Elizabeth M. Lally

Partner
(she, her, hers)
Contact

Overview

Elizabeth Lally solves complex banking and bankruptcy matters for businesses and financial institutions through proactive counsel, litigation, and alternative dispute resolution methods, providing consistently beneficial resolutions to protect her clients’ interests. She provides a thorough understanding of how to navigate the difficult world of corporate insolvency and restructuring, having worked with some of the nation’s top lending institutions.

Elizabeth’s experience includes representing borrowers and lenders in complex financing transactions, debt restructuring, and out-of-court workouts as well as Chapter 7, Chapter 12, and Chapter 11 reorganizations and liquidations. She regularly represents debtors-in-possession and unsecured creditor committees in complex Chapter 11 reorganizations and liquidations, and is a Subchapter V Trustee for Region 12 covering Iowa and South Dakota.

In addition to traditional financial services and bankruptcy matters, Elizabeth represents bankruptcy trustees and other creditors in suspected bankruptcy fraud investigations and all resulting litigation. She has also worked with the FBI and the U.S. Trustee Program’s Bankruptcy Fraud Program to recover funds for the victims of bankruptcy and wire fraud.

Elizabeth has worked with the FDIC, the FBI, and the SEC as well as some of the largest corporations in the U.S. helping with their complex electronically stored information (ESI) and related e-Discovery needs and frequently speaks and conducts CLEs on these topics and the Electronic Discovery Reference Model.

Because corporate insolvency and restructuring is an incredibly complex area of law, Elizabeth enjoys the opportunity to tackle intellectually stimulating problems for her clients every day, and she believes the ever-changing legal landscape involving ESI allows her to handle unique issues arising due to the increasingly technological nature of the business world.

Credentials

Education

  • DePaul University College of Law, 2005 (J.D.)
  • Bradley University, 1999 (B.A.), cum laude

Bar Admissions

  • Nebraska
  • Iowa
  • Illinois
  • Indiana

Court Admissions

  • U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit
  • U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois
  • U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Illinois
  • U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Illinois
  • U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Indiana
  • U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Indiana
  • U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Indiana
  • U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Indiana
  • U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Iowa
  • U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Iowa
  • U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Iowa
  • U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Iowa
  • U.S. District Court for the District of Nebraska
  • U.S Bankruptcy Court for the District of Nebraska
  • U.S. District Court for the District of North Dakota
  • U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of North Dakota

  • Represented a multistate farm implement manufacturer though the Chapter 11 process, helping to secure debtor-in-possession financing and first-day orders to allow debtor to continue operations; guiding the sale of the debtor’s business, including the sale of intellectual property for well over $8 million as well as the sale of various real property assets; and negotiating a transition services agreement with the buyer. The case resulted in a Chapter 11 plan being confirmed over no objections, secured and administrative creditors being paid 100%, and unsecured creditors receiving a distribution of 52%.
  • Successfully defended a national financial services provider in a case to remove the client as trustee of a trust and secured the repayment all legal fees and expenses from the petitioner.
  • Served as special litigation counsel to the Chapter 7 Panel Trustee in one of the largest cattle Ponzi schemes in the history of the United States. In this capacity, Elizabeth investigated 147 potential fraud actions and ultimately brought over 75 adversary proceedings based on fraudulent transfers.
  • Served as counsel to the Chapter 7 trustees for the only two bank holding company bankruptcies filed in Indiana during the Great Recession.

  • Great Plains Super Lawyers, Bankruptcy, 2021-2022
  • Lawdragon 500 Leading U.S. Bankruptcy and Restructuring Lawyers, 2020, 2022-2023
  • Indiana Super Lawyers, Rising Star, 2014-2015

  • Iowa State Bar Association, Commercial and Bankruptcy Section
  • Nebraska Bar Association, Bankruptcy Section
  • American Bankruptcy Institute (ABI)
    • Midwest Board
    • Subchapter V Task Force
  • International Women’s Insolvency & Restructuring Confederation (IWIRC)

  • “Subchapter V Best Practices,” Iowa State Bar Assoc., Commercial & Bankruptcy Section, 2021
  • “Subchapter V Updates & Circuit Splits,” Iowa Federal Bar Association, All Iowa Bankruptcy Conference, 2021
  • “Conversations with the Bench,” International Women’s Insolvency & Restructuring Confederation, 2021
  • “Subchapter V Update,” American Bankruptcy Institute, 2020
  • “Bankruptcy Ethics: Do This, Not That,” American Bankruptcy Institute, 2020
  • “Diversity in Legal Practice,” Iowa State Bar Assoc., Commercial & Bankruptcy Section, 2020
  • “Bankruptcy Ethics: Competence,” American Bankruptcy Institute, 2019
  • “How Bankruptcy Affects Collections,” National Business Institute, 2019
  • “How to Collect Cleverly Under the FDCPA, TCPA, & CFPB,” National Business Institute, 2019
  • “Legal Ethics Surrounding eDiscovery & Social Media,” Iowa State Bar Assoc., Commercial & Bankruptcy Section, 2018
  • “Advanced Discovery Strategies,” National Business Institute, 2018
  • “Legal Ethics: Discovery & Electronically Stored Information,” National Business Institute, 2018
  • “Litigators Behaving Badly,” American Bankruptcy Institute, 2017
  • “To Shred or Not to Shred? Record Destruction Policies,” National Business Institute, 2017
  • “Bankruptcy Litigation 101,” National Business Institute, 2016
  • “Discovery Start to Finish,” Westlaw National & National Business Institute, 2016 & 2015
  • “The New Rules of Federal Civil Procedure: Are you ready for big changes?,” National Business Institute, 2016, 2015, & 2014
  • “Chapter 11 Plan Provisions for Non-Debtor Releases and Injunctions,” Steven H. Ancel Annual Bankruptcy Institute, 2015