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Wallace M. Handler 
Southfield, Michigan
Partner
phone (248) 746-2780
fax (248) 746-2819
email Email Me

Wallace M. Handler counsels business clients and individuals in financial management of their companies and personal assets. He represents debtors, creditors, creditors committees and other interested parties in insolvency and bankruptcy proceedings and advises on the formation and implementation of liquidation, reorganization and recovery plans, both in and out of court. He is often retained as special counsel on creditors' rights issues in all types of proceedings.

Mr. Handler has been in practice for more than forty years and listed in the Creditors' and Debtors' Rights and Bankruptcy Sections of The Best Lawyers in America since the publication's first issue in 1983 (one out of about 2,500 attorneys in the U.S. to be so honored). He is a Partner in the firm and a former Adjunct Professor of Law, teaching "Debtors' Rights and Creditors' Remedies" at the University of Detroit College of Law and has also been listed as a Michigan Super Lawyer since 2006 to the present.

Mr. Handler has served as an Oakland County and Federal Bankruptcy Mediator on many occasions. He is also the founding Co-Chairman of the Bankruptcy Mediation Panel for the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of Michigan and a member of the Bankruptcy Court Committee for revision of Chapter 11 Rules.

Mr. Handler's professional affiliations and honors include membership in the Commercial Law League of America, American Bankruptcy Institute, the Detroit, Oakland County and American Bar Associations, and the former Co-Chairmanship of the Debtor/Creditor Committee of the State Bar of Michigan's Real Property Section.

Mr. Handler received his undergraduate degree in history and economics at the University of Michigan and was elected to the collegiate academic honor societies, Phi Beta Kappa and Phi Eta Sigma. Mr. Handler has been an author and Lecturer in Bankruptcy for the Institute for Continuing Legal Education from 1973 through 1985 and is a frequent speaker in programs on this topic for both the Oakland County and Detroit Bar Associations. Mr. Handler has also been a moot court judge and guest lecturer at seminars in bankruptcy at the University of Michigan Law School.

Mr. Handler has donated his time to numerous committees of the Jewish Welfare Federation since 1964 and has been a member of the Board of Directors and President of the Congregation Shaarey Zedek, one of the largest conservative congregations in the Midwest, serving in various positions of leadership continuously over the last twenty years. He was also a past member of the Board of Trustees of the Jewish Foundation of Detroit and the Home for the Aged and a past member of the Board of Governors of the Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Detroit.

Representative Cases

  • Attorney for Creditors Committee-Michigan Health Care Corporation (large health care conglomerate)
  • Attorney for Debtor- LGW Management Associates, North Oakland Radiology, P.C., North Oakland Radiology Group, P. C, North Oakland Radiology of Southfield, and North Oakland Radiology-Waterford PC
  • Attorney for Creditors Committee - Elias Brothers Restaurants, Inc. (national restaurant chain)
  • Attorney for Plan Proponent - American Monitor Corporation
  • Attorney for Creditors Committee Nu-Trax, Inc. (formerly Chatham Supermarkets, Inc.)
  • Attorney For Debtor, Friendship Manor Nursing Home
  • Attorney for Debtor - Shore Pointe Associates (Nursing Home)
  • Trustee (Chapter 11) Calderone-Curran Ranches, Inc.
  • Trustee (Chapter 11) Greatmark Western Packing Company
  • Attorney for Creditors Committee - Dearborn Manufacturing Co.
  • Attorney for Creditors Committee - NMD, P.C. (major local law firm)
  • Attorney for Debtor - Woodland Meadows Limited Partnership (apartment complex) ($20,000,000.00 project)
  • Attorney for Debtor - Mystic Creek Golf Club Limited Partnership
  • Attorney for Debtor - Huntington Meadows Limited Partnership
  • Attorney for Principal Shareholder - Simplified Employment Services, et al
  • Attorney for Debtor - WR2, Sterile Technologies and Waste Reduction by Waste Reduction, Inc.
Areas of Practice:
Debtors Rights
Bankruptcy Sections
Creditors Rights
Bar Admissions:
Michigan, 1959
U.S. District Court Eastern District of Michigan, 1959
U.S. Court of Appeals 6th Circuit, 1968
Education:
The University of Michigan Law School, Ann Arbor, Michigan, 1959
J.D.


University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, 1956
B.A.
Honors: Phi Beta Kappa
Honors: With Distinction
Major:  History and Economics


Published Works:
Institute of Continuing Legal Education, Bankruptcy Reform Act of 1978


Institute of Continuing Legal Education, Representing the Real Estate Client in Bankruptcy, Michigan Practice and Procedure, 1985


Basic Bankruptcy, Oakland County Bar Association, 1987


Effect of Bankruptcy on Redemption Period, Real Property Law Journal (State Bar of Michigan)


Amendments to Federal Rules of Bankruptcy Procedure, Detroit Bar Association, November, 1999


Representative Clients:
Attorney (Workouts/Bankruptcies) - National Bank of Royal Oak
Attorney (Workouts/Bankruptcies) - Old Kent Bank-Macomb
Atty.- Fifth-Third Bank Attorney - Citizens Bank-Southeastern Michigan
Classes/Seminars Taught:
Adjunct Professor, Debtors' Rights, Creditors' Remedies, University of Detroit Law School, 1981


Guest Lecturer, Bankruptcy Seminar, University of Michigan Law School, 1997 - 1999


Lecturer, Institute of Continuing Legal Education, Bankruptcy Reform Act of 1978


Lecturer, Institute of Continuing Legal Education, Representing the Real Estate Client in Bankruptcy, Michigan Practice and Procedure, 1985


Lecturer, Basic Bankruptcy, Oakland County Bar Association, 1987


Lecturer, Bankruptcy Practice, Detroit Bar Association, 1989


Lecturer - Real Property Law Section, State Bar of Michigan


Lecturer, Amended Local Bankruptcy Rules, Oakland County Bar Association, 1998


Lecturer, Amendments to Federal Rules of Bankruptcy Procedure, Detroit Bar Association , 1999


Lecturer, Young Lawyers Section, Marketing in Bankruptcy, E.D. Michigan Bankruptcy Bar Association


Honors and Awards:
"Best Lawyers in America", Creditors', Debtors', Rights and Bankruptcy Law Section, 1983 - Present


Michigan Super Lawyers 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, Bankruptcy Creditor/Debtor Rights


Professional Associations and Memberships:
Michigan Bar Association
Member


Detroit Bar Association
Member


Oakland County Bar Association
Member


American Bar Association
Member


Commercial Law League of America


Commercial Law League of America - Bankruptcy Section


American Bankruptcy Institute


Detroit Bar Association
Member, Debtor/Creditor Committee


Oakland County Bar Association
Member, Debtor/Creditor Committee


Oakland County Circuit Court, State of Michigan
Member, Mediation Panel


Michigan Bar Association, Debtor/Creditor Committee Real Property
Former Co-Chairman


Jewish Foundation of Detroit
United States Bankruptcy Court, Eastern District of Michigan


Merit Selection Panels for Choice of Bankruptcy Judges, Eastern, 2002 - 2003
Southern Division Member


Merit Selection Panels for Choice of Bankruptcy Judges, Eastern, 2006
Southern Division Member


Oakland County Bar Association Public Advisory Committee For Judicial Candidates, 2000 - 2002
Member


Eastern District of Michigan
Vice Chairman, Local Bankruptcy Rules, Revision Committee


Past Employment Positions:
Marx, Levi Thill & Wiseman, Associate Attorney, 1959 - 1963


Lebenbom, Handler, Brody & Morganroth, Partner, 1963 - 1970


Bizer, Sommers & Gordon, Associate and Partner, 1970 - 1974


Sommers, Schwartz, Silver & Schwartz (Successor by Merger to Bizer, Sommers & Gordon, P.C.), Principal Shareholder, 1974 - 1980


Snyder & Handler, P.C, Principal Shareholder, 1980 - 1992


Fraternities/Sororities:
Pi Lambda Phi

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Michigan Offices

25800 Northwestern Highway
1000 Maccabees Center
Southfield, MI 48075

Phone: 248-746-0700
Fax: 248-746-2760
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801 Broadway Ave. NW
Suite 215
Grand Rapids, MI 49504

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Chicago, IL 60602

Phone: 312-214-3175
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