Louise S. Melchor
Associate
Duane Morris LLP
30 South 17th Street
Philadelphia, PA 19103-4196
USA
Phone: +1 215 979 1185
Fax: +1 215 827 5568
Email: LMelchor@duanemorris.com

Louise S. Melchor practices in the areas of commercial real estate finance and creditors' rights matters, including loan restructuring, asset recovery and bankruptcy representation.

Ms. Melchor is a litigator and transactional attorney with a focus on commercial and construction lending. Her transaction practice includes representing lenders in commercial and construction loan matters, including the drafting of loan documents and review of due diligence documents and title work. Ms. Melchor also represents lenders in loan workouts, including preparation of forbearance documents, settlement agreements, and deed in lieu of foreclosure transactions.

Ms. Melchor regularly represents lenders both in commercial mortgage foreclosure and confessed judgment actions, including defending petitions to open/strike judgments and recovering assets through receivership and sheriff sales. She also represents lenders in all aspects of Chapter 7, 13 and 11 bankruptcy cases, including preparation of proofs of claims, motions for stay relief, motions to dismiss, debtor-in-possession financing, defense of preference claims and other creditor rights issues.

Ms. Melchor is a 2006 graduate of Temple University Beasley School of Law, where she was a member of the Environmental Law Moot Court team, which received the award for Best Brief at the national Pace University Environmental Moot Court competition. Ms. Melchor is also a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania (B.A.) and Drexel University (M.S.).

Areas of Practice

• Commercial Real Estate Financing Transactions
• Creditors' Rights Litigation
• Consumer Lending Litigation

Representative Matters

• Represented a state-chartered bank in defense of claims by real estate investor/ developer, including breach of good faith and fair dealing, fraudulent misrepresentation, and violations of the New Jersey Consumer Fraud Act.
• Represented a national bank in foreclosure litigation matters where borrowers asserted defenses of fraud and duress; obtained court orders striking defenses.
• Represented a lender in bankruptcy litigation on issue of non-dischargeability of debt due to borrower fraud and misrepresentation in the loan transaction.

Professional Activities

• Pennsylvania Bar Association
• Philadelphia Bar Association
• Licensed Professional Engineer, District of Columbia

Admissions

• Pennsylvania
• New Jersey

Education

• Temple University Beasley School of Law, J.D., 2006
• Drexel University, M.S., 1995
• University of Pennsylvania, B.A., 1993

Experience

• Duane Morris LLP
  - Associate, 2011-present
• Deeb Petrakis Blum & Murphy, P.C.
  - Associate, 2006-2011
• CH2M Hill
  - Project Manager/Environmental Engineer, 1999-2005
• New Castle County, DE
  - Environmental Engineer, 1995-1998

Selected Publications

• Co-author, "Revised Common Level Ratio for Philadelphia May Entitle Certain Taxpayers to a Refund," Duane Morris Alert, February 20, 2013