Zack Clement spends his life in the middle of corporate financial difficulty. In complex, ambiguous, often fluid circumstances, he finds a way to achieve something useful for his clients, preferably through a deal, through a trial if necessary. He has a 30-year record of obtaining good results for a wide range of clients.

Since joining Fulbright & Jaworski's Houston office as a partner in January, 1991, Zack has handled a wide range of clients in business restructure and insolvency litigation matters. Clients turn to him for assistance in (1) buying assets from troubled companies, (2) lending to troubled companies, (3) investing in troubled companies as they come out of bankruptcy, (4) restructuring troubled companies, or (5) dealing with the broad range of litigation that springs up around financial difficulty. He has successfully completed these kinds of matters involving billions of dollars in the aggregate.

Significant experience includes:

Business Restructure and Valuation Litigation
Zack has successfully restructured in Chapter 11 the debt of a number of major companies and acted as bankruptcy litigation counsel in plan confirmation and adequate protection litigation, including trials about enterprise valuation of public companies and asset valuations of collateral involving billions of dollars.

These Chapter 11 restructure clients have included (1) a major steel processing company, (2) numerous real estate companies, (3) a Houston based race track, and (4) biotech companies needing to refinance and:

A Major Russian Oil Company in its U.S. Chapter 11 and 15 Cases
Zack represented a major Russian oil company in its efforts (1) to deal with major tax disputes with its Government through a U.S. Chapter 11 case in Houston, and (2) to resist a proposed liquidation of the company that emerged in relation to a U.S. Chapter 15 case in New York.

A Major Houston Based Airline in its Chapter 11 Case
Zack represented a major Houston based airline in a substantial litigation during its Chapter 11 case in Delaware concerning (1) debtor in possession financing, (2) the application of Section 1110 of the Bankruptcy Code, (3) adequate protection for aircraft collateral and (4) confirmation for a plan reorganization involving a $500 million investment upon confirmation (this litigation was ultimately resolved pursuant to the mootness doctrine after the Plan was consummated in the face of pending appeals).

Asset Sales and Investments in Plans of Reorganization
Zack has served as bankruptcy counsel for the purchase or sale of billions of dollars of assets from various Chapter 11 debtors and numerous plans of reorganization involving investments made at the emergence from bankruptcy, some consummated in the face of an appeal.

He represented a successful competing bidder who purchased substantially all the assets of Stone & Webster, a major construction engineering company, for $700 million in an auction conducted in the Delaware Bankruptcy Court. At the onset of the case, he obtained a reduction in the first bidder's break-up fee and obtained rule clarification for the conduct of the auction that gave his client the opportunity to bid on a level playing field.

Secured Lender Representation
Zack has represented a number of secured lenders in workouts and Chapter 11, including negotiation for debtor-in-possession financing and cash collateral use, and litigation concerning adequate protection. He has been lead counsel in trials concerning collateral valuation and is experienced in the lender liability and fraudulent conveyance issues presented by spin-offs of subsidiaries and leveraged buyouts.

Executory Contract Issues
Zack has substantial experience with executory contract issues concerning commodity trading companies, intellectual property, oil and gas, real estate, construction and other industries.

International Involuntary Bankruptcy
Zack has represented a number of major foreign banks in a successful trial and subsequent appeal of an involuntary bankruptcy petition in the United States against foreign citizens who defaulted on more than $300 million of debt in their country of origin, then came to live in the United States. This case presented numerous international jurisdiction issues.

Insolvency Fiduciaries and Securities Fraud
Zack has represented a number of insolvency fiduciaries, including creditors' committees and receivers. He has defended a foreign receiver of a troubled company who is being sued for alleged securities violation in the United States. He obtained a summary judgment dismissing a more than $200 million securities litigation claim against a major firm client.

He has served as lead counsel for a receiver appointed by the SEC to supervise liquidation of a group of affiliated companies, including a broker dealer, an investment manager and two offshore investment funds. He was able to secure approval of a plan of liquidation in the district court three months after the case started, which enabled the return of in excess of $130 million to investors.

International Jurisdiction
In connection with these cases, Zack has developed an expertise concerning international jurisdiction, including personal jurisdiction over foreign nationals and extra-territorial effect of U.S. bankruptcy and securities law.

• American Bar Association
• American Bankruptcy Institute
• International Insolvency Institute
• International Bar Association 
• State Bar of Texas
  • Business Bankruptcy Committee
• Houston Bar Association
  • Bankruptcy Committee

• Chambers USA, Bankruptcy, Retructuring: Texas (2010)
• American College of Bankruptcy, Fellow
• International Insolvency Institute, Fellow
• The Best Lawyers in America
• "Texas Super Lawyer," Law & Politics (2003, 2004)
• "Houston Top 100," Law & Politics (2003, 2004)

• Co-author with David Rosenzweig and Robert Black, "Important Issues in a Chapter 9 Case for a Municipality," Fulbright Briefing, October 24, 2011
• "Offensive and Defensive Use of Bankruptcy," May 2003
• "Please God, Can I Just Get Paid," State Bar of Texas, Advanced Bankruptcy Seminar, 2002
• How to Restructure Technology Rich Companies, Managing Intellectual Property Magazine, July-August 2001
• "A Tale of Two Old Messes, Discharge of Environmental Claims," University of Texas Bankruptcy Conference, 2000
• "Mootness of Appeals of Orders Approving Asset Sales, Loans and Plans of Reorganization," University of Texas Bankruptcy Conference, 1994

1975 - J.D., University of Virginia School of Law
1970 - 1972 - U.S. Navy Air Intelligence Officer
1970 - A.B., cum laude, Public and International Affairs (Economics), Princeton University

Zack is licensed to practice law in Texas, the District of Columbia, Virginia, and Illinois. He is also admitted to practice in the U.S. District Courts in Texas, the U.S. Courts of Appeal for the Third, Fifth, Eleventh, and D.C. Circuits, and the U.S. Supreme Court.

A three-time Virginia Junior Golf Champion, Zack enjoys spending time on the golf course and listening to Texas music, especially in Gruene Hall and Luckenbach and at the annual Houston Rodeo. Zack also provides fundraising support for his alma maters, Princeton University and University of Virginia, and various political causes.

• Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo, Lifetime Member
• Habitat for Humanity