Kenneth H. Brown

Kenneth Brown, resident in the firm’s San Francisco office, has extensive experience in bankruptcy and commercial litigation. He has represented and advised debtors, unsecured creditors, secured creditors, insurers, creditors’ committees, and trustees in large complex chapter 11 and chapter 15 cases and in related litigation in both state and federal court. Ken leads the firm’s litigation team in representations of the sex-abuse survivor committees in the chapter 11 bankruptcy cases involving the Roman Catholic Church. These matters involve the intersection of the First Amendment and the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (“RFRA”) with the Bankruptcy Code and focus on recovering assets transferred by the debtor prior to filing bankruptcy as part of an asset-protection scheme to shield assets from the claims of victims of sex abuse. The representations also require expertise in identifying, analyzing, and prosecuting claims against the management of the debtor for allowing or facilitating the sexual misconduct and abuse. Ken led the team that obtained a judgment in one of these cases worth in excess of $100 million. Ken also specializes in defending employers in WARN Act class-action litigation and advising them on the intersection of the WARN Act and bankruptcy. Ken also has extensive experience representing professional firms and their principals in dissolutions and bankruptcies.

Ken is a former director of the Bay Area Bankruptcy Forum, a former member of the State Bar of California Business Law Section Subcommittee on Debtor/Creditor Relations and Bankruptcy, and frequently serves as a mediator for the Bankruptcy Dispute Resolution Program for the Northern District of California and the San Francisco Bar Association. He holds an AV Preeminent Peer Rating, Martindale-Hubbell‘s highest recognition for ethical standards and legal ability. He has been listed in every edition of Best Lawyers in America since 2018 for his work in Bankruptcy and Creditor Debtor Rights / Insolvency and Reorganization Law and Litigation – Bankruptcy. He is a graduate of U.C. Santa Barbara and received his J.D. at Hastings College of the Law, where he was articles editor for the Hastings Law Journal.