Elissa D. Miller 

Elissa D. Miller is a bankruptcy partner who specializes as an attorney on creditors' rights cases and as a trustee on Chapter 7 and Chapter 11 matters at the real estate, litigation and transactional services firm Greenspoon Marder LLP.

She became part of Greenspoon in 2022 after 26 years at the bankruptcy and reorganization shop SulmeyerKupetz when the firms joined forces. She is a member of the Chapter 7 panel of bankruptcy trustees appointed by the Office of the U.S. Trustee in the Central District.

"I started as a litigator in the 1980s, working mostly for plaintiffs," Miller said. "We'd get judgments, and then the defendants would declare bankruptcy, and I got interested in that area of law. In those days, bankruptcy practice was more congenial. Now, it's a lot more adversarial."

That became plain in the course of one of Miller's marquee cases. She's the Chapter 7 trustee of the defunct Gerardi Keese firm, assigned by the bankruptcy court to pursue the collection of fees owed and to make numerous clawback claims. Miller has filed more than 100 suits alleging that the Girardi Keese law firm tried to dodge creditors by fraudulently transferring money out of firm accounts.

Lawyers for Girardi and his wife, Erika Girardi, have accused Miller of various litigation missteps -- but that's not uncommon, Miller said. "The former partners are litigators who are used to going on the attack," she said. "The best defense, some believe, is an aggressive offense. Most of the time, it rolls off me."

Her main job is to return money to those swindled by the firm's fraudulent behavior, she added. "There are a lot of victims, and I don't want to see them harmed twice."

So far, she's collected about $12 million that will begin to go to pay some $495 million in claims against the estate. "And I'm just getting started," she said. Her biggest effort so far is a $50 million suit that claims Girardi Keese systematically drained the firm of cash by making fraudulent transfers to American Express accounts issued to Girardi, to firm employees and to third parties, including Erika Girardi. Miller solely in her capacity as Chapter 7 trustee v. American Express Travel Related Services Co. Inc. et al., 2:20-bk-21022 (C.D. Cal., filed Jan. 10, 2023).

Miller is also the Chapter 7 trustee in the bankruptcy case of antique dealer Mark Abbey Slotkin, who tried to duck his debts. "An interesting character. He directed tenants to pay rent to his daughter when I was supposed to collect, for instance." In his case, the bankruptcy court recently issued a criminal contempt referral for Slotkin's conduct. U.S. v. Slotkin, 2:23-cr-00178 (C.D. Cal., filed May 15, 2023).

"He owed a ton, and he thought he could get out from under, but he didn't," Miller said.

-- John Roemer