Executive Financial Services
Resume:
C:\Users\mweissman\Desktop\Michael L Weissman Resume Biography 022615.DOC
Michael L. Weissman
(Of Counsel)
Levin Ginsburg
Tel: 312-***-****
Fax: 312-***-****
Email: *********@***********.***
Practice Areas
Banking Law
Business Law
Uniform Commercial Code
Commercial Lending
Commercial Law
Real Estate and Commercial Loan Restructuring and Workouts Experience
My practice is devoted to financial and business transactions including the structuring of a wide variety of financing transactions. I have also actively prosecuted civil and bankruptcy matters on behalf of financial institutions and defended lender liability lawsuits. I have a wealth of experience in the legal and business aspects of secured and unsecured lending for all types of credit facilities. During my career, I have represented most of the major banks and commercial lenders in the Chicago area. I apply my significant experience so that financing transaction deals are closed at reasonable cost and value is added for both lender and borrower. I formerly served as Executive Vice President and General Counsel of the Bridgeview Bank Group and was a Partner at Foley & Lardner and at Holland & Knight. I have has frequently published articles in journals devoted to banking and commercial finance. Among them are: “A Creditor’s Guide to Article 9 Compliance” in April, 2007 Illinois Bar Journal, “Current Issues for Secured Lenders” in March 2007 Banking Law Journal, “The Liability of a Bank for the Misconduct of its Officer” in 2007 Supplement to the Lexis Nexis treatise on Commercial Damages, “Zoning In and Out of the Zone of Insolvency” in 2010 Supplement to Lexis Nexis treatise on Commercial Damages, “Commercial Lending Developments in the US” in March 2008 edition of Financier Worldwide magazine, “Lender Can Rely on Prospective Borrower’s Representations in Extending Credit” in 95 Hoosier Banker 20 (2011); “A UCC Foreclosure Sale Is Not Commercially Reasonable if the Secured Creditor Doesn’t Strictly Adhere to Terms Agreed on with the Debtor” in Illinois Banker (May 2012 at p. 9); “Piercing the Corporate Veil to Impose Liability on Corporate Insiders for Corporate Debt” in Illinois Banker (November 2012 at p. 16), “Bank Can Transfer Liability for Fraudulent Payment Orders to Its Customer” in Arizona Banker (Fall 2014 at p. 14); “The Standard of Liability for Directors of Illinois Banks” in Illinois Banker (March-April 2014 at p. 12). Page 2 of 3
C:\Users\mweissman\Desktop\Michael L Weissman Resume Biography 022615.DOC My book titled Commercial and Industrial Loan Documentation was published by IICLE Press in January, 2012 with an updated version published in 2014. I am also the author of the book Lender Liability: How to Protect Yourself Against Unwarranted Lawsuits, published by Executive Enterprise Publications Co., Inc. in 1988, and was a contributor to The Banker’s Guide to Multi-Bank Credits and Loan Participations, published by Executive Enterprise Publications Co., Inc. in 1989. I am also the author of the chapter, “Commercial Loan Restructuring Agreements”, which appeared in IICLE’s book on Illinois Business Documents in 1993, the author of the chapter, “The Secured Loan Agreement and the Guaranty”, which appeared in IICLE’s book on Illinois Business Documents in 1994, the author of the chapter, “Documenting Commercial Loans” in IICLE’s book on Illinois Business Documents in 1995 and the author of the chapter, “Guaranties” in IICLE’s 2001 book on Secured Transactions and the 2009 Supplement. I am currently a member of the board of editors of Matthew Bender’s treatise on Commercial Damages, having written Chapters 7 and 8 and a member of the Editorial Board of The RMA Journal.
I currently author a monthly column titled “The Legal Corner” for The RMA Journal. For twenty-five years have written “Flashpoints”, a monthly internet column on recent developments of interest to financial services attorneys for the Illinois Institute on Continuing Legal Education with a circulation of 1,000 subscribers. I have written articles for the Commercial Insights publication of the American Bankers Association.
I have presented seminars called “Documenting Commercial Loans: Doing It Right!” in the Master Teachers series of the Illinois Institute for Continuing Legal Education. In addition, I frequently conduct in-house training programs for major financial institutions throughout the country and have served as an Adjunct Professor at The John Marshall Law School teaching Secured Transactions. I also teach commercial loan documentation and asset-based lending seminars in the Mentor program of the Risk Management Association, having created the course on Commercial and Industrial Loan Documentation for the Risk Management Association. I have also served as a consultant to UCC Plus Division of Fidelity Financial. I have presented seminars and webinars for the Illinois Bankers Association and have spoken at IBA’s Annual Bank Counsel Institutes and at the Association’s Annual Conventions. I have worked with the Risk Management Association to develop webbased programs on Article 9 of the UCC and on Commercial Loan Documentation and have presented webinars on UCC compliance for First Corporate Solutions and Infinity Professional Services Group. I have spoken at the Texas Certified Public Accountants Annual Education Programs, the Annual Credit Conference of the Wyoming Bankers Association and at the Annual Attorneys’ Conference of the Illinois Credit Union League.
I am a member of the Committee on Commercial Financial Services of the ABA’s Section on Business Law; a former director of the Association of Commercial Finance Attorneys; a former vice chairman of the Bank Counsel Committee of the Illinois Bankers Association; a director, member of the Executive Committee and past chairman of the Illinois Institute for Continuing Legal Education; and former chairman of the Banking Group at the Union League Club of Chicago. I serve on the Illinois State Bar Association’s Section Council for Commercial Banking having prepared the following for the Section Newsletter: “Credit Agreement Act Bars Evidence of Oral Promises Made by Lender”, Vol. 55, No. 1 at p. 1; “25 Points to Remember When Foreclosing on UCC-type collateral”, Vol. 56, No. 2 at p. 1; “Lender Liability Is Alive and Page 3 of 3
C:\Users\mweissman\Desktop\Michael L Weissman Resume Biography 022615.DOC Well”, Vol. 57, No. 3 at p. 1. I have made presentations at the Chicago Bar Association’s Committee on Commercial Financial Transactions.
I served on the City of Chicago Sister Cities outreach in Cochabamba, Bolivia. I received Fulbright Senior Specialists Awards to lecture at the School of Business Administration Turiba in Riga, Latvia and later at the National University in Vientiane, Laos. In Capetown, South Africa, I have served in the American Bar Association’s team teaching program for South Africa’s Black Lawyers’ Association, and as a lecturer for the International Law Institute’s African Centre for Legal Excellence in Zanzibar, Tanzania, Kampala, Uganda and Kigali, Rwanda.
Education
I received my Bachelor of Science degree in Economics from Northwestern University, received my M.B.A. from the Wharton Graduate Division of the University of Pennsylvania, and earned my J.D. from the Harvard Law School. I was a Fulbright Scholar at the University of Sydney Faculty of Law, Sydney, Australia.
Courts and Bar Admissions
Court
Illinois Supreme Court
U.S. District Court, Northern District of Illinois United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit United States Supreme Court
(Counsel of Record in American Mutual v. Calvert Fire Insurance Company) Bar
Illinois
Personal
A Chicago native, I have served the legal profession with a thirteen-year tenure on the Board of the Illinois Institute for Continuing Legal Education, and by teaching law students, other lawyers and bankers about commercial law and commercial lending, and by writing articles for local, national and international publications.
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