Kenneth H. Brown

Mr. Brown has extensive experience in bankruptcy and commercial litigation. He has represented and advised debtors, unsecured creditors, secured creditors, insurers, creditors’ committees, and trustees in large complex chapter 11 and chapter 15 cases and in related litigation in both state and federal court. Mr. Brown leads the firm’s litigation team in representations of the sex-abuse survivor committees in the chapter 11 bankruptcy cases involving the Roman Catholic Church. These matters involve the intersection of the First Amendment and the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (“RFRA”) with Bankruptcy Code and focus on recovering assets transferred by the debtor prior to filing bankruptcy as part of asset protection scheme to protect the assets from the claims of the victims of sex abuse. The representations also require expertise in identifying, analyzing, and prosecuting claims against the management of the debtor for allowing or facilitating the sexual misconduct and abuse. Mr. Brown led the team that obtained a judgment in one of these cases worth in excess of $100 million. Mr. Brown also specializes in defending employers in WARN Act class-action litigation and advising them on the intersection of the WARN Act and bankruptcy. Mr. Brown also has extensive experience representing professional firms and their principals in dissolutions and bankruptcies.

He is a graduate of U.C. Santa Barbara and received his J.D. at Hastings College of the Law, where he was articles editor for the Hastings Law Journal . Mr. Brown is a former director of the Bay Area Bankruptcy Forum, a former member of the State Bar of California Business Law Section Subcommittee on Debtor/Creditor Relations and Bankruptcy, and frequently serves as a mediator for the Bankruptcy Dispute Resolution Program for the Northern District of California and the San Francisco Bar Association. He holds an AV Preeminent Peer Rating, Martindale-Hubbell's highest recognition for ethical standards and legal ability. He was listed in the 2018 and 2019 editions of Best Lawyers in America for his work in Bankruptcy and Creditor Debtor Rights / Insolvency and Reorganization Law and Litigation - Bankruptcy. Mr. Brown is admitted to practice in California and is a resident in our San Francisco office.

News

•PSZJ Attorneys Named in Best Lawyers in America
August 15, 2019
•Diocese of Great Falls-Billings Confirms Chapter 11 Plan
August 16, 2018
•PSZJ Attorneys Named in Best Lawyers in America
August 15, 2018
•Thirty-Five PSZJ Attorneys Named Best Lawyers in America
August 15, 2017
•Delaware Bankruptcy Court Indicates That Directors and Officers of an Insolvent Company May Be Liable for Breaches of Fiduciary Duty for Failing to Provide Timely WARN Act Notice
January 7, 2016
•Pachulski Stang Confirms Major Wins in Archdiocese of Milwaukee Sex Abuse Case
Court Reinstates $60mm Fraud Lawsuit and Takes Case Away From Judge Randa
March 9, 2015
•Federal Religious Freedom Act Not Valid Defense to Bankruptcy Avoiding Actions
January 2013
•Economist Article, Catholic Church in America: Earthly Concerns, Quotes PSZJ Partner
The Economist, August 2012
•Catholic Diocese of Wilmington Emerges From Chapter 11, Sizable Trust Funded for Abuse Survivors
September 2011
•Court Approves Wilmington Diocese Plan
July 29, 2011
•Pachulski Stang Selected to Represent Creditors in Christian Brothers Chapter 11 Cases
May 2011
•Committee of Abuse Survivors Reaches Settlement in Society of Jesus Chapter 11 Case
March 25, 2011
•Bankruptcy Court Rules Large Investment Pool Is Property of Wilmington Diocese Chapter 11 Estate
June 2010

Publicaiton

•The Estate's Potential Claims Against Management for Failure to Prevent Sexual Misconduct
356 American Bankruptcy Trustee Journal 30 (No. 3 Summer 2019), September 2019
•Stranger in Paradise? The Role of a Foreign Bankruptcy Trustee in Chapter 15
27 ABI Journal No. 3 at 26 (April 2008), April 2008
• Discovery in Debt Collection Actions, in Debt Collection Practice in California (2d ed. 2000)
• Tenants in Distress: Pitfalls and Opportunities for the Retail Landlord, Shopping Center Business (1998).
• Law Firm Break-Ups and Bankruptcies, 3 Legal Malpractice Report (No. 2 1992)
•Co-author, Dissolutions of Professional Firms Under State Law, in program materials for the Third Annual Northwest Bankruptcy Institute (1989)

Programs and Lectures

Lecturer, American Bankruptcy Institute; Association of Insolvency & Restructuring Advisors; Bar Association of San Francisco; Santa Clara County Bar Association

Events

•Practical Courtroom Tips for Lawyers
Business, Commercial and Bankruptcy Section of the Bar Association of San Francisco Barristers Club
San Francisco, May 7, 2019
•Equitable Mootness: Here Today, Gone Tomorrow?
Bar Association of San Francisco
San Francisco, March 8, 2016
•The Catholic Church in Bankruptcy - Diocesan and Religious Order Chapter 11 Cases and the Lessons Learned
Bay Area Bankruptcy Forum
April 28, 2011
•The Forgotten Faces: Employment Issues in Bankruptcy
ABI Mid-Atlantic Bankruptcy Conference
Hershey PA, August 7, 2009