Elissa D. Miller

Bankruptcy & Reorganization

Los Angeles

Elissa Miller is a bankruptcy partner at Greenspoon Marder, known for her representation of creditors, including individuals, businesses and financial institutions, as well as trustees in Chapter 7 and Chapter 11 bankruptcy cases.

One of her notable roles includes serving as the Chapter 7 trustee for the widely publicized Girardi Keese law firm. Her work in this case has garnered attention from major media outlets such as Bloomberg, Los Angeles Times, Reuters, ENews and U.S. Weekly.

Miller's efforts in the Girardi matter involve pursuing collections of fees owed and conducting more than 100 clawback claims to recover a portion of the $495 million in claims filed against the Girardi Keese estate. Since mid-December, she has initiated over 100 lawsuits alleging fraudulent money transfers by Tom Girardi and Girardi Keese to evade creditors.

"This is a case which has included numerous interesting legal issues and has led to change in the legal profession," Miller said. "As a result of me and my professionals' hard work, unsecured creditors will receive a dividend in an amount yet unknown. Early on in the case, it was unlikely there would be sufficient funds to pay anything to general unsecured creditors."

Additionally, Miller is the Chapter 7 trustee for entrepreneur Mark Slotkin, who controlled numerous luxury residential rental properties and owned Antiquarian Traders, a renowned antique warehouse in Los Angeles. This case pertains to the collapse of a network of trusts and entities created by the debtor to circumvent creditor payments. To date,Miller has successfully sold five luxury rental residences totaling over $15 million and liquidated more than $1.3 million in antique inventory. The debtor's continual interference in the estate's administration led to a referral for criminal contempt by the court.

"That case highlights persistence in looking beyond the obvious," Miller said. "Through discovery we found evidence to override trusts which were abused to bring into the estate numerous rental properties and then liquidate for the benefit of the estate and its creditors."

When asked about trends, Miller highlighted three: The continued effect in California of the current venue provisions in bankruptcy cases (taking local cases to other states); The change from true reorganization cases to cases where there is merely debt to equity swaps or liquidation for the benefit of secured creditors; and the increasing professional rates is limiting the ability of smaller companies to file bankruptcy and/or retain qualified professionals.