Liz Janczak is a Partner in the Bankruptcy Practice of Smith, Gambrell & Russell, LLP. Ms. Janczak was a Partner at Freeborn & Peters LLP, which combined with SGR in 2023.
Liz focuses her practice on the commercial bankruptcy, restructuring, and insolvency industry. Liz represents creditors’ committees, debtors in chapter 7 and 11 proceedings, chapter 7 and post-confirmation trustees, and creditors in a variety of bankruptcy proceedings including section 363 sale transactions, plan confirmation, and landlord disputes.
Liz frequently represents trustees and estate in pursuit of estate litigation claims across the country, including preferences, fraudulent transfers, and breach of fiduciary duty claims. Liz has considerable restructuring and insolvency experience in the food, retail, construction, and health care industries.
In addition to her bankruptcy practice, Liz has represented plaintiffs and defendants in litigation arising under the Perishable Agricultural Commodities Act (PACA) in federal courts across the country and before the USDA. Liz has also vetted PACA claims in bankruptcy cases as both special PACA counsel to the debtor and as creditors’ committee counsel.
Liz was a Staff Law Clerk for the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Illinois and a law clerk to the Honorable Bruce W. Black.
Liz earned her B.A., magna cum laude, from Loyola University Chicago. She received her J.D. from the University of Illinois College of Law, magna cum laude, where she was a Harno Scholar and the recipient of the CALI Excellence Award. She also served as the Notes Editor for the University of Illinois Journal of Law, Technology & Policy.
Turnaround Management Association
American Bankruptcy Institute
Co-Author, “Client Alert Legal Issues in Times of Distress,” Freeborn & Peters LLP, (March 2020).
Co-Author, “Litigation Regarding Discharge and Dischargeability,” Commercial Bankruptcy Litigation, Thompson Reuters, 2d ed. (2013).
Co-Author, “DIP Financing Agreements: The Effect of Pre-Petition Indemnification Provisions,” The Bankruptcy Strategist, Vol. 30, Number 5, (March 2013).
Co-Author, “Practical Asset Protection Planning Concepts and Ideas,” Estate Planning Magazine, (November 2012).