Robert W. Jones

Robert W. Jones is an attorney in Holland & Knight's Dallas office and practices in the area of restructuring and bankruptcy. For more than 30 years, Mr. Jones has counseled clients throughout the United States, including secured lenders and other financial institutions, on matters involving distressed debt, debtor-in-possession or exit financing in bankruptcies, the acquisition of companies or assets in a bankruptcy, out-of-court restructurings, bankruptcy litigation and lender liability matters. In addition, he has represented a number of publicly held companies in Chapter 11 proceedings. Those companies have been engaged in a wide range of businesses, including financial services, insurance, savings and loan, real estate public and private syndication, construction, casinos, oil and gas, nursing home ownership and management, hardware and environmental clean-up. Mr. Jones also represents clients in business litigation matters.

Mr. Jones has recently obtained new legal precedent before both the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, including a reconsideration and reversal of previous precedent by the Ninth Circuit sitting en banc.

Mr. Jones has published and frequently addressed industry groups on representation of secured lenders in restructurings and bankruptcies, restructuring in the aviation industry, restructuring in the energy industry, representation of troubled financial institutions and intercreditor restructuring issues.

While attending law school, Mr. Jones served as associate managing editor of the Stanford Law Review.

Representative Experience

• Represented a 20-member bank group with claims in excess of $800 million in one of the nation’s largest Chapter 11 proceedings of an oil and gas company and related lender liability litigation
• Represented multiple aircraft lessors and financiers with material fleet ownership in Chapter 11 proceedings of numerous multinational airlines
• Represented a 10-member bank group with claims in excess of $300 million in a Chapter 11 proceeding of a multinational oil and gas exploration and production company
• Represented secured lenders and debtor-in-possession (DIP) providers with claims in excess of $200 million in a Chapter 11 proceeding of one of the world’s largest milk distributors
• Represented a bank group and DIP providers with claims in excess of $100 million in a Chapter 11 proceeding of a national transportation company
• Represented a bank group with claims in excess of $100 million in a Chapter 11 proceeding of a machinery manufacturing company
• Represented secured lenders and DIP providers with claims of approximately $100 million in a Chapter 11 proceeding of a national electrical contracting company
• Represented a gas producer/seller and a group of natural gas producers with unsecured claims in excess of $1 billion arising from take or pay contracts in Chapter 11 proceedings of an interstate gas pipeline and publicly traded parent corporation
• Represented the largest unsecured creditor (with a claim in excess of $140 million), which financed a pre-bankruptcy leveraged buyout of a national restaurant chain, in a Chapter 11 proceeding of the restaurant chain and related lender liability suit
• Represented a $5 billion equity capital fund in a variety of matters involving investment in companies with defaulted debt obligations
• Represented an acquiror of 70-percent equity interest in the nation’s largest convenience store chain, pursuant to a confirmed, prepackaged plan or reorganization utilized to implement a public debt exchange
• Represented a multibillion-dollar financial institution holding company, one of the top five subprime lenders in the nation, in its Chapter 11 proceeding
• Represented a multibillion-dollar publicly held diversified manufacturing company, with major subsidiaries engaged in the hardware and environmental cleanup equipment fields, in its Chapter 11 proceeding
• Represented a multibillion-dollar publicly held real estate holding company in its Chapter 11 proceeding