Fox Rothschild is pleased to welcome Mette Kurth as a partner in its national Financial Restructuring & Bankruptcy Department. Kurth will be based in the Los Angeles office.

An experienced financial restructuring and bankruptcy attorney, Kurth uses her background in economics to provide sophisticated guidance to clients on myriad matters related to insolvency and debt resolution. She represents creditors, debtors and investors in all areas of business and corporate reorganization, bankruptcy law and litigation, distressed sales and acquisitions, workouts, and out-of-court bankruptcy alternatives.

“We are thrilled to welcome Mette and her robust bankruptcy practice to the firm and to our Los Angeles office,” noted Brett A. Axelrod and Yann Geron, co-chairs of Fox’s Financial Restructuring & Bankruptcy Department. “Her strategic work in helping clients reorganize and restructure when financial distress occurs will be an asset to our clients in California and across the country.”

Pairing her former experience in management with her economics background, Kurth counsels clients in a range of industries—including retail, food service and hospitality, real estate, manufacturing and distribution, imports, fitness, financial services, agriculture, transportation, telecommunications, healthcare, and gaming—in a wide array bankruptcy and restructuring of matters.

A sampling of her representative matters includes:
•Received M&A Advisor’s Turnaround Award of the Year Award- Lower Middle Market in connection with her representation of The Walking Company, an $80 million publicly traded retailer of specialty footwear, in a successful and rapidly executed Chapter 11 reorganization, which resulted in the payment in full of all unsecured creditors; a $10 million recapitalization of the company; renegotiation of significant lease obligations; and the preservation of all of the company’s stores, substantially all of its employees and its management team.
•Kurth was named as a recipient of the “Transaction of the Year: Mid-Sized Company” award by the Turnaround Management Association for her role in representing the Official Committee of Unsecured Creditors in the chapter 11 case filed by Contessa Premium Foods, Inc. The award recognized Contessa’s successful bankruptcy sale and the liquidation plan the team developed for the case, which resulted in 100 percent recoveries for all allowed general unsecured creditors. In announcing the award, the TMA noted the restructuring team’s exceptional collaborative process, which focused on open communication and cooperation among the Committee, other key creditors and the company jointly selecting, overseeing and directing Contessa’s investment banker to ensure a speedy and robust bankruptcy sale.

Dedicated to community service, Kurth has been actively involved in numerous community efforts. Most recently, she assisted the Jubilee Campaign in raising funds through its Education After Escape campaign to assist the Nigerian schoolgirls who escaped from their Boko Haram kidnappers in seeking refuge in the United States, where they have obtained scholarships to continue their education in safety.

She previously served as a member of the resource board of Sojourn Shelter, which provides battered women and children a safe space to regroup, rebuild and re-establish their self-esteem and lives. In 2008, she helped raise more than $25,000 for the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer. And in 2003, Kurth’s family was recognized by the City of Los Angeles as the North Hollywood YMCA’s “Family of the Year” in recognition of the assistance they provided to the financially troubled North Hollywood facility and their successful efforts to prevent the closure of the highly respected YMCA preschool.

Additionally, she is deeply involved with the executive committee of the national Turnaround Management Association and currently serves as its Vice President of Communications and a member of its Board of Directors and Executive Committee.

Kurth received her J.D. from the University of California, Los Angeles and her B.A., cum laude, from Trinity University.

Prior to joining Fox, Kurth was a partner with Arent Fox.

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