Morris D. Weiss

Morris Weiss is a bankruptcy and restructuring attorney in Holland & Knight's Austin office. Mr. Weiss assists clients involved in restructurings using his insight and experience gained during a career spent in private legal practice and in-house, as well as in leadership positions with financial services companies, manufacturers and industrial companies. He provides counsel to debtors, litigation trustees, creditors, creditors' committees, bondholders, purchasers of assets, and other parties involved in bankruptcy cases in a variety of industries, including real estate, healthcare, energy, technology and financial services.

In addition, Mr. Weiss has served in various fiduciary roles, including serving as a Chapter 11 trustee in an oil and gas case. He also provides counsel to parties involved in litigation matters.

Mr. Weiss approaches each engagement by first identifying the endgame with the client and then developing a strategy to achieve the intended goal. He collaborates with attorneys in other practice areas including litigation, real estate and finance in an efficient and cost-effective manner.

Some of Mr. Weiss' current and recent matters include:

• Represented the Chapter 11 trustee and sold $28 million of real estate in Texas and Oklahoma that resulted in payment in full of all allowed claims pursuant to a confirmed plan with a projected significant recovery to the debtor and preservation of additional unsold assets
• Served as Chapter 11 trustee and now as post-confirmation trustee of an oil and gas company; successfully brought numerous fraudulent transfer claims that resulted in a significant recovery to creditors, and a sizeable fraud judgment against the former CEO
• Serves as counsel to a member of the ad hoc group of convertible note holders in a Chapter 11 case of a synthetic biology company
• Served as counsel to one of the largest bondholders in the out-of-court exchange offer in 2021 of a natural gas company, under which the ad hoc group backstopped an $85 million rights offering and delivered the balance sheet by more than $580 million
• Served as counsel to the debtor that resulted in a confirmed Chapter 11 plan for the holding company of a regulated insurance company; the fully consensual plan resulted in the settlement of various claims asserted by the Texas Department of Insurance, a major insurance company and investors holding claims in excess of $25 million
• Regularly represent portfolio distressed companies of private equity and venture capital firms in both in and out of court restructurings

Mr. Weiss spent 12 years in the Business Finance and Restructuring Group for a global law firm before leaving to serve as in-house counsel at public and private companies, including a commercial bank and a brokerage firm. Later, he became an investment banker, serving as managing director at a boutique broker-dealer that raised more than $1.3 billion in equity capital for various technology companies (including wireless spectrum) and for a winery. He served as chief restructuring officer for a publicly traded company as well as served on the boards of directors for a number of public and private companies.

Previously, Mr. Weiss was a partner with Waller Lansden Dortch & Davis in their Austin office.