Friedman Dumas & Springwater LLP
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Cecily A. Dumas

Cecily A. Dumas is a founding member of Friedman Dumas & Springwater LLP. She practices in the areas of business bankruptcies, commercial transactions and commercial litigation.

 

Representative Matters

 

  • Counsel to trustee in chapter 11 cases of mortgage loan originator and blind pool fund involving $180 million claims and Ponzi scheme allegations.

  • Local counsel to Chapter 11 trustee in liquidating chapter 11 case which resulted in seminal decisions regarding bankruptcy professionals' disclosure requirements.

  • Counsel to debtor in chapter 11 case of multi-store luxury clothing retailer. Successfully closed section 363 sale within thirty days after petition date.

  • Counsel to debtor in chapter 11 of food and beverage operator in hotel chain. Litigated issues of first impression relating to timing of assumption of executory contracts under BAPCPA.

  • Represented over 100 former partners in bankruptcy cases of two major law firms with respect to claims by trustees for recovery of partner distributions.

  • Represented secured lenders in numerous chapter 11 cases, and handled issues involving use of cash collateral, postpetition financing, adequate protection, stay relief and cross-border issues.

  • Ongoing representations of several Fortune 500 Silicon Valley companies regarding customer credit and bankruptcy matters. Possess expertise in treatment of technology equipment leases and licenses in bankruptcy.

  • Ongoing representation of major regulated utility regarding bankruptcy matters, commercial litigation and purchase of power from renewable energy sources.
     

Honors and Awards

 

  • Fellow, American College of Bankruptcy

  • Northern California Super Lawyers, Bankruptcy and Debtor/Creditor, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010

  • AV® Preeminent™ Peer Review Rated by Martindale-Hubbell

Publications and Speaking Engagements

 

  • Co-Author with M. Sheneman, Equipment Leasing/Leveraged Leasing (Practising Law Inst. 4 th Ed.), Chapter 7 “Equipment Leasing and the Bankruptcy Code,” Feb. 2010

  • Author, Financing and Protecting California Businesses (CEB), Chapter 10 “Equipment Leases” ( commencing 2009 )

  • Annual “Recent Developments in Business Bankruptcy” panel of Bay Area Bankruptcy Forum and the Bar Association of San Francisco, with Hon. Dennis Montali and Ron Oliner, Esq.

  • Association of Insolvency and Restructuring Advisors
  2010
Moderator, “Shell Games, Ponzi Scheme
Cases: The Liability of Investors, Sales Agents, Professionals and Others”
  2009 Presenter, “Turning out the Lights When the Party is Over,” panel   discussion at National Conference of Bankruptcy Judges, October 2009
  2005

Presenter, “Overview of Recent Cases Involving Post-Confirmation Litigation Issues”

  2004 Presenter, “Emerging Trends in Structuring Tranche B Loans”
  2003 Presenter, “Recent Developments in Chapter 11”
 

2002

 

Presenter, “After the Gold Rush: Selected Issues in Dot-com Bankruptcies”
  • Litigation Section of the American Bar Association
      Author, “Enjoining Payment of Letters of Credit”
  • PLI, “Nuts and Bolts of Corporate Bankruptcy,” Presenter 2008 – 2010. Various topics.

Memberships

  • Ninth Circuit Lawyer Representative, Northern District of California (2009 – 2012)
  • Member, Association of Insolvency and Restructuring Advisors
  • Member Bar Association of San Francisco; Chair, Commercial Law & Bankruptcy Section (2002)
  • Member, American Bar Association, Business Law Section
  • Member, American Bankruptcy Institute
Education

  • Golden Gate University School of Law, J.D. 1983
  • University of California at Berkeley, A.B. Political Economy of Industrial Societies, cum laude, 1980