|
Seth Van Aalten is an associate in the Bankruptcy & Restructuring Group. Mr. Van Aalten joined Kronish Lieb Weiner & Hellman in 2003, which was merged into Cooley Godward Kronish in 2006, and is resident in the New York office.
Mr. Van Aalten concentrates his practice in both transactional and litigation aspects of Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization and liquidation. He frequently represents creditors' committees and debtors in Chapter 11 cases, as well as purchasers of assets, parties to executory contracts and real property leases and unsecured creditors. Mr. Van Aalten frequently handles contested bankruptcy matters and dedicated adversary proceedings, including cash collateral and postpetition financing disputes, section 363 sales and asset dispositions, plan confirmation proceedings and Bankruptcy Rule 2004 investigations.
Mr. Van Aalten also specializes in the prosecution of LBO, fraudulent conveyance and other estate causes of action, including his current representation of the Mervyn's Creditors' Committee in its prosecution of a $1.2 billion litigation against Target Corporation, Goldman Sachs, Cerberus, Sun Capital, Lubert Adler, Klaff Realty and others who participated in the 2004 sale of Mervyn's and the simultaneous stripping away of Mervyn's valuable real estate assets.
Mr. Van Aalten has served as counsel to the Creditors' Committee in several of most prominent retail Chapter 11 cases in the country as follows:
- Current representations include: Blockbuster, Mervyn's, Sharper Image and Eddie Bauer.
- Prior representations include: KB Toys, G.I. Joe's, Inc., Norstan Apparel Shops, Bachrach Clothing, Today's Man, Endicott Johnson Corporation, Bob's Stores, Dawahare's of Lexington, Scotty's Inc., New Weathervane, Donnkenny, Inc., Pelican Pool & Ski Center, Christopher's Men's Stores, Ski Chalet, Popular Stores and Rag Shops.
Mr. Van Aalten's other noteworthy representations include:
- Counsel to the Official Employment-Related Issues Committee of Enron Corp., which prosecuted over 40 actions against former executives of Enron and recovered for the benefit of creditors in excess of $30 million of deferred compensation payments made on the eve of Enron's bankruptcy filing.
- Counsel to the Bayonne Medical Center, which overcame several financial and legal hurdles in its Chapter 11 case to successfully consummate a going concern sale to a consortium of operators for approximately $41 million.
- Counsel to the Official Committee of Tort Claimants in the initial Chapter 11 cases of Saint Vincent Catholic Medical Centers of New York and counsel to the MedMal Trust Monitor in Saint Vincent's successor Chapter 11 cases in the Southern District of New York. The Committee and the MedMal Trust Monitor have been instrumental to the preservation of the rights of involuntary medical malpractice creditors of Saint Vincent's hospitals.
- Counsel to Abovenet, Inc. f/k/a Metromedia Fiber Networks and its 14 affiliated debtors in their successful Chapter 11 case, through which the company restructured approximately $5 million in debt.
- Counsel to the Ad Hoc Creditors' Committee in the out-of-court liquidation of CompUSA.
- Counsel to Pacific Ethanol Holding Co. LLC and its four ethanol plant subsidiaries in their successful Chapter 11 case in the District of Delaware.
In 2011, Mr. Van Aalten was named a New York Rising Star by New York Super Lawyers magazine.
Mr. Van Aalten received his J.D. from Boston University School of Law in 2003. He earned a B.A. from Binghamton University in 2000, where he graduated cum laude as a member of the phi eta sigma honor society.
Mr. Van Aalten is a member of the State Bar of New York and is admitted to practice before the Southern and Eastern Districts of New York. He is a member of the American Bankruptcy Institute and the American Bar Association.
Education- Boston University School of Law
JD, 2003 - Binghamton University
BA, 2000, cum laude, Phi Eta Sigma
Court Admissions
- U.S. District Court, Eastern District of New York
- U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York
Admissions
Memberships
- American Bankruptcy Institute
- American Bar Association
|