Related Practices

Education

J.D., New York University School of Law, 1975
B.A., Mount Holyoke College, 1972
University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, Scotland

Bar Admissions

Arizona, 1975

Susan M. Freeman

Partner

vCard

Phoenix

40 North Central Avenue
Suite 1900
Phoenix, Arizona 85004

Phone 602.262.5756

Fax 602.734.3824

About Susan Freeman

Ms. Freeman is a partner who concentrates her practice in two areas: appeals of all kinds, and business bankruptcy.

Her bankruptcy practice includes all aspects of business bankruptcy cases, and she is certified by the Arizona State Bar Board of Legal Specialization as a specialist in bankruptcy law. Her bankruptcy cases have included (individually or as co-counsel) representation of James Balsillie and PSE Sports & Entertainment as proposed buyer of the Phoenix Coyotes NHL hockey team, representation of the principal secured creditors in the Las Vegas Monorail, Crown Pacific and Megafoods Stores Chapter 11 cases and in the Chapter 11 cases filed by fifty one Trammell Crow entities; representation of the equity owner/management company in the Utah 7000 cases; representation of creditors committees, including in the USA Commercial Mortgage and MicroAge cases; debtors-in-possession including in the A-Title and All Star Gas cases; and representation of trustees including the liquidating trustees in the USA Commercial Mortgage, Nelson Bunker Hunt and William Herbert Hunt bankruptcies. She served as the liquidating trustee in the Oregon Arena Corporation bankruptcy case. She has expertise in representing aircraft lessors and secured lenders in airline bankruptcy cases, having represented 14 aircraft financiers in the America West Airlines Chapter 11 case in Arizona and aircraft lessors in the Great American Airways Chapter 11 case in Nevada and the Western Pacific Airlines case in Colorado, where she took the lead role in appeals of Code section 1110 rulings, and CIT, Boullioun and Sunrock in the National Airlines case in Nevada.

In the area of appeals, she has briefed over 300 appeals and argued many of them, primarily in Arizona appellate courts and the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, but also in other jurisdictions across the country. She often assists counsel from other firms who were responsible for cases at the trial level, and has presented the views of many entities as amicus curiae. She has served as a judge pro tem on the Arizona Court of Appeals and a faculty member of the Arizona and National Appellate Practice Institutes.

Combining her expertise in appeals and bankruptcy, Ms. Freeman represented prominent law professors as amici in presenting persuasive arguments to the Supreme Court in the Hood and Katz cases concerning sovereign immunity in bankruptcy. She also successfully petitioned for certiorari, briefed and argued to the Supreme Court the Hall v. United States case. Copies of the briefs, argument transcript and a link to the argument audio are attached. Ms. Freeman is frequently invited to present materials and speak at seminars in Arizona and nationally.

Documents related to the Hall v. United States Case:
Hall v. United States Case Oral Argument
Hall v. United States Brief for Petitioners
Hall v. United States Reply Brief for Petitioners
Hall v. United States Petition for a Writ of Ceritorari
For more information on this case and to hear the original oral argument, please click here.

Representative Cases/Matters

Central Virginia Community College v. Katz, 126 S. Ct. 990 (2006) (amici)
Hood v. Tennessee Student Assistance Corp., 541 U.S. 440 (2004) (amici)
In re ProAlert, LLC, 314 B.R. 436 (9th Cir. BAP 2004)
Gunnell v. Arizona Public Service Co., 202 Ariz. 388, 46 P.3d 399 (2002)
Jinro America Inc. v. Secure Invs., 266 F.3d 993 (9th Cir. 2001)

Memberships and Affiliations

Bankruptcy and Appellate Sections of the Arizona Bar Association, Member
Bankruptcy and Appellate Sections of the American Bar Association, Member
Secured Creditors Subcommittee of the American Bar Association Business Bankruptcy Committee, Co-Chair, and former Co-Chair of the Chapter 11 Subcommittee and the Programs Subcommittee and former Chair of the Professional Ethics Subcommittee
American College of Bankruptcy, Member and former Vice President, Director and Regent
American Academy of Appellate Lawyers, Member
American Law Institute (ALI), Member and former Advisor for its Restatement of the Law Third, Restitution
Norton Bankruptcy Law Institutes, Faculty Member
American Bankruptcy Institute, Member
Council of Appellate Lawyers, former Director
Arizona Appellate Handbook Committee of the State Bar of Arizona, Member (co-author of the Civil Appeals section of the Arizona Appellate Handbook in 1978, with continuing shared responsibility for its supplements thereafter)
Charter 100, Member
Boys & Girls Clubs of Metropolitan Phoenix, Board Member
Previously served on City of Phoenix Human Relations Commission as its Vice Chair, and also chaired a committee appointed by the Mayor and City Council to evaluate that Commission and the civil rights ordinances it enforces in 1984-1985
Previously served on the Ninth Circuit Judicial Council Merit Screening Committee for bankruptcy judges and the Ninth Circuit Rules Advisory Committee, the Arizona Judicial Committee’s Appellate Case Processing Study Committee and Implementation Committee, and she was past chair of the Arizona Supreme Court’s Committee on Character and Fitness.

Publications

Co-Author, "Debtors in Distress: When Can You Sue for Emotional Injury?," Norton's Annual Survey of Bankruptcy Law, 2011 Edition
Author, "Are DIP and Committee Counsel Fiduciaries for Their Client's Constituents or the Bankruptcy Estate? What is a Fiduciary Anyway?" 17 American Bankruptcy Institute Law Review 291 , Winter 2009
Author, “The Scope of Bankruptcy Ancillary Jurisdiction After Katz as Informed by Pre-Katz Ancillary Jurisdiction Cases,” 15 American Bankruptcy Institute Law Review 155, Spring 2007
Author, "Ethical Responsibilities," Chapter 172 of the Norton Bankruptcy Law Practice Treatise (3rd ed. Thompson West)
Author, "Current Developments in Federal Appellate Practice," The Federal Lawyer, October 2002
Author, “Section 1110 is Amended on Its Own,” Norton Bankruptcy Law Advisor, July 2000
Author, “Ethics in Commercial Transactions,” 17 ALI-ABA Course Materials Journal 79, 1992
Author, "Arizona Civil Appellate Procedures," Arizona State Law Journal, 1977; 1983
Author, "Recent Developments in Chapter 11 Reorganizations," Annual Survey of Bankruptcy Law, 1984; 1985

RECENT SPEAKING ENGAGEMENTS

Speaker, "Chapter 11 Update" and "Bankruptcy Ethics," Mid-South Commercial Law Institute, December 2011
Speaker, "Bankruptcy - Stars, Dodgers, Coyotes, Rangers - Who's Next?," Arizona State University's Second Annual Conference on Sports and Entertainment Law, November 2011
Speaker, "Legal Overview: The Latest Developments in Commercial Bankruptcy Law," Distressed Debt Conference, October 2011
Speaker, "So You Can't Agree on Plan Terms - Does Plan Mediation Work?," Chapter 11 Subcommittee, National Conference of Bankruptcy Judges, October 2011
Speaker, "Resolved: Plan Support and Lock Up Agreements are Enforceable and Do Not Violate Plan Solicitation and Disclosure Rules," American Bankruptcy Litigation Institute Spring Meeting, March - April 2011
Speaker, "Through the Ethical Maze of Fiduciary Duties: Ratting on Clients and Other Hazards and Update on Recent Case Law," Valcon Conference, February 2011
Speaker, "Bankruptcy Ethics," State Bar of Arizona Convention, June 2009

Court Admissions

U.S. Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit, 1975
U.S. Court of Appeals, Tenth Circuit, 1990
U.S. Court of Appeals, Fifth Circuit, 1992
U.S. Supreme Court, 1992
U.S. District Court, Colorado, 1997

Other Distinctions

Ms. Freeman has an "AV/Preeminent Attorney" rating with Martindale Hubbell. She is listed in the 1989-2012 editions of The Best Lawyers in America, by Woodward/White, Aiken, S.C. in the categories of Appellate Law, Bankruptcy and Creditor-Debtor Rights Law and Commercial Litigation. Ms. Freeman is named a Best Lawyers' Lawyer of the Year in 2012 in the areas of Bankruptcy and Creditor Debtor Rights, and Insolvency and Reorganization. She is listed in the 2007-2012 editions of Southwest Super Lawyers in the category of Bankruptcy and Creditor-Debtor Rights, while being named to the top 50 in Arizona in each edition. Ms. Freeman was included in the 2009 and 2010 Super Lawyers Corporate Counsel editions in the category of Bankruptcy and Creditor-Debtor Rights, and in the 2010 edition of AZ Business' Top Lawyers, in the category of Bankruptcy. She was also included in the 2010 Lawdragon Top 3000 in the United States.

While attending New York University School of Law, Ms. Freeman was a Root-Tilden Scholar. While attending Mount Holyoke College, Ms. Freeman was a Sarah Williston Scholar.