditors’ Subcommittee (1996)
- "Bankruptcy Fundamentals for Lawyers and Legal Assistants," South Texas College of Law (1994)
- "Calculation of the Limit on Rejection Damages for the Lessor of Real Property," ABA 1992 Annual Meeting, Section of Business Law (1992)
Professional Recognition
- Profiled as one of the leading Bankruptcy/Restructuring lawyers in Texas, Chambers USA: America's Leading Business Lawyers (2006-2011)
- Texas Super Lawyer in Bankruptcy & Creditor/Debtor Rights, Texas Monthly (2003-2011)
