Pillsbury today announced Cecily Dumas, a highly regarded bankruptcy lawyer who also handles commercial transactions and litigation, is joining the firm’s Insolvency & Restructuring practice as a partner in the San Francisco office.

Dumas is well known in the Bay Area and beyond for her representation of high-profile clients and bankruptcy trustees, as well as her frequent presentations on the latest developments in insolvency and restructuring. She has more than 25 years’ experience in bankruptcy and commercial law, most recently as lead name partner of her own firm, Dumas & Clark LLP.

“Cecily has established herself as a sophisticated, pragmatic and trusted legal advisor in the insolvency area. Her rapport and results have attracted increasingly larger clients and cases over the years,” said Pillsbury Chair James Rishwain, Jr. “We are delighted to bring on a partner with her track record of success and her exceptional energy.”

“I have worked ‘across the table’ from Cecily in very challenging bankruptcy cases and found her to be a consummate professional,” said David Minnick, firmwide leader of Pillsbury’s Insolvency & Restructuring practice section. “Her superb mastery of insolvency law’s technicalities and its interpersonal dynamics will be a great asset for Pillsbury and our clients.”

“Joining a firm of Pillsbury’s size and stature is a great opportunity for me to build my own insolvency practice along with the firm’s,” Dumas said. “I look forward to tapping the broader expertise and resources that Pillsbury possesses to address the larger matters my clients face.”

In her broad-based insolvency practice, Dumas represents secured and unsecured creditors, asset acquirors, debtors and trustees. Recent matters she has handled include:

•Advising a major California-based healthcare system regarding its restructuring and sale;
•Representing more than 175 former partners of three major law firms facing claims by trustees for recovery of partner distributions and unfinished business proceeds;
•Serving as trustee’s counsel in Chapter 11 cases involving a mortgage loan originator and a blind pool fund with $180 million in Ponzi scheme-related claims.

Dumas is a Fellow of the prestigious American College of Bankruptcy and a member of multiple bar associations and professional groups. Since 2008, Dumas has been one of the three speakers at the annual San Francisco Bar Association and Bay Area Bankruptcy Forum on the year’s developments in insolvency law. She is also a frequent presenter at meetings sponsored by the California Bankruptcy Forum, American Bankruptcy Institute, Practising Law Institute and the Association of Insolvency and Restructuring Advisors.

Dumas earned her J.D. from Golden Gate University School of Law. She received her B.A. in Political Economy of Industrial Societies, with honors, from the University of California at Berkeley. She is admitted to practice in California.

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