Warren A. Usatine
Co-Managing Shareholderwusatine@coleschotz.com New York Office1325 Avenue of the Americas, 19th Floor, New York, NY 10019
New Jersey Office
Court Plaza North, 25 Main Street, Hackensack, NJ 07601
T: 201-525-6233 / C: 201-755-1532 / F: 201-678-6233
Legal Practice Assistant: Caroline De Courcey-Côte
T: 201-489-3000, ext. 5020
cdecourcey-cote@coleschotz.com
OVERVIEW
Warren A. Usatine is co-managing shareholder of Cole Schotz as well as a co-chair of the firm’s Litigation Department and a member in the Bankruptcy & Corporate Restructuring Department. His practice covers all aspects of complex commercial litigation and restructuring matters in both the state and federal courts. He has extensive experience in chancery litigation matters, as well as representation of Chapter 11 debtors and creditors’ committees in bankruptcy courts.
A Member of the firm since 2002, Warren has played a prominent role in representing an array of litigation and restructuring clients in complex, commercial matters, including:
- Represented Congoleum Corporation, a resilient flooring manufacturer with plants in New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Maryland, in chapter 11 proceeding in which the company’s asserts were sold as a going concern, preserving nearly 300 union jobs.
- Representing the official committee of unsecured creditors in the chapter 11 proceedings of Revel AC, Inc. and its affiliates, a 1,400 room, 47-story casino hotel resort in Atlantic City, New Jersey.
- Representing a shareholder in litigation over the ownership and control of a closely held national logistics company, with multiple trials in the New Jersey chancery court and appeals spanning over a decade on oppressed shareholder and related valuation issues.
- Serving as lead counsel for the official committee of unsecured creditors in the Chapter 11 proceedings of Kara Homes and more than fifty of its affiliated entities, formerly one of the largest New Jersey-based developers of residential real estate. As counsel for the committee, Warren represented the unsecured creditors' interests in negotiations that ultimately concluded in the confirmation of a plan of reorganization and a recovery for unsecured creditors.
- Representing Tarragon Corporation, a publicly traded residential real estate developer and investor, and 24 of its affiliates in their Chapter 11 proceedings, which resulted in a confirmed plan of reorganization. As of the date of the bankruptcy filings, Tarragon Corporation and its approximately 100 subsidiaries had consolidated assets of approximately $840 million and consolidated liabilities of $1 billion, making those Chapter 11 cases among the largest pending in the District of New Jersey.
- Representing a proprietary trading firm in litigation against a joint venture partner, ultimately negotiating a settlement in a hotly contested matter in the Delaware chancery court.
- Representing Zayat Stables, one of the nation’s largest and most prominent thoroughbred racehorse owners, in its Chapter 11 proceeding in the District of New Jersey. A plan of reorganization was proposed and ultimately confirmed that allowed Zayat Stables to emerge from Chapter 11 in less than six months with the unanimous support of creditors, and with the existing owner maintaining his equity interest in the company.
- Serving as conflicts counsel for the German Insolvency Administrator over the estate of Qimonda AG in its Chapter 15 proceeding, and acting as lead trial counsel in a multi-day evidentiary hearing concerning the applicability in the Chapter 15 proceeding of section 365(n) of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code.
Warren has been selected for inclusion in the “America’s Leading Lawyers in Bankruptcy” list by Chambers USA for the past seven consecutive years in which "clients praise him for his 'very good street sense,” noting that he is ‘driven and a pleasure to deal with.’ Chambers has described Warren as a "very smart lawyer" who is "absolutely fantastic in the courtroom" and notes that sources say he is “an excellent trial lawyer and strategist with excellent insight into winning arguments.” Most recently, client feedback for Chambers USA 2017 notes Warren as a “fantastic bankruptcy litigator who is very practical and down-to-earth but can also handle the most novel and complex legal issues.” He has been selected by his peers for inclusion in the prestigious Best Lawyers in America in Commercial Litigation (2007-2021), Bankruptcy and Creditor-Debtor Rights Law/Insolvency and Reorganization Law (2010-2021), Litigation-Bankruptcy (2011-2021), and was named on the Lawyers of the Year list for 2015 and 2018. He was also selected for inclusion in New Jersey Super Lawyers Rising Stars in Bankruptcy Law. No aspect of this advertisement has been approved by the Supreme Court of New Jersey. See Award Methodology.
Warren has lectured on various aspects of bankruptcy law as part of New Jersey's Institute for Continuing Legal Education. He also has served as a panelist in the annual William H. Gindin Bankruptcy Bench Bar Conference.
In 2019, Warren was awarded the Hugh M. Leonard award by the NJ Bankruptcy Lawyers Foundation & Federal Bankruptcy Bar Association of NJ for his long-standing commitment to helping improve the bankruptcy community. Martindale-Hubbell awarded Warren an AV preeminent peer rating, selecting him as one of the "2013 Top Rated Lawyers in Corporate Restructuring and Bankruptcy" for his professionalism and the quality of his legal work. No aspect of this advertisement has been approved by the Supreme Court of New Jersey. See Award Methodology.
Warren earned his B.A. from the University of Virginia and his J.D. from the University of Pennsylvania School of Law.
Services
Education
University of Pennsylvania, J.D., 1995University of Virginia, B.A., 1992Bar & Court Admissions
New JerseyNew YorkU.S. Court of Appeals, Third CircuitSupreme Court of the United StatesNEWS
News
How COVID-19 Has 'Necessitated Innovative Problem Solving' in Bankruptcy
As published in: Law360 February 16, 2021
Cole Schotz Prevails on Behalf of Assisted Living Network in Years-Long Membership Dispute
November 24, 2020
Cole Schotz Ties Success to 'Contemplating the Whole Client, Beyond the Legal Issue'
As published in: New Jersey Law Journal September 18, 2020
Annual Best Practices Guide
As published in: Commerce and Industry Association of New Jersey September 2020
Best Lawyers Recognizes 36 Cole Schotz Attorneys on 2021 List
August 20, 2020
Law360 Names Attys Who Moved Up The Firm Ranks In Q2
As published in: Law360 August 5, 2020
Law Firm Leaders: Cole Schotz's Warren Usatine
As published in: Law360 July 15, 2020
Bankruptcy Lawyer Joins Leadership at Cole Schotz Amid Shifting Market Demands
As published in: New Jersey Law Journal June 11, 2020
Wake Up Call: Lawyers, Law Firms
June 8, 2020
Cole Schotz names Hackensack attorney co-managing shareholder
As published in: NJBIZ June 7, 2020
Chambers USA Recognizes 17 Cole Schotz Attorneys- 2020
April 24, 2020
23 Cole Schotz Attorneys Named 2020 New Jersey Super Lawyers
March 13, 2020
Industry Leaders
As published in: NJBLF October 4, 2019
New Jersey Law Journal Trailblazers 2019
As published in: New Jersey Law Journal August 26, 2019
Best Lawyers Recognizes 29 Cole Schotz Attorneys on 2020 List
August 15, 2019
Mentorship is in the 'Moments,' Cole Schotz's Usatine Says
As published in: New Jersey Law Journal June 10, 2019
NJLJ Announces 2019 Professional Excellence Honorees
As published in: NJLJ March 25, 2019
EVENTS
Recent Events
Panelist at "Nuts and Bolts Federal Practice Seminar"
Attorney Speaking: Warren A. UsatineNovember 23, 2015PUBLICATIONS
Publications
COVID-19 Cole Schotz Interdisciplinary Task Force
March 17, 2020
Samuel Weiner, Richard W. Abramson, Gary M. Albrecht, Michael D. Sirota, Jordan A. Fisch, Jennifer L. Horowitz, Steven R. Klein, Paul W. Kim, Randi W. Kochman, Leo V. Leyva, Norman L. Pernick, David A. Rubenstein, Jeffrey H. Schechter and Warren A. UsatineIn Defense of the Blameless
New Jersey Lawyer Magazine February 2019
Warren A. Usatine and Rebecca Hollander