Ken Leonetti is a trial lawyer and litigator who focuses on complex financial litigation, bankruptcy and restructuring, software and licensing disputes, and property valuation litigation. He is recognized in Chambers USA, Best Lawyers in America and Massachusetts Super Lawyers for his effectiveness in bankruptcy litigation.
Ken’s bankruptcy practice concentrates on the representation of debtors, creditors’ committees, secured creditors and third parties involved in restructurings, workouts, liquidations and adversary proceedings. He works with clients both within and outside of formal bankruptcy proceedings. His public cases in these matters include representing the debtor in In re Organogenesis Inc., In re Charles River Hospital, Inc., and In re Foss Manufacturing; the creditors’ committees in In re Malden Mills Industries, Inc., In re East Boston Neighborhood Health Center Corporation and In re RJ Development, Inc. He also counsels clients on acquiring technology-related assets from insolvent entities (both under Section 363 and outside of bankruptcy proceedings), and advises high technology, pharmaceutical and biotechnology clients on bankruptcy-related issues in intellectual property licenses and development agreements.
Ken’s trial and litigation experience includes over 40 trials and arbitrations and focuses on representing private equity and other investment funds, high technology companies and life science companies in complex financial litigation, licensing disputes and trade secret litigation. He also has defended numerous public entities in land use and land damage disputes, including the Massachusetts Port Authority, Mystic Valley Development Commission, City of Malden, Worcester Redevelopment Authority, Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority, and the City of Chelsea.
In addition to his litigation practice, Ken plays a lead role in firm governance, serving as the firm’s Hiring Partner and a member of its Distribution Committee. He also has an active public and pro bono practice in his areas of emphasis, including representation of indigent individuals, victims of mortgage fraud and public interest organizations in bankruptcy-related matters.
Ken served as a Special Assistant District Attorney for Norfolk County, Massachusetts, in 1999 and was the lead prosecutor in more than twenty-five trials. Before joining Foley Hoag he was law clerk to the Honorable Charles P. Sifton, Chief Judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York. From 1988 to 1990, he was a management consultant with Strategic Planning Associates (now Mercer Management Consulting) in Washington, D.C., advising corporations on strategic, organizational and restructuring issues and specializing in the health care and telecommunications industries.
Bars and Court Admissions
- Massachusetts
- New Jersey
- New York
- U.S. Supreme Court
- U.S. Court of Appeals, First Circuit
- U.S. Court of Appeals, Fourth Circuit
- U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts
- U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York
- U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York
- U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey
Representative Experience
The following is a brief summary of Kenneth's experience and accomplishments:
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Represented Organogenesis, a biotechnology company, in its Chapter 11 reorganization. Case confirmed with creditors receiving either stock equal to 100% of the reorganized debtor or a 35% cash dividend.
- Represented the primary equity holders in the Chapter 11 case of One and Two International Place, the largest office buildings in downtown Boston, which resulted in the holders maintaining a substantial share of the reorganized debtors
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Regularly represent Boston-area venture capital and private equity funds in individual transactions acquiring assets of venture investments out of bankruptcy.
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Currently defending Media/Communications, LP, a technology-oriented private equity fund, in an adversary proceeding brought by the United States Government seeking recharacterization and equitable subordination of over $50 million in secured notes.
- Won summary judgment for Ascent Pediatrics, a subsidiary of Medicis Pharmaceutical Corporation, in litigation brought by a lender and investor alleging a $20+ million breach of a securities purchase agreement
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Represented Benchmark Electronics, Inc. in its successful $70 million acquisition of the majority of the assets of ACT Manufacturing, Inc., a Chapter 11 debtor, and subsequent cross-border transaction
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Represented a telecommunications company involved in an international copyright dispute with the NFL in federal court and the Second Circuit, and won a jury trial for an affiliated satellite provider in civil enforcement action brought by the Florida attorney general.
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Advised boards of directors and management of over 50 high technology, biotechnology and other venture-backed companies in insolvency and restructuring matters, including fiduciary duty issues, wind-downs, asset sales, secured party foreclosures, and recapitalizations.
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Obtained significant settlement for Highfields Capital, an investment fund, in Massachusetts state court litigation against SCOR, SA, a French reinsurance company, alleging fraud, misrepresentation and unfair business practices in connection with an investment in an Irish company.
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Ken’s bankruptcy and restructuring experience includes the following:
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Represented the creditors committee in the following confirmed Chapter 11 cases
o Malden Mills Industries: creditors received a combination of cash and stock equal to 20 - 25% of their claim;
o Engage, Inc.: creditors received a cash dividend equal to at least 60% of their claim;
o RJ Development: creditors will receive a cash dividend in excess of 40% of their claim;
o Trend-Lines: creditors received 100% of the stock of the reorganized debtor;
o East Boston Neighborhood Health Center: creditors received a cash dividend of approximately 40% of their claim;
o New Seabury Properties: creditors received a cash dividend equal to 100% of their claim, plus interest.
- Successfully defended a start-up telecommunications company against lawsuits in Delaware and Massachusetts federal courts brought by a competitor alleging unfair competition, tortious interference with business relations, breach of contract and theft of trade secrets
professional / civic involvement
- Chair, Practice and Procedure Committee
- Boston Bar Association, Section on Bankruptcy Law, Member
- American Bankruptcy Institute, Member
- Association of the Bar of the City of New York, Member
- Turnaround Management Association, Member
SPEECHES AND CONFERENCES
- Panelist, (with Judges Joan Feeney and Frank Bailey), Evidence Workshop, American Bankruptcy Institute, Northeast Conference, July 2009
- Panelist (with Judges Thomas Hardiman and Jim Haines), Institute, Northeast Conference, July 2008
- Panelist, Business Case Update: Decisions Under BAPCPA Affecting Businesses and Chapter 11 Cases, American Bankruptcy Institute, Northeast Conference, July 2006
- Speaker, Current Developments in Bankruptcy, Massachusetts Bankers Association, April 2009
- Panelist, Recent Developments in Chapter 11 Cases, 2004 Bankruptcy Law Conference, Massachusetts Continuing Legal Education, October 2004
- Panelist, Creditors Committee Formation Issues, American Bankruptcy Institute, Northeast Conference, July 2004
- Speaker, Environmental Issues in Bankruptcy, Boston Bar Association Conference, June 2003
- Speaker (with Judge Joel Rosenthal), Current Issues in Director and Officer Liability, Boston Bar Association, Bankruptcy Bench-Bar Conference, May 2002
- Panelist, Bankruptcy and Intellectual Property: Article 9 Issues in Intellectual Property Licenses, Boston Bar Association Conference, April 2001
publications
- Kenneth Leonetti and Euripides Dalmanieras Procedural Issues in Bankruptcy Appeals (American Bankruptcy Institute Northeast Bankruptcy Conference, July 2008)
- Kenneth Leonetti, The Bear Stearns Crisis: Who is Next?, THE BUYOUT OF BEAR STEARNS: AN IMMEDIATE LOOK AT THE LEGAL, GOVERNMENTAL, AND ECONOMIC RAMIFICATIONS OF BEAR STEARNS' BANKRUPTCY (Thomson/Aspatore, 2008)
- Kenneth Leonetti, Successor Liability Following Asset Sales in Bankruptcy (Massachusetts Continuing Legal Education, 2006)
- Kenneth Leonetti and Joshua McGuire, Now You See It; Now You Don’t: Recharacterization and Equitable Subordination (Massachusetts Continuing Legal Education, 2004)
- Kenneth Leonetti and Jessica Silbey, Dischargeability and Claims for Contribution and Indemnification (Boston Bar Association Environmental Issues in Bankruptcy Conference, June 2003)
- Kenneth Leonetti and Adam Weisberger, Current Issues in Director and Officer Liability (Boston Bar Association, Bankruptcy Bench-Bar Conference, May 2002)
- Andrew Schwartz and Kenneth Leonetti, Recent Developments in Valuation (ABI Northeast Bankruptcy Conference, July 2000)