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Katharine Clark

Katharine Clark

Partner

Dallas
972 629 7114 972 629 7114 direct


  • OVERVIEW
  • EXPERIENCE
  • INSIGHTS
  • NEWS & EVENTS

INDUSTRIES

PRACTICES

  • Education

    • SMU Dedman School of Law,

      J.D., cum laude, Order of the Coif, 2004, SMU Law Review, Associate Managing Editor

    • Austin College,

      B.A., magna cum laude, 2001

  • Admissions

    • Texas

    • Texas USDC, Southern District

    • Texas USDC, Eastern District

    • Texas USDC, Western District

    • Texas USDC, Northern District

  • Affiliations

    • International Women’s Insolvency and Restructuring Confederation (IWIRC), DFW Network, Board Member, Past Chair

    • State Bar of Texas

    • Bar Association of the Fifth Circuit

    • American Bar Association

  • Recognitions

    • Listed, 500 Leading U.S. Bankruptcy and Restructuring Lawyers (by Lawdragon Inc.), 2023

    • Recipient, Michelle A. Mendez Award of Excellence, State Bar of Texas Bankruptcy Section, 2023

    • Listed in the Best Lawyers in America (by BL Rankings), 2021-2024

    • Listed, Best Lawyers in Dallas by D Magazine, 2023-2024

  • Employment

    • Thompson Coburn LLP

      Partner, 2020-Present

    • Hedrick Kring PLLC

      Partner, 2019-2020

    • Thompson & Knight LLP

      Partner 2013-2019, Associate 2004-2013

  • Community

    • Attorneys Serving the Community

      2017-Present

    • Junior Players

      Board Member, 2017-Present

    • International Student Foundation

      Board Member, 2017-Present

Katie represents clients before bankruptcy courts, federal and state trial courts, arbitration panels and appellate courts nationwide. She routinely handles bankruptcy and insolvency litigation, including the representation of debtors, banks, court-appointed fiduciaries, and creditors in Chapter 11, 7, 15, and 13 bankruptcies.

Katie has broad commercial litigation experience related to troubled and insolvent businesses. Her experience includes representing companies, fiduciaries, lenders, secured and unsecured creditors, as well as constituencies from every segment of the capital structure in federal and state court reorganization, liquidation and litigation proceedings. She has helped clients navigate insolvency matters involving billions of dollars in liabilities.

In 2017, Katie was part of a team that received the Turnaround of the Year Award (Large Company) from the Turnaround Management Association for her work on the first successful bankruptcy reorganization of a life settlement company.

Katie has significant experience in bankruptcy and litigation matters involving the real estate and energy industries. She has also litigated actions related to fraud that leads to bankruptcy or other displacement of management or control, including fraudulent transfer litigation, and state and federal court receivers.

Katie enjoys the challenge of pursuing innovative solutions for her clients. Her diverse experience allows her to quickly absorb complex fact patterns and distill them so she and her clients can focus on the best strategy for the situation at hand.

Representative Experience

Served as counsel to the court-appointed fiduciary for a life settlement company with more than $1.4 billion in liabilities.

Represented an oil and natural gas company and its affiliates, a public company upstream debtor, which obtained confirmation of a pre-negotiated Chapter 11 plan in four months.

Represented operators and other property owners in the defense of their rights in recharacterization fights in Texas and Delaware bankruptcy courts.

Represented a debtor, a Mexican glass manufacturer, in a cross-border (Chapter 15) restructuring of more than $2 billion in liabilities.

Represented a financial institution as a lead creditor in a case that resulted in a successful reorganization of a major development in the Austin, Texas area.

Represented numerous tenant-in-common (TIC) clients in a matter in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court, District of Delaware, Wilmington Division.

Represented court-appointed receivers in civil securities fraud actions.

Represented a client in appeal of an award of fraud and damages for fraud resulting in a reversal of the award.

Represented a life insurance company in claim for breach of contract and breach of alleged fiduciary duties.

Blogs

Are Subchapter V Corporate Debtors Subject to the §523(a) Exceptions to Discharge?

Blog Browse: As COVID-19 prompts more retail tenant bankruptcies, how should landlords and lenders respond?

TCLEs

Defending Class Actions

How to End a Business Relationship Without Litigating

Thompson Coburn Publications

As COVID-19 prompts more retail tenant bankruptcies, how should landlords and lenders respond?

Publications

“Tips in Navigating the Retail Tenant Apocalypse,”
Dallas Bar Headnotes, June 2018

“Recharacterisation risk in modern finance,”
Financier Worldwide, August 2014

“Introduction to Chapter 15 of the Bankruptcy Code,”
Dallas Bar Headnotes, July 2012

“§ 362(d)(3): Codification of Extend and Pretend?,”
Bloomberg Law Reports-Bankruptcy, Vol. 5, No. 20, May 16, 2011

“Managing and Mitigating Bankruptcy Risk in the Oil and Gas World,”
Co-Author, LSU Institute on Mineral Law, Vol. 57, March 2010

“‘Willful and Malicious’ Injury Exception to Discharge of Debt,”
56 SMU Law Review 1045, 2003

Presentations

“Class Warfare—Class Litigation Proceedings and Structures in Bankruptcy,”
35th Annual Jay L. Westbrook Bankruptcy Conference, Four Seasons Hotel, Austin, Texas November 18, 2016

"An Overview of Bankruptcy,”
Federal Court Practice Seminar, May 16, 2014