Current Employment Position(s)

Partner

Lawyer Overview

Jeff Ellman heads the business restructuring and reorganization practice in Jones Day's Atlanta Office. Jeff's practice focuses primarily on corporate bankruptcy, restructuring, bankruptcy litigation, and other insolvency-related matters.

Over the years, Jeff has played an active and leading role in the Firm's representation of debtors, secured lenders, asset purchasers, significant creditors, creditors' committees, contract counterparties, equity sponsors, and other parties in interest in large corporate restructurings, including the following:

• Chapter 11 debtors — Dana Corporation, Black Diamond Mining Company, NexPak Corporation (a prenegotiated case), World Kitchen, LTV Steel Company, Purina Mills, Montgomery Ward & Co., Fruehauf Trailer Corporation, The Elder-Beerman Stores Corp., Great American Communications (a prepackaged case), Baldwin Builders, and Rax Restaurants.

• Distressed asset purchasers — International Steel Group in the acquisition of Weirton Steel and Georgetown Steel in their chapter 11 cases, Federated Department Stores as the purchaser of R.H. Macy & Co. in its chapter 11 case, Diebold as the buyer of assets from the Mosler chapter 11 estate, and MPS Group, Inc. as the purchaser of certain assets from the Axium chapter 7 estate.

• Secured lender groups — Wachovia Bank as agent for the lender group in the Horizon PCS chapter 11 cases, National City Bank and Fifth Third Bank (Chicago) as senior prepetition and postpetition lenders in the PAC Holding Co. cases, and Berman Mortgage Corporation as the agent for a group of mortgage lenders.

• Significant creditors — International Paper Company as the largest unsecured creditor and a major contract party in the chapter 11 case of Androscoggin Energy and USX Corporation as the largest unsecured creditor in the Republic Technologies International cases.

• Contract counterparties — Morgan Stanley Real Estate Advisors as national counsel with respect to its clients' troubled commercial lease portfolio and Applied Biosystems (a division of Applera Corporation) as intellectual property licensor to and licensee from certain troubled companies.

• Creditors' committees — the official committee of bondholders in the Stratosphere Corporation cases.

• Trustees — the chapter 11 trustee in the Cardinal Industries cases and Society National Bank n/k/a KeyBank as the indenture trustee in the Décor Corporation case.

Jeff also has provided insolvency-related advice to Firm clients in litigation and transactional contexts and has participated in out-of-court restructurings on behalf of a variety of parties. In addition, he counsels clients on fraudulent conveyance, illegal dividend, preferential transfer, fiduciary duty, and corporate formalities issues and has represented entities in the related structuring and consummation of spin-offs, recapitalizations, and other corporate transactions.

Jeff was named as one of the "Outstanding Young Bankruptcy Lawyers" in the United States in 2001 by Turnaround & Workouts. He was named as one of the "leaders in his field" for four consecutive years (2005-2008) by Chambers USA: America's Leading Lawyers for Business, has been recognized as one of Georgia Trend magazine's "Legal Elite" in 2007 and 2008, and was selected twice as one of "Ohio Super Lawyers" by Law & Politics Media and Cincinnati Magazine.

Jeff is a member of the American Bankruptcy Institute, the Turnaround Management Association, and the Bankruptcy Section of the Atlanta Bar Association. Jeff also serves on the boards of Park Pride, a nonprofit organization dedicated to the protection and improvement of parks and green space in Atlanta, and Young Audiences, Woodruff Arts Center, a nonprofit organization that provides educational arts programming to Georgia students in pre-school through high school.

Areas of Practice

• Business Restructuring & Reorganization
• Chapter 11 Debtor Representations
• Distressed Mergers & Acquisitions
• Secured Lender Groups
• Other Significant Creditor Representations
• Out-of-Court Restructurings
• Restructuring-Related Lending & Finance
• Official Unsecured Creditors' Committees
• Consumer Products & Retail
• Metals & Mining

Representative Cases

• Acquisition of bankruptcy assets , (2009)
• Cardinal Industries, Inc.
• Chapter 11 Debtor Representations
• Chapter 11 Debtor Representations
• Chapter 11 Debtor Representations
• Chapter 11 Debtor Representations
• Chapter 11 Debtor Representations
• Chapter 11 Debtor Representations
• Chapter 11 Debtor Representations
• Chapter 11 Debtor Representations
• Chapter 11 Debtor Representations
• Chapter 11 Representation
• Commercial Dispute
• Decor Corporation
• Distressed Mergers and Acquisitions
• Distressed Mergers and Acquisitions
• Distressed Mergers and Acquisitions
• Distressed Mergers and Acquisitions
• Distressed Mergers and Acquisitions
• Horizon PCS, Inc.
• Hotel Property Loan
• MTAC Hospitality
• PAC Holding Co.
• Republic Technologies International LLC
• Significant Creditor Representations
• Significant Creditor Representations
• Stratosphere Corporation and Stratosphere Gaming Corporation

West Practice Categories

Banking & Finance Law, Bankruptcy Law, Business & Commercial Law, Business Organizations, Collections & Repossessions, Collections & Repossessions, Commercial Bankruptcy, Commercial Leasing, Consumer Bankruptcy, Creditors' Rights, Debt Discharge, Foreclosures, Garnishment, Mergers, Acquisitions & Divestitures, Reorganizations, Reorganizations & Restructuring, Securities Law, Workouts

Bar Admissions

• Georgia
• Ohio

Education

• Harvard University

Published Works

• Supreme Court "Bright-Line" Ruling on Scope of Chapter 11 Transfer Tax Exemption Is Bad News for Pre-Confirmation Asset Sales In Bankruptcy, reprinted in 4 Pratt's J. Bankr. L. 508, 2008
• Supreme Court "Bright-Line" Ruling on Scope of Chapter 11 Transfer Tax Exemption Bad News for Pre-Confirmation Asset Sales in Bankruptcy, 2008
• Court's Piccadilly Decision Draws Bright Line, Bankruptcy Law360, 2008
• As Directors Approach the ‘Zone of Insolvency,’ Directors & Boards, 2000
• Unique Issues Arising in the Bankruptcy Process of Healthcare Debtors, Houlihan Lokey/Jones Day Healthcare Bankruptcy Seminar, 1999
• Understanding Reclamation Claims in Bankruptcy: Hidden Complexity in a Simple Statute, Journal of Bankruptcy Law and Practice, 1999
• Issues Confronting Lenders to Healthcare Debtors, Robert Morris Associates' Third Annual Health Care Conference, Nashville, Tennessee, 1999
• Looking in From the Outside — A Bankruptcy Lawyer's Perspective on Securities Laws Issues in the Prepackaged Plan of Reorganization Process, 1994 Ohio Securities Conference, 1994
• Prepackaged Plan of Reorganization — An Overview and Comparison to Other Restructuring Alternatives, Midwest Regional Bankruptcy Seminar, 1994
• Section 366 of the Bankruptcy Code — The Debtor's Perspective, Third Annual Gas and Electric Utility Bankruptcy Program, Richmond, Virginia, 1994

Address

1420 Peachtree Street, N.E.,
Suite 800
Atlanta, GA 30309-3053

Phones

1.404.581.8309 (Business Phone)

Faxes

1.404.581.8330 (Business Fax)

Emails

Contact Us (Business Email)

Websites

http://www.jonesday.com