Jim Patton is a partner and Chairman of the Firm at Young Conaway Stargatt & Taylor, LLP. He is nationally recognized particularly for his representation of large troubled companies in workouts and bankruptcies and his involvement in complex asbestos bankruptcies. He specializes in corporate restructurings, cross-border insolvencies, and mass tort insolvencies. He has extensive experience representing debtors, creditors’ committees, equity committees, future claimants representatives, and shareholder groups in out-of-court workouts, complex foreign and domestic restructurings, pre-planned bankruptcies and Chapter 11 cases. He received his A.B., from Davidson College and his J.D., from Dickinson School of Law. He is a member of the Delaware Bar, the New York Bar and District of Columbia Bar.
Mr. Patton is a co-author of Bloomberg BNA Corporate Practice Portfolio Series No. 109, Corporate Governance of Insolvent and Troubled Entities. This portfolio examines the law of corporate governance, defined here as the law governing the power, rights, authority and responsibilities that those who run a business enterprise (directors, corporate officers and managers) have vis-a'-vis those who provide capital to a business enterprise (stockholders, lenders and other creditors). It then addresses how corporate governance issues fit into the general framework of state corporation law, federal securities law and federal bankruptcy law. It examines the specific corporate governance issues that arise as a corporation heads towards financial distress or insolvency and then reviews the issues that arise from bankruptcy.