Home > People

William H. Schrag
Partner
Duane Morris LLP
1540 Broadway
New York, NY 10036-4086
USA

Phone: +1 212 692 1049
Fax: +1 212 202 7555
Email: WSchrag@duanemorris.com

William H. Schrag practices in the areas of bankruptcy, commercial litigation and creditors' rights. With more than 30 years of experience, Mr. Schrag focuses on domestic and international bankruptcy litigation, workouts, corporate reorganization and related matters. He represents major financial institutions, including bank lenders and agents, as well as manufacturers and institutional creditors, official creditors' committees, chapter 11 trustees, purchasers of estate assets and court-appointed examiners in U.S. and cross-border bankruptcy proceedings. Mr. Schrag has also represented commercial lenders in state and federal courts in actions to enforce creditors' rights and to defend against lender liability claims.

Mr. Schrag has participated in numerous bankruptcy-related programs sponsored by the ABA, ABI, AIRA, IBA and Association of the Bar of the City of New York as a co-chair, lecturer, panelist and moderator. He has also written several papers on issues of transnational bankruptcies and is a member of the International Insolvency Institute and the GLOBAL INSOLvency.com Advisory Board.

Mr. Schrag is a 1978 graduate of Brooklyn Law School and a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of George Washington University.

Areas of Practice

• Bankruptcy Law
• Commercial Litigation
• Creditors' Rights

Representative Matters

• Represent agent bank on $770 million secured credit facility involving 24 lenders in Freedom Communications Holdings, Inc. and 49 of its affiliates (Bankr. Del.)
• Represent largest secured creditor in ROL Manufacturing (Canada) Ltd., involving cross-border proceedings in both Canada and the United States.
• Represented agent bank in connection with inter-creditor litigation in federal and state court, arising out of Le-Nature's bankruptcy case and involving claims of fraud, negligent misrepresentation and aiding and abetting liability.
• Represented secured lender in Refco Inc. (Bankr. S.D.N.Y.) in connection with its $101 million claim. Pursuant to court-approved settlement, secured lender recovered all principal, together with interest and attorneys' fees.
• Represented agent bank on $225 million secured credit facility in Dura Automotive Systems, Inc. (Bankr. Del.).
• Represented largest creditor and target of $27 million complaint in Simplex of New York City bankruptcy case. The litigation settled at less than five cents on the dollar following successful mediation.
• Represented fee examiner in Granite Partners, L.P. (Bankr. S.D.N.Y.) regarding adequacy of disclosure made by three professional firms to bankruptcy court. The fee examiner's report served as the basis for a published decision on disinterestedness in bankruptcy.
• Represented Official Committee of Unsecured Creditors in United Merchants and Manufacturers, Inc. and Victoria Creations, Inc. (Bankr. S.D.N.Y.) comprised of bondholders and trade creditors.
• Represented Chapter 11 trustee of Carl H. Neuman, the operator/seller of the Sarah R. Neuman Nursing Home in Mamaroneck, New York.
• Represented 12-member bank group holding $300 million in secured and unsecured debt in Chapter 11 cases of Zale corporation and affiliates (Bankr. N.D. Tex.).
• Represented global bank in defense of multimillion-dollar preference claim filed by Chapter 7 trustee of Axona International Credit & Commerce, Ltd., a Hong Kong deposit-taking company, in one of the first dual plenary bankruptcy cases filed in the United States. (Bankr. S.D.N.Y.).
• Represented lender in defense of multimillion-dollar complaint filed in New York Supreme Court, alleging various breach of contract and tort claims. Case resulted in dismissal of complaint, which was affirmed on appeal.
• Represented various parties in interest in other cases of national significance, including Lyondell, Delaco, Enron, Rockefeller Center Properties, Montgomery Ward, London Fog, Commodore, Barney's and Penrod.

Professional Activities

• New York City Bar Association
  - Committee on Bankruptcy and Corporate Reorganization, 1992-1995
• New York State Bar Association
• American Bar Association
• International Bar Association
• American Bankruptcy Institute
• Association of Insolvency and Restructuring Advisors
• International Insolvency Institute

Admissions

• New York
• U.S. Supreme Court
• U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit
• U.S. District Courts for the Southern and Eastern Districts of New York

Education

• Brooklyn Law School, J.D., 1978
• George Washington University, B.A., 1975

Experience

• Duane Morris LLP
  - Partner, 2009-present
• Dewey & LeBoeuf LLP
  - Partner, 2007-2008
• Morgan Lewis & Bockius LLP
  - Partner, 1999-2007
• Zalkin, Rodin & Goodman LLP
  - Partner, 1988-1999
  - Associate, 1983-1987
• New York City Corporation Counsel's Office
  - Assistant Corporation Counsel, 1979-1982

Board Memberships

• Global INSOLvency.com
  - Advisory Board Member
• Westchester Jewish Conference
  - Vice President
• Stratton Hills Neighborhood Association
  - Board Member

Civic and Charitable Activities

• Brooklyn Law School's Annual Zaretsky Roundtable on Current Developments in Bankruptcy Law
• UJA-Federation Bankruptcy and Reorganization Group

Honors and Awards

• "New York Super Lawyer" in Bankruptcy & Creditor/Debtor Rights by Law & Politics, 2008 and 2009

Selected Publications

• Co-Author, "Cross-Border Insolvencies & Chapter 15: Recent U.S. Case Law Determining Whether Foreign Proceeding is Main, Nonmain or Neither," Norton Journal of Bankruptcy Law & Practice, October 2008
• Author, "Jurisdictional Power Play: Bankruptcy Court vs. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission," Morgan Lewis Newsletter, Fall 2006
• Contributing Author, "2005 Bankruptcy Revisions: Implications for Business and Financial Advisors," AIRA; AICPA, 2005
• Co-Author, "Expanding Jurisdiction of U.S. Bankruptcy Courts," New York Law Journal, January 24, 2005
• Co-Author, "Cross-Border Insolvencies, Plenary Cases and Ancillary Proceedings Involving Foreign Debtors in U.S. Bankruptcy Court," Business Law International, Vol. 5, No. 2, May 2004
• Co-Author, "Use of United States Bankruptcy Law in Multinational Insolvencies: The Axona Litigation - Issues, Tactics and Implications for the Future," 9 Bankr. Dev. J. 19 (1992)

Selected Speaking Engagements

• Panelist, "Too Big to Fail: Bankruptcy & Bailouts," Zaretsky Roundtable on Bankruptcy Law, Brooklyn Law School, March 9, 2010
• Speaker, New York State Bar Association's International Section Fall Meeting, Singapore, October 26-29, 2009
• Co-Chair, Insolvency Panel at New York State Bar Association's International Section Meeting, Singapore, October 2009
• "It's a Small World After All," Annual Conference of Association of Insolvency and Restructuring Advisors, June 2009
• Co-Chair, First and Second Annual Restructuring and Investing Conferences of Association of Insolvency and Restructuring Advisors, Shanghai, China, September 2008 and October 2007
• "Extraterritorial Application of the Bankruptcy Code," CLE Presentation, June 2007
• "The New Chapter 15," Annual Conference of the International Bar Association, Prague, September 2005
• "Why Professionals Must be Interested in 'Disinterestedness' Under the Bankruptcy Code," CLE Presentation, 2005
• "Avoidance Powers Under the Bankruptcy Code: Preferences, Fraudulent Conveyances and Other Transfers," CLE Presentation, 2003