Stephanie Wickouski has been named Managing Partner of the Washington, DC office of Gardner Carton & Douglas LLP. Gardner Carton & Douglas is a 260-lawyer firm with offices in Washington, Chicago, Milwaukee and Albany.

   Ms. Wickouski, who previously served as hiring partner, takes over as managing partner at a time of substantial expansion of the firm generally and the Washington office, in particular. Some 20 lawyers and other professionals have joined Gardner Carton & Douglas in Washington during the last year, with particular depth added to the health care, government relations, tribal governments, litigation and HR/ERISA practices. Most recently, Paul Moorehead, former chief counsel and staff director of the U.S. Senate Committee on Indian Affairs in Washington, and ERISA litigation lawyers David Levin and Elizabeth Binder, both formerly with Wiley, Rein & Fielding in Washington, have joined the firm in the Washington office. In June, seven lawyers with one of the nation’s outstanding health care transactions practices joined the firm from Washington’s Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP. Earlier, Robert Waters moved his prominent health care industry appropriations and regulatory government relations practice to Gardner Carton & Douglas from Arent Fox, bringing with him four government relations directors.

   Ms. Wickouski, who serves as co-chair of the firm’s Corporate Restructuring and Financial Institutions practice group, has 25 years of experience in complex reorganization cases before federal bankruptcy courts throughout the country and in counseling clients on all aspects of credit and financial relationships. She recently was named one of Washington’s top bankruptcy lawyers in Washingtonian magazine’s “Top Lawyers” profile. She also is recognized as one of the best lawyers in Washington by The Best Lawyers in America. 

   She has served or currently serves as counsel to indenture trustees in several highly visible cases, including USGen New England in the District of Maryland, United Airlines in the Northern District of Illinois, Magellan Health Services, Inc., Loral Space and Communications, Inc. and Petroleum-Geo Services in the Southern District of New York, and Atlas Air in the Southern District of Florida.  In the past few years, she served as lead counsel to ServerVault, Inc.in its recent Chapter 11 case in the Eastern District of Virginia; as lead counsel to New York Medical Group, P.C. in its Chapter 11 case in the Southern District of New York; and as lead counsel to Newsworld Communications (The Washington Times) in its acquisition of UPI.

   Ms. Wickouski is the author of Bankruptcy Crimes, the leading authoritative treatise on the subject of bankruptcy fraud. She also has a national reputation in health care insolvency and is a frequent lecturer, author, and commentator on bankruptcy subjects. Her articles have appeared in The National Law Journal, ABA Litigation Magazine, Legal Times, Washington Business Journal and publications of the District of Columbia, New Jersey and Pennsylvania state bar associations. She is a frequent commentator on bankruptcy issues in The Washington Post and has appeared on national television in connection with high-profile bankruptcy cases.

   She has taught creditors' rights at the Catholic University School of Law and was formerly a law clerk to the Hon. Roger M. Whelan, former U.S. Bankruptcy Judge for the District of Columbia. Prior to entering private practice, she was a trial attorney with the Civil Division of the U.S. Department of Justice, where she received several awards for her handling of litigation in airline bankruptcies. She has served as a panel trustee for the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of Virginia and as a mediator for the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia and the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Maryland. She presently is a panel mediator for the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York.