James W. Giddens previously served as chair of Hughes Hubbard & Reed's Corporate Reorganization and Bankruptcy group. He is generally recognized as the country's leading expert on brokerage firm liquidations, having been selected by the Securities Investor Protection Corp. (SIPC) to be trustee on several of the largest and most complex liquidations in history. In addition to brokerage liquidations, Jim represents financial institutions and companies in major corporate reorganization and insolvency matters.
Recognition
Ranked by Chambers USA, Super Lawyers of NYC, Lawdragon 500: Leading Lawyers
Highlighted Publications and Lectures
Speaker, "Can Tobago Bind the World," Seminar on Cross‑Border Insolvencies, Cornell Club, New York
"Attempting to Protect Employee Retirement Income within Bankruptcy Reorganization: PBGC Efforts to Obtain Priority Status," Boston University School of Law, Annual Review of Banking & Financial Law, 12 (1992)
Speaker, "Cross-Border Insolvencies," Latin American Restructuring Forum, Miami, 2003, 2008
"Compensation of Investment Bankers in Bankruptcy Proceedings: Just or Unjust Enrichment," Boston University Law School, Annual Review of Banking and Financial Law (Spring 2004)
Contributor, Cross-Border Debt Restructuring: Innovative Approaches for Creditors, Corporates and Sovereigns, edited by Esteban C. Buljevich, London, Euromoney Books, 2005
Speaker, "Trading in Distressed Debt in Europe," Insolvency and Creditors' Rights Committee of the International Bar Association, Seville, Spain, April 2004
Speaker, Strategic Research Institute European Distressed Debt Summit, Frankfurt, Germany, September 2005
Speaker, European & Cross-Border Distressed Debt Investing Conference, London, April 2006
Speaker, "Lessons From Lehman," New York County Lawyer's Association, June 2009
"Cross-Border Broker-Dealer Insolvencies in the Age of Lehman," Financier Worldwide 2009 Bankruptcy & Corporate Restructuring, e-Book
Speaker, "Lehman Issues for Hedge Funds/Private Equity," Managed Fund Association, Harvard Club, New York February 2010
Contributor, "Liquidations of Broker-Dealers under the Securities Investor Protection Act of 1970 (SIPA) chap. 12," in Collier on Bankruptcy, 16th ed., edited by Resnick, Alan N. and Henry J. Sommer, LexisNexis, 2016
Additional Information
Member of the Executive Board Committee at Hughes Hubbard
Board of overseers, Hopkins Center for Arts, Dartmouth College
National Advisory Council, Austin Riggs Hospital, Stockbridge, MA
Member of SIPC Modernization Task Force
MF Global Inc.
Highlighted Matters
Selected by the SIPC and appointed by the US District Court for the Southern District of New York to be trustee in the liquidation of MF Global Inc. (MFGI), a securities broker-dealer and futures commission merchant (FCM), under the Securities Investor Protection Act of 1970 (SIPA), and one of the largest bankruptcies in history
Fiduciary administering of four pools of property: (i) commodity customer property segregated in US depositories pursuant to Section 4d of the Commodity Exchange Act; (ii) commodity customer property secured in foreign depositories pursuant to 17 C.F.R. Section 30.7 (“Rule 30.7”); (iii) securities customer property reserved under SIPA and the Securities Exchange Act; and (iv) general estate property
Supervision of a staff of several hundred employees with offices in New York and Chicago to deal with the largest commodities firm liquidation to date
Distributing nearly $4 billion to former MFGI retail commodities customers with US futures positions via three bulk transfers approved by the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York, which has restored 72 percent of US segregated customer property to such customers within the first weeks of the liquidation
Asserting claims against MF Global UK for approximately $640 million in client funds held by the MF Global UK special administrators, pursuant to Rule 30.7, that the special administrators preliminary have objected to the classification of a significant portion of these funds as being either client money or client assets under relevant Financial Services Authority (FSA) rules
Serving as a client representative on the MF Global UK creditors' committee
Establishing a Bankruptcy Court approved claims process for commodities, securities and general creditor claims, and beginning the process of analyzing and determining such claims, including over 27,000 commodities customer claims asserted before the Jan. 31, 2012, deadline with a face value of roughly $7.2 billion after accounting for duplicative claims
Conducting a statutory investigation of MFGI’s demise and lessons that may be learned from a regulatory and legislative perspective with a preliminary determination that MFGI had a shortfall in commodities customer segregated funds of at least $1.6 billion and determining how best to pursue possible recoveries, and the extent to which applicable law would support claims against particular recipients of funds, affiliates and possibly other parties
Lehman Brothers Inc.
Selected by SIPC and appointed by the US District Court for the Southern District of New York in September 2008 to be trustee in the liquidation of Lehman Brothers Inc. (LBI) under the Securities Investor Protection Act of 1970 (SIPA), the largest stockbroker liquidation and one of the largest bankruptcies in history. Administrating assets in excess of $117 billion in a complex liquidation which includes:
Consummating the transfer of more than 110,000 accounts aggregating more than $92 billion
Analyzing over 14,000 customer claims in excess of $50 billion that involve legal questions as to whether financial products, valuations dates or contractual arrangements qualify for customer status under SIPA, including the US Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York upholding the trustee's position that claims arising from To-Be-Announced (TBA) contracts were not entitled to customer status under SIPA; see In re Lehman Brothers Inc., 462 B.R. 53 (Bankr. S.D.N.Y. 2011)
Moving on Dec. 1, 2011 for Bankruptcy Court approval for the allocation of a total of $18.3 billion out of an approximately $20.6 billion of currently available assets to the fund of customer property based on the principles of allocation approved by the Bankruptcy Court on March 2, 2012 (such motion remains subject to potential litigation with principal interested parties in liquidation)
Reaching a settlement in principle (subject to documentation and Bankruptcy Court approval) with Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. and certain affiliates regarding over 600 disputed customer claims aggregating over approximately $19.9 billion
Liaising with all of the 76 Lehman-related insolvency proceedings in 16 countries, including obtaining a ruling from the UK Supreme Court on Feb. 29, 2012, as to client money held at Lehman Brothers International Europe (LBIE) that should lead to greater recoveries for LBI customers
Litigating with LBIE regarding purported customer claims of approximately $17 billion, even after allowance of approximately $8.3 billion as compounded largely duplicative and overlapping claims of approximately 300 LBIE client hedge funds
Engaging in appellate litigation with Barclays Capital Inc. regarding a $6.2 billion dispute with Barclays arising out of the sale of substantial estate assets to Barclays at the commencement of the liquidation
Conducting a statutory investigation of LBI's demise and lessons that may be learned from a regulatory and legislative perspective that formed the basis of the trustee’s preliminary report regarding the collapse of LBI. The report was provided to the US Congress, regulators and the Bankruptcy Court in August 2010
Negotiating and "closing-out" complex financial transactions with thousands of global counterparties
Other Broker-Dealer Matters
Trustee for other major brokerage firm liquidations under the Securities Investor Protection Act: Weis Securities, Hanover Square, A.R. Baron & Co. Inc. and New Times Securities Services Inc.
Appointed administrator by the Securities and Exchange Commission of the Investor Restitution Fund in A.R. Baron & Co. Inc.
Conrail
Representation of Goldman Sachs Group Inc. as financial advisor to the United States in the privatization public-offering sale of Conrail
Other
Counsel to major parties in other cases, including Braniff, Continental and Eastern Airlines; miscellaneous Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. (FDIC) matters, including Enron, Refco and Parmalat
