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Kelly S. Burgan

Kelly Burgan has represented business debtors, creditors and creditors’ committees in bankruptcies, and she has significant experience with bankruptcy sale transactions, contract and lease issues, preference and fraudulent conveyance avoidance actions, claim administration and objections, cash collateral disputes and chapter 11 plans.

She advises both distressed and healthy corporations and financial institutions on a broad range of matters, including general corporate, debt finance, commercial law and commercial litigation matters. In addition, Ms. Burgan has significant experience with landlord-tenant disputes, including numerous commercial eviction actions, foreclosures and receiverships and environmental regulatory disputes.

Ms. Burgan has had more than five years of professional experience as a scientist in the operations division of a major international biotechnology corporation.

Examples of Ms. Burgan’s representation in bankruptcy cases include:

• Counsel to Irving H. Picard, Trustee for the Liquidation of Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC
• Counsel to Brian A. Bash, chapter 7 Trustee for Fair Finance Company (Ohio investment company which ceased doing business after an FBI raid in November 2009 with over $200 million owed on investment certificates)
• LTV Steel Company (integrated steel manufacturer—counsel for official administrative creditors’ committee)
• Akron Thermal Limited Partnership (public utility—counsel for official committee of unsecured creditors)
• Regional Diagnostics, Inc. (magnetic resonance imaging company located in multiple states—counsel for debtor)
• PHD, Inc. (large retail distribution company—counsel for debtor)
• Refco Inc. (represented defendant-director in adversary proceeding involving director and officer liability claims)
• Universal Automotive Industries, Inc. (publicly-traded automotive parts distributor—counsel for debtor)
• Sylvest Farms, Inc. (mass producer and processor of poultry products—counsel for debtor)

Ms. Burgan also has represented commercial landlord interests in many bankruptcy cases, including:

• Movie Gallery, Inc. (Hollywood Video)
• The Bombay Company, Inc.
• Avado Brands, Inc. (Don Pablo restaurants)
• Claddagh Development Corp.
• Four Points Corp. (Brendan Diamonds)
• Sofa Express

Her published work and speaking engagements include:

• Seminar: “Litigation in the Distressed Business Environment: The Use of Financial Experts,” TMA Ohio Annual Workshop (November 13, 2009)
• Seminar: “From Loan to Own: Understanding Sub-Debt and Second-Lien Lending” (November 21, 2008)
• Seminar: “Commercial & Residential Evictions,” Cleveland, Ohio (October 21, 2008)
• Seminar: "Landlord and Tenant Law," Cleveland, Ohio (December 4, 2007)
• “Identification of the Unknown Soldier and the Fight for the Right to Anonymity: The Human Genome Project and Implications of a National DNA Database,” 47 Clev. St. L. Rev. 443 (1999).

Ms. Burgan is a member of the American, Ohio and Cleveland Metropolitan Bar Associations and the International Women’s Insolvency and Restructuring Confederation (IWIRC). She also sits on the Board of Trustees of the Turnaround Management Association (Ohio Chapter).