James Stang, a founding partner of the firm, has dedicated the better part of his forty years’ of restructuring practice to helping plaintiffs pursue their rights against institutions that file bankruptcy in an attempt to evade liability. He has represented close to twenty creditors’ committees in recent mass tort chapter 11 cases, and is frequently called upon when the stakes are high, including Boy Scouts of America, Weinstein Company, Takata, USA Gymnastics, and nineteen chapter 11 cases involving the Roman Catholic Church. Mr. Stang has been featured in The Wall Street Journal for his work on behalf of victims.
Jim is a fellow of the American College of Bankruptcy, named in the Best Lawyers in America, and has been named “Super Lawyer” in the field of Bankruptcy & Creditor/Debtor Rights every year since 2005. He was listed by Lawdragon as one of the 2020 “Lawdragon 500 Leading Global Restructuring & Insolvency Lawyers.” He holds an AV Peer Preeminent Rating, Martindale-Hubbell‘s highest recognition for ethical standards and legal ability. He has lectured and written extensively on both bankruptcy and receivership issues. Jim is a graduate of UC Berkeley and received his J.D. from UC Hastings College of Law, where he was editor in chief of Hastings International and Comparative Law Review. Jim is admitted to practice in California and is resident in our Los Angeles office.
Education
- Franklin & Marshall College; University of California at Berkeley (B.A., with honors, 1977)
- Hastings College of the Law, University of California (J.D. 1980)
- Order of the Coif
Bar and Court Admissions
- 1980, California
- Tort litigants’ committees in the chapter 11 cases of the Catholic Diocese of Spokane (Washington) and the Diocese of Davenport (Iowa); creditors’ committees in the chapter 11 cases of the Roman Catholic Bishop of San Diego, the Catholic Diocese of Fairbanks (Alaska), the Catholic Diocese of Wilmington (Delaware), the Society of Jesus, Oregon Province, the related cases of The Christian Brothers of Ireland, Inc. and The Christian Brothers Institute, the Archdiocese of Milwaukee, the Roman Catholic Church of the Diocese of Gallup (New Mexico), the Roman Catholic Bishop of Helena (Montana), the Roman Catholic Bishop of Stockton (California), the Roman Catholic Bishop of Great Falls (Montana), the Roman Catholic Church of the Archdiocese of Santa Fe (New Mexico), the Diocese of Rochester (New York), the Diocese of Buffalo (New York), the Roman Catholic Church for the Archdiocese of New Orleans
- Creditors’ committee in Weinstein Company Holdings
- Abuse survivors’ committees in USA Gymnastics, Boy Scouts of America, Madison Square Boys & Girls Club
- Subcommittee of employee organizations in Orange County chapter 9 case
- Chapter 11 debtors in American Suzuki Motor Corporation; Gateway Educational Products (manufacturer of “Hooked on Phonics”); American Tissue; Chippendales; Inacom Corporation; Rhodes Homes; Sizzler Restaurants International; Superior TeleCom
- Bankruptcy counsel for the Tobacco Committee of the National Association of Attorneys General
- Receiver appointed for various car dealerships (Nissan, Porsche, Audi, Toyota)
- “Bankruptcy Lawyer of the Year,” Century City Bar Association (2010)
- Fellow, American College of Bankruptcy
- Member, Los Angeles Bankruptcy Forum Board of Directors (ex officio)
- The Texas Two-Step: A Legitimate Federal Tool to Deal With Mass-Tort Claims Advocate Magazine, May 2024
- Your Client Filed for Bankruptcy: What Now? Plaintiff Magazine, June 2023
- “Boy Scouts Victims Urge Judge to Release Names of Abusers” (Bloomberg, February 19, 2020)
- “Veteran of Catholic Chapter 11s Represents Weinstein Victims” (Wall Street Journal, April 08, 2018)
- “Weinstein Creditors Hire Firm That Represented Catholic Church Abuse Victims” (Variety, March 30, 2018)
- James Stang Articles (National Catholic Reporter)
- Dollar Signs of the Cross (UC Hastings Law, September 9, 2015)
- “An Unholy Dispute” (Los Angeles and San Francisco Daily Journal, October 02, 2007)
- “Assumption of Contracts and Leases: The Obstacle of the Historical Default,” 24 California Bankruptcy Journal 39 (1998)(addressing “going dark” provisions of car dealership agreements)
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