Mary’s experience includes representation of secured lenders, creditors’ committees, debtors, trustees, and purchasers of distressed assets in bankruptcy or receivership estates. She also regularly represents receivers in the state and federal courts. A certified public accountant, Mary is an experienced commercial litigator, and has tried complex cases to verdict in U.S. district and bankruptcy courts and Ohio common pleas court. Mary is a Chapter 7 panel trustee.

Some of Mary’s experience includes representation of:

• A state court receiver of an accredited university in the sale of the university’s assets, including real estate, to a private equity group;
• A bankruptcy trustee of an 1,100 acre ski resort in New York in the management and court-supervised auction sale which closed in under 90 days;
• A foreign representative in the filing of a Chapter 15 verified petition for recognition of a foreign main proceeding;
• A state court receiver in the collection, inventorying and subsequent disposition of 450 titled heavy vehicles and other pieces of construction equipment and the marshalling of numerous conflicting lien interests;
• The owner of a company which had been placed in state court receivership in the filing of a bankruptcy and the filing of a plan of reorganization;
• A bankruptcy trustee in the management and disposition of 55 apartment buildings located throughout the greater Cleveland area;
• A state court receiver in resisting turnover of assets in bankruptcy after a Chapter 11 filing by the sole owner;
• A federal court receiver in an action filed by the Federal Trade Commission to obtain injunctive relief against a debt relief agency;
• An Ohio bank in an action to recover payment on a loan; after trial of the issues, the United States District Court found actual fraud in the formation of a new, transferee entity and imposed successor liability;
• A lender in the defense of retaliatory lender liability counterclaims;
• A bank to recover damage caused by the fraudulent transfer of millions of dollars of assets from accountants who assisted in the transfer of the assets;
• A debtor with multiple millions of dollars of asbestos personal injury liability in the filing of a Chapter 11 reorganization;
• A state court receiver for a 55 acre industrial parcel of land with 5 acres under roof;
• A state court receiver for an operating commercial printing company;
• A trustee in bankruptcy to recover assets transferred by a husband to a wife pursuant to a consensual dissolution of marriage that was alleged by the trustee to be a fraudulent transfer;
• A manufacturer in the automobile industry in the liquidation of the company through sales free and clear of liens in bankruptcy court;
• A purchaser of assets pursuant to a sale under Article 9 of the UCC against claims of fraudulent transfer and successor liability;
• A Fortune 500 Company in insurance coverage litigation;
• A Fortune 500 Company in litigation over the lease of a mainframe computer.

Education

- Case Western Reserve University School of Law, J.D., 1975

- Certified Public Accountant, Ohio, 1978

- Case Western Reserve University, B.A., 1972

Professional Associations:

Mary is a past president of the Cleveland Metropolitan Bar Association and the Cleveland Metropolitan Bar Foundation. She is a past Treasurer of the Cleveland Bar Association and the Cleveland Bar Foundation, and a past chair of the Bankruptcy & Commercial Law Section of the Cleveland Bar Association.

Mary is also a past president of the Commercial Law League of America, a national organization of creditors’ rights and bankruptcy attorneys. The CLLA has been a leader in educational programming and is active in governmental affairs and lobbying efforts to promote equitable bankruptcy legislation.

Ohio Society of CPAs
Awards/HonorsMartindale Hubbell AV rated

Ohio Super Lawyer, 2013, 2012, 2011, 2010, 2009, 2008 and 2007

Top 25 Women Super Lawyers, Cleveland, 2012, 2009, 2008 and 2007