Otterbourg announced that Sunni P. Beville has joined the firm as a partner in its Restructuring and Bankruptcy Department and as a Co-Leader of its Mass Torts Bankruptcy Practice Group. Ms. Beville comes to Otterbourg from Brown Rudnick, where she was a partner in the Bankruptcy & Corporate Restructuring Practice Group.
“Sunni’s background and breadth of experience will be extremely valuable to our clients who turn to us for advice and counsel with their most sophisticated restructuring and bankruptcy needs,” said Otterbourg chairman Richard L. Stehl. “She brings a vast wealth of knowledge and experience in bankruptcy and restructuring work, and I am very excited to welcome her to Otterbourg.”
Melanie L. Cyganowski, Chair of Otterbourg’s Restructuring and Bankruptcy Department and former Chief Judge of the Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of New York, added, “Sunni is well known to us here at Otterbourg, since we have worked together on many matters over the years. Her insights and past work with mass tort bankruptcies, in particular, will be extremely valuable to us. Sunni is a natural born leader, and we are delighted that she has agreed to co-head our mass tort bankruptcy practice.”
Ms. Beville represents middle market public and private companies, tort victims, creditors, official and ad hoc committees of creditors, and equity holders in complex Chapter 11 and Chapter 15 bankruptcy cases, and out-of-court restructuring matters. Her practice includes all aspects of the insolvency and bankruptcy process, including debtor-side bankruptcy work, mass tort bankruptcies, and other matters involving insolvent companies, such as contested plan confirmation hearings, the Section 363 sale process, contested relief from stay and cash collateral hearings, and fraudulent conveyance and preference litigation.
“Otterbourg is one of the premier insolvency firms and offers the ideal platform for me to continue to grow my practice,” said Ms. Beville. “I have worked alongside and have admired Melanie and her team for many years. I am thrilled to be here now and look forward to collaborating with my old friends and new colleagues every day to meet the needs of our clients.”
Otterbourg has served as co-lead counsel to official and ad hoc committees in several of the largest mass tort bankruptcies in history. It also co-led the successful efforts to dismiss as bad faith filings the bankruptcies of LTL (Johnson & Johnson) twice and by Aearo Technologies, LLC (3M Company). Ms. Beville was part of the team at her former firm that worked alongside Judge Cyganowski and others at Otterbourg as co-lead counsel representing the Official Committee of Talc Claimants in the Chapter 11 cases of LTL Management, resulting in the successful dismissal of two separate attempts at bankruptcy by the Johnson & Johnson talc unit. (To learn more, click here.)
Ms. Beville received her J.D., magna cum laude, from Boston College Law School and her B.A. from Yale University, where she captained the Women’s Basketball team in her senior year.