|
January 23 - Fresno PETER L. FEAR is an attorney in Fresno, California, where he represents debtors, trustees and creditors in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of California, Fresno Division. He also serves as a Chapter 7 Bankruptcy trustee in the Fresno area. In addition, Mr. Fear is on the Board of Directors for the Central California Bankruptcy Association, the Board of Directors for the California Bankruptcy Forum, and was formerly president of CCBA. He also is a member of the Fresno County Bar Association, American Bankruptcy Institute and the National Association of Consumer Bankruptcy Attorneys. Mr. Fear also maintains a website, www.fresnobklaw.com, which provides bankruptcy information for debtors in the Fresno area. E. WARREN GUBLER is the founding partner of the Visalia law firm of Gubler, Koch, Degn & Gomez LLP, where his areas of practice include creditors' rights and collections, commercial law and litigation, construction litigation, subrogation claims, as well as contract and real property law. He has participated as a speaker and panel member in a number of educational seminars and programs relating to debt collection. Mr. Gubler is a member and past-president of the Tulare County Bar Association; a member of the American Bar Association, the California Bar Association and the National Association of Retail Collection Attorneys (NARCA); past chair of the J. Reuben Clark Law Society, Fresno chapter; and is a member and founding director of the California Creditors Bar Association (CCBA). He currently serves on the Visalia City Council. Mr. Gubler earned his B.A. and J.D. degrees from Brigham Young University, and has practiced law throughout California since 1983. WILLIAM E. McCOMAS is an associate with Coleman & Horowitt, LLP. He represents clients in commercial and consumer collections; creditor rights; as well as banking, construction and real estate litigation. Mr. McComas is a member of the Fresno County Bar Association, Association of Business Trial Lawyers, La Raza Lawyers Association, California Credit Union Collectors Council, Fresno County Young Lawyers Association and National Society of Hispanic MBAs. He is admitted to practice before all California courts and the U.S. District Court, Eastern District. Mr. McComas earned his B.S. degree from California State University, his Masters of Business Administration from California State University and his J.D. degree from San Joaquin School of Law. January 24 - San Francisco DAVID BALTER is a director at the law firm of Dickenson, Peatman & Fogarty. His practice emphasizes in all areas of commercial litigation, as well as trust and estates litigation, commercial landlord/tenant matters, construction defect/mechanics' lien actions, and creditors' rights actions. Mr. Balter attended John F. Kennedy University School of Law. Before joining Dickenson Peatman & Fogarty, he worked at the Alameda County District Attorney's Office in Oakland, California; Coudert Brothers in San Francisco, California; and Shapiro Buchman Provine & Patton LLP in Walnut Creek, California. Mr. Balter is a member of the State Bar of California, and the Contra Costa and Napa County bar associations (member, Litigation sections). He is admitted to practice before the U.S. District Court for the Northern, Eastern, Central and Southern districts of California; the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeal; and the U.S. Court of Federal Claims. He also served as a delegate to the State Bar of California Conference of Delegates for several years. ADAM N. BARASCH joined Severson & Werson as special counsel with the firm's bankruptcy and creditors' rights practice group, where he represents automotive finance companies and mortgage lenders in consumer bankruptcy cases of Chapter 7, 11, 12 and 13 debtors. He is experienced in all aspects of consumer bankruptcies, including relief from stay and adequate protection issues; Chapter 13 plan objection, confirmation and modification issues; and discharge and dischargeability issues. Mr. Barasch has experience in representing secured and unsecured creditors in Chapter 7 and 11 business bankruptcies; negotiating agreements and litigating the use of cash collateral; motions for relief from stay; negotiating and litigating confirmation of reorganization plans; and defense of preference and avoidance actions. Mr. Barasch also represents lenders in enforcing secured financing arrangements, including consumer paper, automotive dealership financing, and consumer and commercial leases. He is experienced in obtaining pre-judgment remedies, including temporary restraining orders, writs of possession and preliminary injunctions. Mr. Barasch earned his A.B. degree from the University of California, Berkeley and his J.D. degree from Golden Gate University. He was appointed to serve as director for the Bay Area Bankruptcy Forum in 2008. STEVEN A. BOOSKA is an attorney in San Francisco. He is an active member of numerous creditor organizations, including the National Association of Retail Collection Attorneys and the Commercial Law League of America. Mr. Booska graduated from Golden Gate University. He is admitted to practice law in California and before federal courts in California. MARCUS T. BROWN practices litigation in the areas of real estate and financial services at Wolfe & Wyman LLP, in its San Francisco Bay area office. His main area of focus involves residential mortgages. Mr. Brown has handled numerous cases in both California and federal court. Prior to joining Wolfe & Wyman LLP, he was a civil litigator for Plastiras & Terrizzi, APC in San Rafael, California. Mr. Brown also was a sole practitioner in Seattle and taught law for Seattle Community Colleges. Mr. Brown earned his bachelor's degree from Middle Tennessee State University. During law school, he worked for the Federal Trade Commission, where he received recognition for his work in the areas of federal courts and legal writing, and also received the Award of Distinction for Public Service from the Seattle University School of Law Access to Justice Institute. JOHN N. HEFFNER is an attorney with Dickenson Peatman & Fogarty, on the firm's litigation team. He has experience litigating commercial disputes, bankruptcy matters, property disputes, and product liability cases in both state and federal courts. Recently, Mr. Heffner successfully argued the case of Moore v. Hill (2010) 188 Cal. App. 4th 1267, which involved claims of usurious interest rates, before the California Court of Appeal. He was previously with the Oakland law firm of Reed Smith LLP. Mr. Heffner graduated, with honors, from Haverford College in Pennsylvania and earned his J.D. degree from the University of Texas at Austin. He is a member of the American Bar Association (Litigation Section), the State Bar of California and the Napa County Bar Association. Mr. Heffner also is a member of the Richard M. Sangster American Inn of Court and serves on its executive committee. ANDREA McGARY is the founder and managing attorney of The McGary Firm in San Francisco, California. Ms. McGary earned her law degree from the University of San Francisco School of Law. Prior to attending law school, she earned her B.A. degree from Vanderbilt University. Ms. McGary is licensed to practice by both the State Bar of California and the Louisiana State Bar Association. She also is admitted to practice before the U.S. Federal District Court for the Northern District California, the U.S. Federal District Court for the Eastern District California, the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals and the U.S. Tax Court. Ms. McGary also has served as an adjunct professor at the John F. Kennedy University School of Law. She practices in areas of judgment enforcement, commercial law, business litigation, business formation, creditors, rights, unsecured creditors rights, bankruptcy litigation, commercial collections, contract litigation, tax controversies, real estate boundary and title disputes, and general civil litigation. Ms. McGary is a member of the American Bar Association, the American Bankruptcy Institute and ACA International. January 25 - Sacramento JUNE COLEMAN is a defense litigator at Kronick Moskovitz Tiedemann & Girard, P.C., a full-service regional law firm headquartered in Sacramento, California. Ms. Coleman has more than 14 years of experience representing local, state and national clients in complex civil litigation disputes before state and federal courts at both the trial and appellate levels in bench and jury trials, as well as binding arbitration. Her areas of emphasis include defense of consumer rights actions, including litigation involving the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act and the Fair Credit Reporting Act, as well as professional liability defense, class actions, commercial litigation, creditors’ rights, employment law, and litigation involving technology and electronic data. For four straight years (2008-2011), Ms. Coleman has been voted by other attorneys as one of the top 5% of lawyers practicing in Northern California, earning her a spot on the Law & Politics' Northern California Super Lawyers list. Ms. Coleman is an accomplished author and a well known presenter on matters regarding the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act and the Fair Credit Reporting Act, and speaks frequently on behalf of the American Collections Association and the National Association of Retail Collection Attorneys. MARK A. SERLIN is managing partner of Serlin & Whiteford LLP in Sacramento. His main areas of practice include creditors' rights; collection law; international collections; receivership; business transactions and tax-exempt organizations law; and bankruptcy, corporate and partnership law. He is a frequent lecturer on collection law. Mr. Serlin earned his B.A. degree from the University of California at Berkeley; his J.D. degree from Hastings College of the Law, University of California; and his M. Phil degree from Cambridge University, United Kingdom. He is a member of the Sacramento County Bar Association and the State Bar of California (member, Real Property and Commercial Law sections). DONALD M. STEVENSON is an attorney in Stockton, California, where his main areas of practice include commercial creditors' rights, receiverships, creditors' rights in bankruptcy and commercial unlawful detainer law. He has previously spoken at seminars on collection law, collecting judgments, creditors' rights in bankruptcy and landlord-tenant law. Mr. Stevenson earned his B.A. degree from the University of California at Berkeley; his J.D. degree, with distinction, from the University of Pacific (McGeorge School of Law); and his masters degree, with distinction, from California State University, Stanislaus. He is a member of the San Joaquin County Bar Association (board of governors, 2006-2008; Business Litigation Section, 2001; Business Litigation Section chairman, 2004) and the State Bar of California (member, Real Property and Commercial Law sections). Mr. Stevenson is certified in creditors' rights law by the American Board of Certification, which is accredited by the State Bar of California.
|