John Westerman serves as Managing Partner of the Firm and Chairman of the Bankruptcy, Workout and Restructuring Department.  John has been continuously engaged in the fields of bankruptcy, debt restructuring, workout and commercial litigation since 1982.   He represents financial institutions, committees, trustees, publicly and privately held companies and other business entities, and individuals as debtors and creditors in bankruptcy cases as well as out of court workouts.  John also represents all types of business clients in complex commercial disputes and transactional matters.

In bankruptcy and workout cases, John has experience resolving difficult debtor-creditor issues for a wide range of businesses including real estate, retail and wholesale, theater chains, manufacturing, health care, banking, insurance, construction, service, restaurant and catering and the internet and high tech sectors.  In connection with these cases, John has handled a variety of debtor and creditor rights issues including disputes over guaranties, enforceability of security interests and loan documents, lender liability and avoidance actions.

John has litigated many commercial issues in state and federal courts on behalf of institutional and other business clients, including cases involving breach of contract, diversion of trade secrets, enforcement of restrictive covenants, specific performance, interference with contract, indemnity claims, diversion of corporate opportunities and lien enforcement.  John also regularly provides transactional advice to many of our business clients.

John earned his law degree from Vermont Law School in 1982, where he was recognized as the Commercial Law Scholar.  During law school, he was a member of the National Moot Court Team and ABA-LSD Moot Court Team and wrote for the “Vermont Bar”.  He also served on the Board of Directors of the Vermont Law School Alumni Association.  John received his Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science, cum laude, from Union College where he played football, rugby and lacrosse.  John is a graduate of Chaminade High School, is an active member of Chaminade's Alumni Association and has served as a member of the Alumni Board (President 2006-2008) Torch Committee (1991 - Present, Chairman 1993 - 1995), President's Counsel, Challenge 2000 and Golf and Tennis Committee (1989 - Present, Co-Chairman 1991 - 92).  John is a Trustee of the Long Island Chapter of the Nature Conservancy.  He was elected to and served as a member and Vice President of the St. Agnes School Board and is a past member of the Board of Directors of Community Programs Center, a Long Island-based not-for-profit child and elder care center for low income families. John also serves as general counsel to the Education and Assistance Corporation, one of the largest privately run providers of social services in the Tri-State area.