Tom Beckett uses his deep experience in bankruptcy and insolvency law to help clients resolve commercial and financial disputes successfully and efficiently through litigation, negotiation, and/or mediation.

Capabilities

Biography

Tom Beckett is a shareholder of Parsons Behle & Latimer. He works in the firm’s litigation practice group and practices primarily in commercial litigation. Mr. Beckett is head of the firm's bankruptcy practice group, and he has been trained as a mediator at the Harvard Law School’s Program on Negotiation.

For several years following the Great Recession, Mr. Beckett represented creditors’ committees in the bankruptcies of numerous high-end luxury resorts in Utah, Nevada, and Montana. Notably, in the Yellowstone Mountain Club bankruptcy matter, as counsel to the Creditors Committee, he obtained the equitable subordination of a $370 million secured loan to enable unsecured creditors to be paid first.

Over the length of his career, Mr. Beckett has represented a diverse group of clients in Chapter 11 bankruptcies: debtors, committees, committee members and committee chairs; trustees and receivers; secured and unsecured creditors; bondholders, equity holders, and royalty holders; asset acquirers, equipment lessors, Ponzi scheme victims, employees, and independent contractors.

He has represented clients in all manner of bankruptcy and creditor rights issues including commercial litigation in state and federal courts, out-of-court workouts, equitable subordination, lift stay, plan confirmation, secured and unsecured financing, exculpation clauses, force majeure clauses, case conversion, allegations of bad faith and alter-ego and non-dischargability.

Prior to joining Parsons Behle & Latimer, Mr. Beckett was an associate in the financial workout department of Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy in New York City. He remains an active member of the New York State Bar Association.

Mr. Beckett’s work experience includes one year on the staff of the U.S. Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Constitutional Rights. He recently completed three terms as chairperson of the Board of Directors of Clark Planetarium. He currently serves as a panel chair on the Utah Supreme Court’s Ethics and Discipline Committee and has maintained a whitewater river guide's license and wilderness first responder certification for more than 30 years.

Experience

Bankruptcy

In re Vidangel, Inc., U.S. Bankruptcy Court, Utah

Bankruptcy

In re Yellowstone Club, In re Promontory Club, etc., U.S. Bankruptcy Courts in Montana, Utah and Nevada

Accomplishments

Academic

Harvard Law School’s Program on Negotiation, October, 2019

“Mediating Disputes,” 40+ hours of mediator training

New York University School of Law (J.D., 1986)

New York University Stern School of Business Administration (M.B.A., 1986)

Finance Major, Lewis L. Glucksman Scholar

Brown University (B.A., 1979)

Thomas J. Watson Fellowship

Professional

Listed in Best Lawyers in America

Named Best Lawyers in America 2021 "Lawyer of the Year" for Litigation - Bankruptcy, Salt Lake City

Martindale-Hubbell AV® Preeminent™ rating

Mountain States SuperLawyers, Business Litigation and Creditor Debtor Rights

Associations

Professional

Past member, American Bankruptcy Institute, Rocky Mountain Advisory Board

Community

Board member and Board chair, Clark Planetarium

Member, Utah State Bar Ethics and Discipline Committee, appointed by the Utah Supreme Court

Insights

Articles

Presentations

Credentials

Licensed

Utah
New York

Education

New York University School of Law