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Profile: Ron Oliner By Rense, Kirk* One of the great things about being a commercial lawyer is you get to deal with so many types of business problems. Since 1990 when I received my juris doctor from the University of Oregon, I have worn many hats in a diverse creditors’ rights practice. I have served as counsel to equipment lessors, asset-based lenders and financial institutions of all kinds, and to bankruptcy trustees and receivers throughout Northern California. I am also a chapter 11 bankruptcy trustee, a court appointed mediator, an examiner, and sometimes an expert witness. Reflecting on the breadth of cases and problems I have been involved with these past fifteen years is somewhat mind-boggling. The ones I will remember after retirement (note to self: check 401k investments) range from going concern asset sales where jobs were kept and creditors paid, to a nice string of victories in appellate courts. I represented the trustee of a bankrupt but operating Ferrari dealership (man, those are expensive cars), a creditors committee in perhaps the largest chapter 11 ever filed in Santa Rosa, and a creditor with an $800 million contingent claim in the mammoth PG&E bankruptcy. In 2001, on the cusp of the great “dot bomb” economy, I represented fiduciaries in closing up a ton of Bay Area dot com businesses that failed for reasons all too obvious in retrospect. I was counsel to the lender in a hugely contentious receivership involving a run-down 152 unit apartment building in the Central Valley a few years ago, where an eve of foreclosure bankruptcy filing was made by the owner specifically to regain possession of the property then being controlled by a receiver who was doing a yeoman’s job of cleaning up the place. I have been privileged to represent receivers in all manner of wind-ups, and dissolutions of partnerships, and even divorce cases involving significant real property and business assets over the years. Of late, I am involved in an international business case where a principal has, to date, paid to me for the benefit of a bankruptcy estate $1.6 million in coercive sanctions (this is not a typo). Throw these experiences in with troubled construction concerns, manufacturers of goods, resellers, art galleries and even law firms, and you get a sense of the breadth of legal experiences available to a commercial lawyer. I must acknowledge a few people who have been instrumental in my development as a lawyer. Two attorneys in particular — two senior, seasoned and respected lawyers have enjoyed special roles in my career (well, they may not have “enjoyed” it, but I have). Irving Kornfield, who hired me out of law school, and sadly who passed away a few years ago, gave me an early opportunity to develop into a creditors’ lawyer. Irv was one of the most skilled, intelligent and thoughtful attorneys I’ve ever seen, much less had the pleasure to call “colleague.” Those of you who practiced in Oakland in the ‘80s and ‘90s, and who saw Irv work on his feet in the courtroom, will agree he was among the most gifted bankruptcy attorneys in Northern California. The second person who has greatly influenced me as a lawyer is my partner Robert Izmirian. I joined Buchalter Nemer in 1993 and in the twelve years since Bob has affected almost every aspect of my practice and style as a lawyer. He is a lawyer’s lawyer; someone who will invariably find an answer to a client’s problems in a practical and cost-effective way. Even as I am now mentoring younger lawyers, I cannot help but think of the many ways Bob encouraged me these past dozen years to become involved in the Receivership Forum, the Bay Area Bankruptcy Forum, the Commercial Law and Bankruptcy Section of the San Francisco Bar Association (I am the 2005 chair), and always, always, to keep the best interests of clients central to my legal work. Let me mention what is most important in my life. I live in the East Bay Area and have been happily married to Kristen McDaniel Oliner since 1991. We have two boys, Evan Samuel (age 9) and Daniel Wesley (age 6). Both are active in sports, boy scouts and, ahem, XBox. Evan loves Green Day, and Daniel, Star Wars. Just recently, nine-year old Evan has decided it is no longer cool to hold my hand when walking across a busy street. You can’t even walk in Daniel’s room without stepping on Legos and Playmobile figures. Though I am not exactly sure how this happened, one thing I am most proud of is my involvement in my kids’ day-to-day lives. I have coached Evan’s and Daniel’s soccer and baseball teams in recent years. At six or seven o’clock on long summer days, you’ll find us shooting hoops in the driveway. The strange thing is, by making a few adjustments this is not so hard to accomplish. The choice is pretty clear when you are left to choose between returning those last few phone calls and maybe dictating a letter or two before walking out of the office, or honoring a commitment to twelve little kids who call you “coach.” The secret is getting to the office early. For me, that means 7:15 a.m. My other interests include distance biking (I managed to get in five centuries last year and have two under my belt so far this season), camping, and just about any organized sport. It seems I know about a zillion lawyers in their mid-forties who have not managed to take control of their lives outside of the office. Thankfully, I do not believe I am one of them. Ron Oliner is a commerical law/creditor’s rights attorney in Buchalter Nemer’s San Francisco, California office. |