Brad Eric Scheler is a senior partner with Fried Frank Harris Shriver & Jacobson and chairman of the firm's bankruptcy and restructuring practice. He joined the firm in 1981 and became a partner in 1984.
Mr Scheler represents both debtors and creditors; his practice includes both out-of-court debt restructurings and the rehabilitation of financially distressed businesses under chapter 11 of the Bankruptcy Code. He regularly represents investors in, and lenders to, financially troubled companies, parties seeking to acquire the businesses or assets of financially troubled companies and buyers and sellers of distressed securities. His experience on some of the largest and most complex transactions? from leveraged buyouts to strategic mergers? has given him perspective and insight into the challenges of realising maximum value and recovery from both distressed and non-distressed businesses and assets. Drawing upon his substantial experience in corporate boardrooms and judicial proceedings, he acts as outside general counsel and strategic adviser to a number of financially strong corporate, institutional and regulatory clients in connection with financings and capital market transactions, including the issuance and restructuring of debt and equity securities and the structuring and implementation of mergers, acquisitions, and joint ventures.
Mr Scheler writes on subjects related to his experience and is a frequent speaker at seminars for clients and fellow professionals. He is a contributing author to Collier on Bankruptcy. He is a regular lecturer for a course on investing in distressed securities taught by Professor Allan Brown at the New York University Leonard N Stern School of Business.
Mr Scheler is chairman of the board of trustees of his undergraduate alma mater, Lehigh University. He also served as the immediate past chair and is a current member of the Dean's Advisory Council for Lehigh University's College of Business and Economics.
He is also chair of the dean's advisory board for his law school alma mater, the Maurice A Deane School of Law at Hofstra University. Among his myriad of activities on behalf of the law school, Mr Scheler has been an honoured speaker and spokesperson for the Maurice A Deane School of Law at Hofstra University.
Mr Scheler is regularly involved with charitable endeavours and fundraising activities in connection with a number of organisations, including among others, Her Justice (f/k/a inMotion-Justice for All Women) (chair emeritus), the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, UJA Federation, Larchmont Manor Park, the Village of Larchmont Library Board and Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts.
He is a fellow of the American College of Bankruptcy and a Fellow of the American Bar Foundation. He is a member of the American Bar Association, the New York State Bar Association, and the Association of the Bar of the City of New York.
Mr Scheler received his JD from Hofstra University School of Law in 1977, where he was research editor of Hofstra Law Review, and his BA from Lehigh University, with high honours, in 1974. He is admitted to practise in New York State and the United States District Court for the Southern and Eastern Districts of New York.
