Current Employment Position(s)

Partner

Lawyer Overview

Tobias Keller has a diverse corporate practice emphasizing counseling for companies in transition. He regularly works with clients in a variety of industries that are dealing with fundamental dislocations arising from financing challenges, uncontrolled litigation, or unanticipated employee or vendor problems and the governance questions that often arise in connection with those challenges.

In the general corporate context, Tobias typically advises boards and senior managers or principals in addressing critical financial and operating problems. Among other things, he analyzes and counsels investors and borrowers regarding complex financing structures and negotiations, assists investors in devising strategies to maximize returns and/or recoveries in special situations, assists companies in restructuring their asset and real estate lease portfolios, and advises investment bankers in their representation of clients in transition.

Tobias also oversees the Firm's West Coast restructuring practice. His experience in chapter 11 cases includes representation of the debtors in Performance Transportation Services, the second-largest auto hauler in the United States; Integrated Telecom Express, a semiconductor manufacturer; Track 'n Trail, a footwear retailer with approximately 150 stores; Quokka Sports, an Internet sports broadcaster that covered, among other things, the 2000 Sydney Olympics; Kestrel Solutions, a manufacturer of multiplexers; and Proxim Corporation, a maker of wireless communications equipment. Other significant chapter 11 representations include the creditors' committees for Key3Media Group, which operated a portfolio of technology-related trade shows including COMDEX, and FiNet.com, a publicly traded, Internet-based mortgage retailer; purchasers of assets in chapter 11 cases; and various other firm clients seeking advice in their dealings with distressed companies and debtors in bankruptcy. Representations while at Jones Day are identified on the experience page attached to this profile.

Tobias lectures regularly on corporate and commercial law topics for many organizations, including the American Bar Association, Stanford Law School, the American Bankruptcy Institute, and bar organizations. He served as chair of the Commercial Law and Bankruptcy Section of The Bar Association of San Francisco from 1999 to 2000, is a past director of the Bay Area Bankruptcy Forum, and is currently a member of the Insolvency Law Committee of the State Bar of California. He is also a member of the board of trustees of Grace Cathedral (Episcopal) in San Francisco.

Areas of Practice

• Business Restructuring & Reorganization
• Distressed Mergers & Acquisitions
• Private Equity

Representative Cases

• Bond Default
• Buyout Diligence
• Chapter 11 cases
• Chapter 11 Trustee
• Crowley Maritime Corporation
• Official Committee of Unsecured Creditors of Ampex Corporation
• Sale and Wind-Down
• Sigma Micro Appeal
• Wind Down and Liquidation , (2008)
• Zultys Technologies

West Practice Categories

Banking & Finance Law, Business & Commercial Law, Business Organizations, Lending & Secured Transactions, Mergers, Acquisitions & Divestitures, Venture Capital

Bar Admissions

• California

Education

• Stanford University

Published Works

• Counseling The Licensee Through The Licensor's Bankruptcy, Business Law News, Issue 4, 2007
• Legal Risks for Distressed Claims Traders, 3 Pratt's Journal of Bankruptcy Law 115, 2007
• An Overview of Legal Risks for Distressed Claims Traders, 2006

Address

555 California Street
26th Floor
San Francisco, CA 94104

Phones

1.415.875.5869 (Business Phone)

Faxes

1.415.875.5700 (Business Fax)

Emails

Contact Us (Business Email)

Websites

http://www.jonesday.com