Angela Zwirecki Miller

Partner, Governing Committee Buffalo, Chicago

A creative, strategic, and results-oriented practitioner, Angela has more than two decades of experience representing financial institutions and a variety of corporate clients in all aspects of financial restructuring.

Angela is the leader of the Banking and Financial Services Practice Group, leader of the Bankruptcy and Creditors’ Rights Team, and a multi-term active member of Phillips Lytle’s Governing Committee.

Angela’s practice encompasses representing financial institutions and companies, particularly in the areas of bankruptcy and restructuring, creditors’ rights and commercial finance. In her bankruptcy practice, she represents creditors, debtors and other interested parties in commercial bankruptcy matters and related litigation. In her creditors’ rights practice, she represents creditors in enforcement and litigation of U.C.C. Article 9 remedies, and loan sales. In her transactional practice, Angela assists her clients in documenting workouts and restructuring commercial, real estate and other lending transactions.

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Honors & Awards

  • Buffalo Business First, Power 200 Women List, 2023
  • Selected for the Upstate New York Super Lawyers® list, 2014-2016
  • Listed in The Best Lawyers in America®
    • Named the Best Lawyers® Bankruptcy and Creditor Debtor Rights / Insolvency and Reorganization Law “Lawyer of the Year” in Buffalo, 2020, 2023
  • Medical Society of the County of Erie, Certificate of Recognition, 2015
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Education & Admissions

Education
  • State University of New York at Buffalo Law School, J.D., 1998
  • State University of New York at Buffalo School of Management, M.B.A., 1990
  • State University of New York at Buffalo, B.A., 1988
Admitted to Practice
  • New York
  • U.S. District Court, Eastern, Northern, Southern and Western Districts of New York
  • U.S. Bankruptcy Court, Eastern, Northern, Southern and Western Districts of New York
  • U.S. Court of Appeals, Second Circuit

Experience

Representative Matters
  • Obtained dismissal of an automobile dealer’s Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceeding due to mismanagement of assets and violations of court orders concerning the use of cash collateral.
  • Obtained injunctive relief, over a Chapter 7 debtor’s objection, preventing the debtor from litigating a personal injury action as a result of his failure to schedule the action as an asset in his bankruptcy case.
  • Obtained dismissal of an $18 million preference proceeding in a high profile chemical company Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceeding.
  • Defended a lender through appeal to the Second Circuit and obtained summary judgment in a $34 million fraudulent conveyance proceeding.
  • Serves as national coordinating counsel to equipment lessor and lender with respect to the client’s lease and lending matters in bankruptcy and out-of-court workout transactions, involving manufacturing, health care, transportation, energy, and other industries.
  • Defended a lender in a $100 million fraudulent conveyance proceeding involving a Ponzi scheme, which settled after mediation without the disgorgement of any payments.
  • Represented a receiver in connection with U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and Federal Trade Commission enforcement actions.
  • Lead debtor counsel in the Chapter 11 bankruptcy cases of affiliated log home manufacturers.
  • Lead debtor counsel in the Chapter 11 bankruptcy case of branded footwear corporation.
  • Lead debtor counsel in the Chapter 11 bankruptcy case of an environmental consulting firm.
  • Lead debtor counsel in the Chapter 11 bankruptcy case of a dairy farm.
  • Counsel for affiliated nursing homes in the negotiation and successful composition of creditor claims, closure of the facility and placement of residents in new facilities.
  • Counsel for a secured lender in the workout of a bond financing of a not-for-profit hospital.
  • Represented the receiver of multiple radio stations across Central New York in obtaining the immediate dismissal of Chapter 11 bankruptcy cases commenced by the radio stations, and selling the radio stations and their property for the benefit of their secured lender.
  • Represented an electronics company in state court and obtained dismissal, on appeal, of a cause of action acquired by a buyer of a Chapter 11 debtor’s assets free and clear of claims and defenses.
  • Represented the lender of a $1.5 million debtor-in-possession secured revolving credit facility.
  • Represented a secured lender in the sale of a portfolio of time share interests.
  • Represented the buyer of a nursing home and related facilities in a Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceeding.
  • Represented the buyer of a manufacturing facility in a Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceeding.
  • Represented a floor plan financier in the U.C.C. Article 9 sale of its automobile inventory.
  • Represented a secured lender in the sale of the assets of a school bus company.
  • Represented a commodity services provider in the dismissal of an avoidance action.
  • Represented a defendant in a proceeding litigating the right to setoff competing claims in dueling bankruptcies.
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Speaking Engagements

View All
  • Panelist, Buffalo Business First Table of Experts: Women in Law, December 2023
  • Panelist, Buffalo Business First Women at the Table 2023: Banking and Financial Services, July 2023
  • Moderator, 14th Annual Western New York Bankruptcy Conference, Monroe County Bar Center for Education and Erie Institute of Law, June 2017
  • Speaker, 13th Annual Western New York Bankruptcy Conference, Monroe County Bar Center for Education and Erie Institute of Law, June 2016
  • Panelist, Western New York Bankruptcy Conference, Monroe County Bar Center for Education and Erie Institute of Law, May 2015
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Activities & Professional Associations

Present Activities

  • Canisius High School Board of Trustees and Finance Committee

Past Activities

  • Bar Association of Erie County, Commercial Law Committee, Chair
  • Holy Family Home, Director
  • Leadership Buffalo, Class of 2006
  • Turnaround Management Association, Board Member
  • Town of Orchard Park, Ethics Board
  • University at Buffalo Law Alumni Association, Board of Directors

Professional Associations

  • American Bankruptcy Institute
  • American Bar Association
    • Business Law Section
    • Law Practice Division
  • Bar Association of Erie County
    • Commercial Litigation and Bankruptcy Law Committee
  • Equipment Leasing and Finance Association
  • New York State Bar Association
    • Business Law Section
  • Turnaround Management Association
  • Women’s Bar Association of the State of New York, WNY Chapter

Articles & Publications

Articles

  • Co-Author, “Subchapter V Bankruptcy: What You Need to Know,” Buffalo Business First, June 2022