James O. Johnston

Mr. Johnston specializes in corporate reorganization and commercial bankruptcy matters, including both debtor and creditor representation.

Mr. Johnston was a lead attorney in the group that represented the County of Orange in its chapter 9 municipal bankruptcy case, and subsequently has represented a number of debtors in chapter 11 proceedings, including Barry’s Jewelers, Inc., Kenetech Windpower, Inc., and Komag, Inc., SmarTalk TeleServices, Inc., Solidus Networks, Inc., and WestStar Cinemas, Inc. Mr. Johnston also served as reorganization counsel to the City of Desert Hot Springs, California, the first California city to reorganize under chapter 9 of the Bankruptcy Code, and as counsel to the chapter 7 trustee for Brobeck, Phleger & Harrison LLP in one of the largest law firm insolvency proceedings.

Mr. Johnston regularly represents creditors, creditor groups, indenture trustees, and other parties in interest in chapter 11 cases and out-of-court workouts across the county, including Official Committees of Unsecured Creditors in chapter 11 proceedings involving RBX Corporation and SpectraSite Holdings, Inc., members of the Official Committee of Unsecured Creditors of Calpine Corporation and Hawaiian TelCom, Inc., ad hoc committees of bondholders of Adelphia Communications, Ashanti Goldfields, and the City of Klamath Falls, indenture trustees (at the request of majority bondholder groups) in the United Air Lines, Delta Airlines, and Northwest Airlines bankruptcy cases, and the largest creditors in chapter 11 proceedings involving the Tropicana Las Vegas Resort and Casino and R.H. Donnelley Corporation and affiliates.  Mr. Johnston also recently represented special committees formed by the Board of Directors of SemGroup Energy Partners, L.P., in connection with investigations relating to the bankruptcy of its ultimate parent, SemGroup L.P.

Mr. Johnston has an active appellate practice and has argued appeals before the Third, Seventh, and Ninth Circuits, the Ninth Circuit Bankruptcy Appellate Panel, and numerous District Courts.

Publications

• Your Bond Issuer Has Filed For Bankruptcy?
• Co-author, “Your Bond Issuer Has Filed For Bankruptcy? A Survey Of The Trips, Traps, And Opportunities That Await Corporate Bondholders In A Chapter 11 Case,” 2008 Norton Annual Survey of Bankruptcy Law, Part I, Sec. 6.
• Co-author, “State Defiance of Bankruptcy Law,” 52 Vand. L. Rev. 1528 (1999)
• Author, “The Inequitable Machinations of Section 362(a)(3): Rethinking Bankruptcy’s Automatic Stay Over Intangible Property Rights,” 66 S. Cal. L. Rev. 659 (1992)
• Co-author, “Introduction: In the Matter of Kaye, Scholer, Fierman, Hays & Handler: A Symposium on Government Regulations, Lawyers’ Ethics, and the Rule of Law,” 66 S. Cal. L. Rev. 977 (1993)
• Co-author, “Privileges in Bankruptcy,” presented at the New York University Workshop on Bankruptcy & Business Reorganization (1993)

News

• Chambers USA 2010 Profiles HBD Partners Among Its Leading Lawyers In The United States and Rates HBD’s Business Reorganization & Bankruptcy Practice Group In The Top Five In California
• Bankruptcy for Strapped Cities, Counties?
• Chambers USA 2009 Profiles HBD Partners Among Its Leading Lawyers In The United States And Rates HBD’s Business Reorganization & Bankruptcy Practice Group In The Top Ten In California
• Chambers USA 2008 Profiles HBD partners among its Leading Lawyers in the United States

Seminars

Panelist, Los Angeles Bankruptcy Forum programs: “Bankruptcy and Intellectual Property” (2003), “Bankruptcy Courts versus the States” (2000), and “Matters of Privilege” (1999); San Francisco Bar Association program "Chapter 9 - 101" (2007)

Professional Affiliations

• Law Clerk to Hon. Cynthia Holcomb Hall, Circuit Judge for the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, 1993-1994