Brian M. Rothschild

Mr. Rothschild focuses on reorganizing troubled businesses through chapter 11 bankruptcy and other means, including forbearances, general assignments for the benefit of creditors, receiverships, tender and exchange offers, and other forms of voluntary and involuntary workouts. Mr. Rothschild also heads the firm’s aviation industry practice, including private and public aviation finance, operations, corporate, and aviation-related litigation practice.  

In his chapter 11 practice, he frequently engages in complex commercial litigation in United States Bankruptcy Courts and other forums nationwide to achieve client goals. Mr. Rothschild assists clients in chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings, FDIC, SEC, and state law receiverships, assignments for the benefit of creditors, out-of-court restructurings, and distressed asset sales, mergers, and acquisitions. His experience includes bankruptcy appellate matters, including matters before the Ninth and Tenth Circuit Courts of Appeal and the United States Supreme Court. He has restructured businesses in a variety of industries including oil, gas, mining, software, consumer products, e-commerce, natural resources, retail, intellectual property holding, manufacturing, tech, commercial and residential real estate, agriculture, and entertainment. He represents debtors, creditors, and other parties in interest, including executives and officers.

Mr. Rothschild was the first trustee appointed under Subchapter V Chapter 11 in the District of Utah, where he continues to serve as a Subchapter V trustee under the Small Business Reorganization Act (SBRA).

In his aviation industry practice, Mr. Rothschild represents operators, owners, acquirers, charter companies, sellers, and financiers of small to medium-size aircraft, engines, and aircraft-related businesses. Clients include air carriers and operators under Part 91, Part 133, and Part 135, and aircraft owners, buyers, and sellers. He helps air carriers obtain proper certification and comply with FAA regulations. He assists carriers with their operating agreements, public- and client-facing agreements and documentation, and corporate formation and maintenance. He has represented aircraft purchasers and brokers to acquire aircraft from the United States, the U.K., and the E.U. He also assists aviation clients with disputes and litigations arising from their operations, including disputes among aircraft owners and operators, contract clients, and passengers.

High-profile representations in the chapter 11 and corporate restructuring practice include the following:

• Counsel to the Official Committees of Unsecured Creditors in the chapter 11 cases of M Space Holdings, Infinia, Washington Mutual, Inc., Imperial Capital Bancorp, Inc., Nortel Networks, Inc., and General Growth Properties, Inc.;
• Counsel to the debtors in VidAngel, Inc., SlideBelts Inc., Divinia Water, Inc., LuMee LLC, Marion Energy Inc, Vector Arms, Corp., Foamex, Inc., Halsey McLean Minor, Cresset Powers, Inc.; Flying Software Labs, Inc., and Sugarloaf Holdings, LLC;
• Counsel to creditors and defendants in Radio Shack, Sears, American Blue Ribbon Holdings, Nevada Gold, AMR (American Airlines), and Arch Coal.
• Counsel to SEC receivers and other parties in interest in significant Ponzi scheme and fraud cases and receiverships, including Dee Randal (Horizon Financial); Management Solutions, Inc. (MSI), Noah’s Event Centers, L.D.T. Investments, and Roger Bliss/Bliss Club LLC;
• Counsel to parties resolving companies in structured liquidations and general assignments for the benefit of creditors for CML Metals Corporation, Animal Riders LLC, Make School, and InQPharm, Inc.;
• Appellate counsel to appellee in the United States Supreme Court case Hamilton v. Lanning, 560 U.S. 505, 130 S.Ct. 2464, 177 L.Ed.2d 23 (2010), construing provisions of 2005 Bankruptcy Abuse and Consumer Protection Act;
• Appellate counsel to appellant Apex Oil, Inc. on petition for a writ of certiorari to the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit to the United States Supreme Court on the nondischargeability in bankruptcy of RCRA environmental cleanup liability.

High-profile representations in the aviation practice include the following:

• Counsel to aircraft owner in SCF Leasing LLC v. Simplified Aircraft Management, L.L.C., in a dispute between an aircraft owner and maintenance operator to obtain withheld maintenance logbooks and remove wrongful lien.
• Counsel to a private purchaser in a complex import transaction to acquire a Piaggio P180 Avanti II from a U.K. jurisdiction, negotiate financing with secured lender, and then to structure operations in the United States with an established FAA 135 carrier.
• Counsel to FAA 135 carrier to structure company and aircraft holdings and obtain FAA 135 certification from FAA, and to structure employment, contractor, and client-facing agreements including aircraft operating agreements, brokerage contracts, purchase agreements, and fractional share agreements. 
• Counsel to Part 135 operator in litigation to enforce terms of charter aircraft agreement and defend against claims of fraud.
• Counsel to investors in aircraft engines to set up tax-advantaged holding trusts and lease engines to commercial air carriers.

Mr. Rothschild is also committed to providing pro bono representation for deserving individuals and causes. He has provided service in cases involving prisoner civil rights under the United States Constitution, adoption, public benefits issues, veterans’ benefits, and bankruptcy nondischargeability and unlawful evictions in violation of the automatic stay for individual debtors in chapter 7. He serves as the attorney supervisor for the Debtors’ Clinic run by the S.J. Quinney College of Law at the University of Utah’s Pro Bono Initiative, and on the board of the People’s Legal Aid (PLA), a non-profit organization providing legal services to underserved communities.

Mr. Rothschild teaches the Bankruptcy Fundamentals and the Corporate Finance, Reorganization, and Chapter 11 courses at the S.J. Quinney College of Law at the University of Utah where he serves as an adjunct professor.

Prior to joining Parsons Behle & Latimer, Mr. Rothschild was an attorney with Peitzman Weg LLP and Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP.

After earning his J.D. from the University of Southern California Gould School of Law, Mr. Rothschild served as law clerk to Chief Justice Matthew B. Durrant of the Supreme Court of Utah.

While pursuing his law degree, he served as judicial extern to the Honorable Richard L. Speer of the Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Ohio and to the Honorable Richard M. Neiter of the Bankruptcy Court for the Central District of California.

Mr. Rothschild is also a member of the American Bankruptcy Institute (ABI) and the Turnaround Management Association (TMA) and past president of the Salt Lake Chapter of the J. Reuben Clark Law Society.

Mr. Rothschild formerly managed and represented amateur and professional boxers and was licensed by the California Athletic Commission as a boxing manager.