Evan M. Jones
Partner
Evan Jones is a partner in O'Melveny's Los Angeles office and a member of the Finance and Restructuring Practice. Major cases he has worked on include representing bank creditors in billion dollar coal, agribusiness and timber reorganization cases, debtors in possession in large retail chains and financial companies, creditors committees in high tech and financial companies, secured lenders to petroleum and home builder borrowers, and parties on all sides of complex entertainment deals and restructurings.
Much of Evan's practice is transactional. He is often involved in structuring deals to avoid or minimize the risks of bankruptcy in close cooperation with our corporate, entertainment, and real estate attorneys. He has substantial experience in purchasing assets out of bankruptcy, including television stations, industrial companies, and entertainment and gaming assets and operations, including major motion pictures.
Evan has extensive intellectual property experience. In the entertainment area, Evan has represented distributors, licensors and licensees of rights, investors and production companies. With regard to patents, he has represented licensors in various cases.
As principal bankruptcy liaison to the firm's Real Estate Workout Group, Evan has broad experience in real estate restructurings, workouts and bankruptcies involving hotels, apartment complexes, office buildings, residential developments, and oil and gas projects. He is also bankruptcy liaison to the Firm's Environmental Practice Group in this burgeoning area of law.
Evan is recognized by
Chambers and Partners USA as one of the leading insolvency/corporate recovery lawyers in California and was selected by his peers for inclusion in
The Best Lawyers in America.
Illustrative Professional Experience
- Represented Gottschalks, Inc. in connection with its recent chapter 11 filing, securing US$125 million of debtor-in-possession financing
- Represented the agent bank for secured lenders in the bankruptcy and sale of Scotia Pacific, Inc., a large timber company, obtaining a full cash payment of principal and interest
- Represented the secured lenders in bankruptcy and sale of the music recording company and library in the Tee Vee Tunes, Inc. Chapter 11
- Represented pre-petition and DIP lenders in recovering approximately US$500 million in loans (principal and default interest and fees) by compelling pre-plan sale of multi-dimensional agricultural cooperative in the Chapter 11 of Farmland Industries Inc.
- Represented the special committee of the Board in consummating the sale of Davis Petroleum on the first day of prepackaged bankruptcy case
- Represented lenders recovering over US$325 million (principal and default interest and fees) through restructuring of coal company Horizon Natural Resources, AEI Resources
- Represented creditors’ committee in bankruptcy of computer manufacturer Trigem Texas, Inc.
- Represented conduit issuer for LAX bonds in dispute over lease recharacterization in Chapter 11 of Delta Airlines
- Represented buyer in two-stage acquisition of debtor Pillowtex Corporation’s complex in Kannapolis, North Carolina for redevelopment in multi-use community
- Represented Azabu Buildings Co., Ltd. in restructuring of Hyatt Waikiki hotel
- Represented the debtor in possession of Phar-Mor, Inc.
- Successfully represented Sony Pictures Entertainment in the various bankruptcies and litigation regarding “Spiderman”, including obtaining the rights to produce and distribute the film
- Represented distributors, licensees of rights, investors, and production companies in Orion, 21st Century Productions, Carolco, Cannon, and other cases
Professional Activities
Member, Board of Governors, Financial Lawyers Conference, 1992-96; 2001-05
Honors, named a “Super Lawyer” in a survey conducted by Law & Politics Media Inc. and published in Los Angeles magazine; named a "Super Lawyer" by Super Lawyers - Corporate Counsel Edition;
Author, "Lehman Bankruptcy Judge Prevents Trigger of CDO Subordination Provision Based on Credit Support Provider and Swap Counterparty Bankruptcy Filings,"
The Banking Law Journal (April 2010); "Bad Bankruptcy Citizen," The Deal (April 2010); "Facing New Realities in Today's Debtor-in-Possession Market," Debtor-in-Possession and Exit Financing: Leading Lawyers on Securing Funding and Analyzing Recent Trends in Bankruptcy Financing (2010); “An Overview of Intellectual Property Licenses and Bankruptcy,” various presentations including The Americas Restructuring and Insolvency Guide 2008/2009 (2008); “M&A of Companies in Insolvency Proceedings in US, UK and Japan”; “China’s Draft Bankruptcy Law,” Asian Counsel, Vol. 3, Issue 1 (February 2005)
Speeches, "Bankrupt Licensees and Licensors: Strategies for IP License Enforcement," Strafford Publications Teleconference (10/1/09); "Bankrupt Licensees and Licensors: Strategies for IP License Enforcement on Distressed Vendors: Legal Implications for Business Partners," Strafford Teleconference (5/27/09); "Important Leasing Issues in Today's Economy," presented to USC Law School's 2009 Real Estate Law and Business Forum (3/25/09); Guest Lecturer UCLA Law School, “Debt, Fiduciary Obligation and Theory of the Firm,” Law 237 (Corporate Finance) (03/04 and 03/06); Guest Lecturer, Loyola Law School, “Bankruptcy and M&A,” (Mergers & Acquisition); Chapter 11,” (Transactional Practice Workshop) (11/23/05, 4/11/06)