Marc A. Levinson

Levinson, a municipal bankruptcy trailblazer, studied English in college, but knew his future lay in legal work. Despite being accepted to UCLA School of Law, he chose to go to the then brand-new UC Davis School of Law.

"When I saw Davis, I realized I was a Northern Californian in the body of a Southern Californian," Levinson said.

Levinson clerked for judges, including the chief justice of the California Supreme Court, Donald Wright, and U.S. Northern District Court Judge William Orrick.

He then went to work for the law firm of Shutan & Trost P.C., which merged with the firm then known as Sidley, Austin, Brown & Wood. Levinson was a partner at Shutan & Trost before the merger and retained his partnership status.

Levinson said he "imported" a wife from San Francisco and knew from then on that it was only a matter of time before he moved back up north, doing so in 1990 and joining the firm founded by Orrick's father, Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP.

His focus on bankruptcy would take him into an area of law little utilized until recently - public entity "Chapter 9" bankruptcy. In a trial-by-fire moment, Levinson had to contend with the bankruptcy of a major city, Vallejo, in 2008. It was the first Chapter 9 case in the state involving a city of that size and the second largest in California history following Orange County more than a decade earlier.

"When you're counsel for a debtor, you're at the center of the storm," Levinson said. "You have to deal with all the issues: trade creditors, unions, your own employees, people injured in accidents who want to pursue the city."

More recently, Levinson handled the initial bankruptcy proceedings of Stockton, which filed for Chapter 9 protection in July. This time, it was under a new law requiring parties to first demonstrate good-faith negotiations, which Levinson said appeared to help smooth out the city's subsequent Chapter 9 process.

Levinson said the main difference between a corporation and a municipality in bankruptcy is the amount of public scrutiny in the decision-making.

"The process itself is political, because the members of the council are elected," he said.

With three cities having filed for bankruptcy in California this year, Levinson said he and firm partner John Knox have one piece of free advice for other cities: "Chapter 9 is always the worst option, until it's the only option," he said. Negotiating with creditors and unions beats being in court, because "the money you spend on your lawyers is money down the drain."

- PAUL JONES