About Michaela C. Crocker

Michaela Crocker helps clients navigate through the most complex Chapter 11 cases, both traditional and pre-negotiated. Over her career, she has managed plan negotiations, asset sales, debtor-in-possession financing, leases and executory contracts, preference and fraudulent transfer matters, and bankruptcy appeals.

Sophisticated counsel rooted in the ability to see the big picture

Clients from across the country rely on Michaela’s deep experience and business-oriented approach. She regularly represents debtors, creditors, and Chapter 7 and Chapter 11 trustees with insolvency matters that range in complexity. Michaela is well versed in the unique needs of clients in the retail, telecommunications, manufacturing and energy sectors.

Michaela served as a law clerk to the Honorable Barbara J. Houser of the US Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Texas, allowing her to work closely with bankruptcy judges in Texas and beyond. While in law school, she served as articles editor of SMU Law Review.

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Practice Focus

  • Chapter 11 proceedings
  • Financing, leases and executory contracts
  • Asset sales
  • Bankruptcy appeals

Representative Experience

  • Represented manufacturer of precision machinery and equipment in the global restructuring, refinancing, and sale of its manufacturing operations located in the United States, China, the European Union, and other countries across the globe.
  • Routinely represents midstream oil and gas companies in multiple Chapter 11 and potential Chapter 11 filings throughout the United States.
  • Represented more than 100 affiliated debtors in a pre-negotiated Chapter 11 case based on a debt-for equity exchange that was confirmed within 75 days of case filing. *
  • Represented debtors in the liquidation of one of the largest retail furniture chains in Texas. *
  • Represented the Chapter 11 trustee of a holding company that owed non-debtor operating subsidiaries engaged in telecommunications and media businesses in the United States, Virgin Islands, Martinique and Guadeloupe. *
  • Represented multiple debtors subject to mass tort liability seeking to establish asbestos trusts under Section 524(g) of the Bankruptcy Code. *
* Experience prior to Katten

News

Presentations and Events

  • April 19, 2019
    13th Anniversary Bankruptcy Bench Bar Conference | State Bar of Texas, Bankruptcy Law Section
    Panelist | Judges and Law Clerks Panel
  • November 2013
    Bankruptcy Workshop | Federal Bar Association
    Presenter
  • June 21–22, 2012
    Southern District of Texas Houston/Galveston Bench Bar Conference
    Presenter | Bankruptcy Case Law Review
  • February 22–24, 2012
    Fifth Circuit Bankruptcy Bench-Bar Conference
    Presenter | Best Practices – First Day Motions and Hearings
  • 2011–2012
    American College of Bankruptcy Circuit Review
    Contributor
  • 2003
    Shifting Sands: Claims Transfer Focus
    Co-author | University of Texas Advanced Business Bankruptcy Seminar
  • 2002
    Sarbanes-Oxley—Key Bankruptcy Related Issues
    Co-author | Dallas Bar Association, Bankruptcy & Commercial Law Section
Practices
Industries
Education
  • Southern Methodist University Dedman School of Law, JD, Order of the Coif
  • New Mexico State University, BBA, Regent’s Scholar
Bar Admissions
  • Texas
Court Admissions
  • US Court of Appeals, Fifth Circuit
  • US District Court, Northern District of Texas
  • US District Court, Western District of Texas
  • US District Court, Eastern District of Texas
Community Involvements
  • Attorneys Serving the Community
  • State Bar of Texas, Bankruptcy Law Section
  • International Women's Insolvency and Restructuring Confederation
  • The Honorable John C. Ford American Inn of Court
  • Turnaround Management Association
  • National Association of Women Lawyers
Recognitions
Recognized or listed in the following:
  • The Legal 500 United States
    Recommended Attorney, 2021–2022
Award Methodologies