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My objective is to deliver high-quality advocacy on my clients’ behalf, while also understanding their business and industry. This allows me to provide tailored advocacy to meet specific needs and objectives.

Tim Anzenberger is a commercial and bankruptcy litigator, pursuing the interests of financial institutions and other creditors in bankruptcy cases and litigating on their behalf in state and federal courts. Tim is also an experienced appellate litigator in financial-services cases, handling all stages of an appeal—from post-trial motions through oral argument.

His experience includes representing lenders in commercial restructuring and bankruptcy cases; defending preference actions; defending lender-liability claims; prosecuting objections to discharge; pursuing fraudulent transfers; and defending creditors in adversary proceedings. 

Tim is an active member of the American Bankruptcy Institute and frequently writes for the ABI Journal and its committee newsletters. He currently serves as Co-Chair of the ABI’s Business Reorganization Committee and sits on the Advisory Board for the ABI Southeast Bankruptcy Workshop. In 2022, Tim was selected for the ABI’s “40 Under 40,” honoring up-and-coming business professionals that demonstrate ability, leadership, and achievement in the bankruptcy and insolvency community.

As part of his appellate practice, Tim is a member of the Pro Bono Appellate Programs for the United States Courts of Appeals for the Fifth and Ninth Circuits.

Before private practice, Tim served as a law clerk for Presiding Justice Jess H. Dickinson of the Mississippi Supreme Court and served as a legal extern in the Staff Attorney’s Office of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.

In law school, Tim served as an executive editor of the Mississippi College Law Review and was active on the Moot Court Board, where he was a National Champion and won Best Brief at the 2011 Andrews Kurth Moot Court National Championship. He also won Best Oral Advocate at the Ruby R. Vale Corporate Moot Court Competition and was a Finalist at the Elliot Cup Bankruptcy Competition. Tim also received Best Paper Awards in Antitrust Law, Law and Economics, Criminal Law, Secured Transactions, Legal Writing, and Capital Punishment Law.

Articles and Publications

  • Strategic Alternatives For and Against Distressed Businesses, Contributor, Chapters 18, 19, 30, and 59 (Thomson Reuters, 2022-2024 editions)
  • Ninth Circuit Holds that the Solvent-Debtor Exception Survived Passage of the Bankruptcy Code, ABI Business Reorganization Committee Newsletter, January 2023
  • Screening for Conflicts is Particularly Important in Booming Lateral Market, ABI Ethics and Professional Compensation Committee Newsletter, October 2022
  • When Bitcoin Meets Bankruptcy: Issues for Consumers in Cryptocurrency Bankruptcy Cases, ABI Consumer Committee Newsletter, September 2022
  • In re Murray Energy Holdings Co.: BAP Hands Down Critical Practice Pointer on Defective Notices of Appeal, ABI Bankruptcy Litigation Committee Newsletter, September 2022
  • In Divided Opinion, Fifth Circuit Confirms Secured Lenders May Not Reform Security Instruments Post-Petition, ABI Secured Credit Committee Newsletter, July 2022
  • Uncommon and Controversial, Are Post-Petition Retainers Authorized Under the Bankruptcy Code? ABI Ethics and Professional Compensation Committee Newsletter, March 2022
  • What’s Your Bid? Auction Sales: Disclosing Bidder Connections Prevents Surprises, XL ABI Journal 3, 20-21, 54, March 2021
  • Quasi-Contract Claims: Texas (Practical Law/Thomson Reuters 2020)
  • Equitable Remedies for Contract Actions: Texas (Practical Law/Thomson Reuters 2020)
  • Fraud: Texas (Practical Law/Thomson Reuters 2020)
  • Breach of Fiduciary Duties: Texas (Practical Law/Thomson Reuters 2020)
  • Tortious Interference: Texas (Practical Law/Thomson Reuters 2020)
  • Order Striking a Charging Lien Reminds Us to Read Ethics Rules Carefully, ABI Ethics and Professional Compensation Committee Newsletter, March 2020
  • Oil and Gas Lease, or Farmout Agreement? Section 541(b)(4)(A)’s Exclusion of Farmout Agreements from Property of the Estate, ABI Bankruptcy Litigation Committee Newsletter, October 2019
  • Problems in the Code: Does the Bankruptcy Code Allow Tiered Chapter 13 Plans? XXXVIII ABI Journal 3, 12-13, 60, March 2019*
  • *Also selected for publication in Best of ABI 2019: The Year in Consumer Bankruptcy
  • Mixed Priorities: Courts Divided over Whether Chapter 13 Plans May Prioritize Payments to Debtors’ Counsel over Secured Creditors, ABI Secured Creditor Committee Newsletter, July 2018
  • American Bar Association’s CAL Pro Bono Manual, Chapter on Mississippi, 2017 and 2018

Presentations

  • Presentation: Danger Ahead! Avoiding and Addressing Ethical Landmines in Attorney Engagement and Compensation, April 2023, presented at the American Bankruptcy Institute’s Annual Spring Meeting 2023
  • Webinar: EPCOR’s Virtual Legal Symposium: Discussing Cryptocurrency and Bankruptcy Cases, February 22, 2023
  • Webinar: A Look Ahead at Insolvency in 2023, January 18, 2023, Presented through the American Bankruptcy Institute
  • Webinar: Help! My Borrower Filed for Bankruptcy—Now What? November 20, 2020, Presented through Adams and Reese LLP
  • CLE Presentation: Tips for Winning an Immigration Appeal, Presented with Judge David N. McCarty, Mississippi Court of Appeals, at Mississippi College School of Law 

Education

  • Mississippi College School of Law, J.D., 2011, summa cum laude
  • North Carolina State University, B.A., 2007, Political Science

Bar Admissions

  • Mississippi
  • North Carolina

Court Admissions

  • Mississippi
  • United States Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Mississippi
  • United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Mississippi
  • United States District Court for the Northern District of Mississippi
  • United States District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi
  • United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit
  • United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
  • North Carolina
  • United States District Court for the Western District of North Carolina
  • United States District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina
  • United States District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina
  • United States Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina
  • United States Bankruptcy Court for the Western District of North Carolina
  • United States Bankruptcy Court for the Middle District of North Carolina

Acknowledgements

  • Leadership in Law, Mississippi Business Journal, 2012
  • Mid-South Rising Star® (by Thomson Reuters) Appellate, Bankruptcy: Business, Business Litigation 2016 and 2019
  • Order of Barristers
  • Does the Bankruptcy Code Allow Tiered Chapter 12 Plans?  Best of ABI 2019:  The Year in Consumer Bankruptcy
  • Best Lawyers® Ones To Watch - Commercial Litigation, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024

Professional Affiliations & Memberships

  • American Bankruptcy Institute
  • The Mississippi Bar: Appellate Practice Section, Business Law Section, Litigation Section
  • Capital Area Bar Association
  • Mississippi Bankruptcy Conference
  • Jackson Young Lawyers
  • U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, Pro Bono Program
  • Charles Clark American Inn of Court, Associate Member
  • Madison County Young Professionals
  • North Carolina Bar Association – Pro Bono Committee
  • Community Trust Bank v. First National Bank of Clarksdale, 150 So. 3d 683 (Miss. 2014). Handled all stages of appeal, including post-trial motions and hearings. Briefed and presented oral argument on issues of first impression before the Mississippi Supreme Court, securing a unanimous reversal of the trial court’s decision below and a rendering of judgment in client’s favor.
  • Linde Health Care Staffing v. Claiborne County Hospital, 198 So. 3d 318 (Miss. 2016). Handled all stages of appeal. Briefed and presented oral argument before the Mississippi Supreme Court in a case involving the Federal Arbitration Act.
  • Smith v. James L. Henley and Trustmark National Bank, 548 B.R. 724 (S.D. Miss. 2016). Handled all stages of bankruptcy appeal, including drafting appellee’s brief, successfully obtaining affirmance of bankruptcy court’s final judgment converting a debtor’s case to Chapter 7 for bad faith.
  • In re Patricia L. Smith, 530 B.R. 327 (Bankr. S.D. Miss. 2015). Handled all stages of trial involving a debtor’s bad faith bankruptcy filing, fraudulent transfers, and hidden and comingled assets, securing a favorable ruling and judgment converting a debtor’s bankruptcy case.