DANNING GILL - Key Persons

Job Titles:

• Senior Counsel
• Co - Chair of the Insolvency Law Committee

With more than 20 years of experience as a bankruptcy attorney and litigator, Aaron de Leest focuses his practice on representing debtors, creditors, and trustees in bankruptcy matters, litigation, and appeals. He also represents clients in Chapter 11 cases. Aaron also provides guidance to creditors with regard to their claims outside of bankruptcy, including collection actions and pre- and post-judgment remedies. He also specializes in representing receivers in both federal and state court. Aaron is the current Co-Chair of the Insolvency Law Committee, Business Law Section of the California Lawyer's Association and has also served as the Co-Chair of the Publications Subcommittee for the Insolvency Law Committee. Aaron is a former Chair for the Bankruptcy Committee of the Los Angeles County Bar Association, Commercial Law and Bankruptcy Section and a former Chair of the Beverly Hills Bar Association, Bankruptcy Section. In addition, Aaron is a former extern to the Honorable Barry Russell, United States Bankruptcy Judge, and is a recipient of the Barry Russell Federal Bar Association Award for Excellence in the Field of Federal Practice. Aaron is also a recipient of the American Bankruptcy Institute Medal of Excellence. PRACTICE AREAS Acquisitions and Asset Purchases

Job Titles:

• Associate

Job Titles:

• Paralegal

Job Titles:

• Counsel
• Partner

Job Titles:

• Administrator
• Trustee

Job Titles:

• Advisor
• Partner

Job Titles:

• of Counsel

For 49 years, George E. Schulman has been litigating cases in both civil and criminal court, often relating to insolvent or troubled businesses. He crafts cost-effective strategies to maximize recoveries or minimize loss. Those cases have involved very complicated fact patterns and administrative challenges. In his nearly 25 years with Danning Gill, George has litigated numerous cases, most involving insolvent companies. One such case was People v. Physicians Interindemnity Cooperative Corp. ("PICC") along with related cases, including Gill v. Rich, 128 Cal. App. 4th 1254 (2005). People v. PICC and its related cases constitute the largest related set of cases ever filed in the Los Angeles County Superior Court. State court receiver David A. Gill was able to collect enough funds to pay all allowed claims in full with 10% annual interest, plus make significant payments to equity. George has served as an off-panel trustee on a number of occasions. In the California Target bankruptcy, he ran a chain of gas stations while dealing with environmental issues. Litigation with the State of California was resolved after the state lost in Schulman v. California, 237 F.3d 967 (9th Cir. 2001). George has also served as a federal court receiver about a dozen times, in cases involving investments in stamps and coins; in F.T.C. v. Magui Pub'g, 9 F.3d 1551 (9th Cir. 1993), he became (as receiver) owner of more than 60,000 fake Dali prints. In 16 years at the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), George principally prepared and tried cases concerning antitrust violations, vocational school fraud, land fraud, and truth-in-lending violations. He served on an FTC committee to establish the procedures by which the Commission could bring fraud cases directly in federal court, once Congress provided the FTC with that power. Some of the cases George worked on included F.T.C. v. Amrep Corp., 768 F.2d 1171 (10th Cir. 1985), cert. den ied, 475 U.S. 1034 (1986); F.T.C. v. Am. Nat'l Cellular, 927 F.2d. 609 (1991); F.T.C. v. Kimberly Int'l Gem Corp., Civ. No. 83-5268 (C.D. Cal. Sept. 27, 1984); and F.T.C. v. Alaska Land Leasing, 778 F.2d 577 (10th Cir. 1985). George has been appointed a special prosecutor three times to prosecute criminal violations of federal court orders obtained by the FTC. George has been active in the Antitrust Section of the Los Angeles County Bar Association since around the time of its creation in the mid-1970s and was Chair of the section from 1996 to 1997. He has been a Temporary Judge of the Los Angeles County Superior Court since 1987. PRACTICE AREAS Bankruptcy Appeals

Job Titles:

• Partner

For over 20 years, John Tedford has represented debtors, creditors, trustees and receivers in bankruptcy and other insolvency matters. He represents clients in all California state and federal courts, especially bankruptcy courts. He is also a member of the bar of the U.S. Supreme Court. When not representing clients, John often speaks and writes about trending issues in his field. He is a regular contributor of e-Bulletins published by the Insolvency Law Committee of the California Lawyers Association's Business Law Section. His articles have been published in the California Bankruptcy Journal, ABI Journal, and Norton's Annual Survey of Bankruptcy Law. John also is active in organizations serving bankruptcy professionals. He is currently a Lawyer Representative to the Ninth Circuit Judicial Conference, Vice President of the Financial Lawyers Conference's Board of Governors, and Secretary of the California Bankruptcy Forum. He was President of the Los Angeles Bankruptcy Forum and co-chair of the Insolvency Law Committee in 2017-2018. PRACTICE AREAS Bankruptcy Appeals

Job Titles:

• Associate

Michael D'Alba primarily represents trustees and creditors in bankruptcy cases. His practice involves handling sales of bankruptcy estate assets and claims disputes as well as investigating and prosecuting avoidance actions and nondischargeability actions. Michael's practice has extended to representing Ponzi scheme receivers appointed by the federal district court and secured creditors in Chapter 11 cases. PRACTICE AREAS Acquisitions and Asset Purchases

Job Titles:

• of Counsel

For nearly 40 years, Richard K. Diamond has specialized in the representation of debtors, creditors, trustees and receivers. In addition, he serves as a trustee in liquidations and reorganizations under Chapters 7 and 11 of the Bankruptcy Code, having served as a panel trustee member since 1993 and as a receiver appointed in the state courts. Richard has extensive experience in healthcare insolvencies, having represented creditors' committees and served as or represented fiduciaries of numerous hospitals, health management organizations, and independent physician associations. He has been appointed as a receiver and conservator in proceedings brought by the Department of Managed Health Care, the Department of Insurance, and secured lenders, among others. Richard served as the trustee or receiver and represented trustees, receivers and debtors in possession in many home builder and real estate developer reorganizations and liquidations. He has also represented parties or served as a fiduciary in cases in many other industries including entertainment, manufacturing and financial services and in municipal reorganizations. Among other professional affiliations, Richard served as Chair of the California State Bar Debtor-Creditor Relations and Bankruptcy Committee, as a member of the Executive Committee of the Los Angeles County Bar's Commercial Law and Bankruptcy Section, and as President of the Board of Directors of the Los Angeles Bankruptcy Forum. He is a fellow of the American College of Bankruptcy. Richard joined Danning Gill as a law clerk just prior to being admitted to the California State Bar in 1976. He has spent his career growing and guiding the Firm's practice and was formerly the Firm's managing partner for more than 25 years. PRACTICE AREAS Acquisitions and Asset Purchases

Job Titles:

• Partner

For more than 25 years, Uzzi Raanan has served as a lawyer and advisor in bankruptcy and business reorganization matters. Trustees and creditor committees frequently turn to him with their most challenging matters. Clients seek counsel from Uzzi for tough business challenges and when looking for proactive strategies to resolve business problems. Uzzi has extensive experience representing creditors and debtors and Chapter 11 creditor committees as well as court-appointed receivers and bankruptcy trustees with regard to insolvencies, business bankruptcy preplanning and litigation, state and federal court receiverships, and commercial law disputes, including loan guaranties and assignments of ownership interests. His litigation practice includes prosecuting and defending fraudulent transfer and preferential transfer avoidance actions, nondischargeability, discharge, asset sales, and claims disputes. He also specializes in handling appeals and a myriad of other issues arising in bankruptcy. Uzzi has held leadership positions with various bar groups, including serving as a member of the California Lawyers Association's Board of Representatives, Chair of the Business Law Section and Co-Chair of the Insolvency Law Committee of the State Bar of California, President of the Beverly Hills Bar Foundation, and member of the Board of Governors of the Beverly Hills Bar Association. He was recently elected to serve on the Board of Directors of the Los Angeles Bankruptcy Forum (LABF). In 2019, Uzzi was honored as Bankruptcy Lawyer of the Year by the Century City Bar Association. PRACTICE AREAS Bankruptcy Appeals

Job Titles:

• Partner
• Contributor to the Danning Gill Insights Blog

In re Pacific 9 Transportation, Inc., in which Zev represented the creditors' committee in a chapter 11 case involving a port trucking company with a history of labor code violations. Zev is a regular contributor to the Danning Gill Insights Blog. He has also been quoted by Bloomberg Law, Law360, Thomson Reuters, Variety, WWD, and other publications.