(214) 525-3942 | Fax: (972) 777-4050

    Jonathan L. Howell

    Through Jonathan L. Howell, PLLC, Jonathan L. Howell serves in an Of Counsel capacity for Howell and Willingham, PLLC. Mr. Howell has actively represented clients in Texas and throughout the United States in multiple facets of litigation, bankruptcy, and transactional matters, including business and asset acquisitions, preparation and renegotiation of lending and credit agreements, contract disputes, and real property disputes. Mr. Howell has received multiple awards and recognition from his peers for his work in litigation and commercial reorganizations and restructurings.

    Mr. Howell has represented a broad spectrum of clients, ranging from local entrepreneurs to Fortune 500 companies. Specifically, Mr. Howell has represented business owners, directors, officers, traditional and non-traditional lenders, private equity firms, family offices, landlords, manufacturers, real estate developers, hospitality groups and hoteliers, trade creditors, creditors’ committees, trustees, and judgment creditors.

    Mr. Howell received his B.A. in Economics from SMU in 2001 and his J.D. in 2007 from SMU’s Dedman School of Law, where he was an articles editor for the International Law Review and Dean’s List student. From 2008 to 2009, Mr. Howell served as a federal judicial law clerk for the Honorable D. Michael Lynn in the Northern District of Texas. While attending law school, Jonathan externed for the Honorable Stacey G. C. Jernigan in the Northern District of Texas.

    Representative Experience

    • Served as lead counsel for the official unsecured creditors’ committee in Falcon Steel Company and New Falcon Steel, LLC, which collectively represents the interests of holders of approximately $4.5 million in unsecured debt owed to various creditor constituencies.
    • Served as lead counsel for the debtors, the developers and operators of a mixed-use real estate property in Denton County, Texas, in reorganizing over $10 million in debts and formulating a plan that pays unsecured creditors in full, allows principals to retain their equity interest, and resolves over five-years of contentious litigation.
    • Served as lead debtors’ counsel in a Chapter 11 reorganization of an East Texas Best Western branded hotel and adjacent restaurant involving the successful confirmation of a Chapter 11 plan that reorganizes over $2 million in debts, pays unsecured creditors in full, plus interest, over the term of three years and allows the principals to retain their equity.
    • Served as co-counsel to auction participant that bid on assets, valued at $2.7 billion, in the Erickson Retirement Communities LLC bankruptcy case in an attempt to acquire the debtors’ operations.
    • Acted as lead counsel for multiple Texas-based landlords in Blockbuster, Inc., Ritz Camera & Image LLC, Idearc, Inc., Circuit City Stores, Inc., and Mr. E’s Music Supercenters, Inc., successfully maximizing landlords’ recoveries for unpaid lease obligations.
    • Represented creditors and natural gas providers in numerous complex Chapter 11 cases and avoidance actions, including but not limited to, Pilgrim’s Pride Corp., Charter Communications, Inc., Flying J, Inc., Lear Corp., Linens Holding Co., Masonite Corp., Movie Gallery, Inc. SemCrude, L.P., AMR Corp., and Energy Future Holdings Corp.
    • Served as debtors’ counsel to family office and Wyndham franchisees in the Chapter 11 reorganization of twenty-two hotels and over $75 million of debt, ending in the successful confirmation of a consensual Chapter 11 plan of reorganization.
    • Served as lead counsel in successfully defending a Dallas-based technology firm against Nortel Networks, Inc. for alleged preferential transfers, aggregating more than $3.1 million, and resulting in a complete dismissal of all allegations.
    • Acted as debtors’ counsel to four Hyatt franchisees in contested Chapter 11 bankruptcy case and subsequent district court and Fifth Circuit appeals in Texas Grand Prairie Hotel Realty, LLC, leading to the affirmance of the bankruptcy court’s decision to confirm the debtors’ Chapter 11 plan of reorganization.
    • Represented numerous debtors and trustees in Chapter 11 reorganization and liquidation cases, including but not limited to, Lewis Equipment Co., Denar, LLC, Golden Restaurants, CSD, LLC, Vanderra Resources, LLC, and Domistyle, Inc.
    • Served as counsel to creditors’ committee in Home Interiors & Gifts, Inc. and Centennial Beverage Group, LLC bankruptcy cases.

    Mr. Howell is licensed to practice law before all state and federal courts in Texas and frequently appears as counsel in federal bankruptcy courts throughout the United States, including in the Southern District of New York and in the District of Delaware.

    Mr. Howell grew up in Lake Highlands community in Dallas, attended St. John’s Episcopal School, and graduated from J.J. Pearce High School before attending SMU.

    Contact Jonathan Directly

    Phone: 214.525.3941
    Email: jonathan@jlhowell.com

    DISCLOSURE: No engagement or attorney-client relationship will formed between you or your business, on the one hand, and Howell & Willingham, on the other hand, unless and until (a) Howell & Willingham, PLLC has initiated a conflict check; (b) any potential conflict has been disclosed and resolved; (c) the terms of Howell & Willingham, PLLC’s engagement are agreed upon and memorialized in an engagement letter (and any ancillary documents); (d) that engagement letter is fully signed; and (e) a retainer in the agreed-upon amount in the engagement letter has been received by Howell & Willingham, PLLC.

    Education

    Mr. Howell grew up in the Lake Highlands community of Dallas, attended St. John’s Episcopal School and graduated from J. J. Pearce High School. He received his B.A. in Economics from SMU in 2001 and his J.D. from SMU’s Dedman School of Law in 2007, where he was an articles editor for the International Law Review and on the Dean’s List.

    Practices

    Bankruptcy Law | Business Law | Litigation

    Featured Media

    “Till in Chapter 11 Cases and the Looming “Efficient Market” Debate.” ABI Journal. July 2013

    “Trade Creditors in Bankruptcy.” Dallas Bar Association’s Headnotes. July 2011.

    Jonathan L. Howell, et al., Evidence Rules and Trial Tactics in Bankruptcy Court, State Bar of Texas Business Bankruptcy 101 Course, San Antonio, Texas. June 2010. (panel speaker).

    “Bankruptcy 101: What Every Bankruptcy Attorney Needs to Know About Cash Collateral and DIP Financing.” April 2010.
    “Commercial Landlord Issues in Bankruptcy.” April 2010. (presentation speaker).

    “Chapter 11 Practice — Bankruptcy Nuts & Bolts: The Basics of Cash Collateral and DIP Financing.” State Bar of Texas Bankruptcy Law Section Newsletter. August 2010.

    “Utilizing Chapter 15 of the United States Bankruptcy Code to Combat Fraud.” World Compendium on Asset Tracing & Recovery. March 2009.

    “A Primer on Commercial Landlord Issues in Bankruptcy.” Dallas Bar Association’s Headnotes. June 2009

    “Bankruptcy 101: What Every Young Lawyer Should Know About Non-Residential Tenant Bankruptcies.” August 2009.

    Jonathan L. Howell, et al., “Navigating a Small Business Bankruptcy Case — The Benefits and Perils.” September 2009. (panel speaker).

    “What Every Landlord Should Know About Non-Residential Tenant Bankruptcies.” October 2009.

    International Insolvency Law, 42 Int’l Law. 113. SMU Law Textbook. 2008.

    Privatization of Pemex, 13 Law & Bus. Rev. Am. 461. SMU Law Textbook. 2007.

    Recent Developments in NAFTA Law, 13 Law & Bus. Rev. Am. 253. SMU Law Textbook. 2007.

    Dr. Michael Lynn, et al., Chapter 11: The Practice of Corporate Reorganization Law. SMU Law Textbook. 2007.

    Jonathan L. Howell
    Rated by Super Lawyers


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