Stephen V. Falanga
Partner
Stephen V. Falanga has more than two decades of experience representing financial institutions, corporations, insurance companies, real estate developers, landlords and individuals in the financial services and risk management area including significant work in all aspects of insolvency law.
A versatile practitioner, Stephen handles both transactional and litigation matters in the commercial law field. Transactional matters include asset sales and dispositions, secured transactions, loan and mortgage financings, and other credit-related transactions. In the litigation area, Stephen represents debtors and creditors in bankruptcy proceedings and in complex commercial and bankruptcy litigation in the Federal Courts of New York, New Jersey, and Delaware.
Stephen has served as a chapter 11 trustee in bankruptcy cases, as an expert witness on judgment enforcement and commercial law matters, and as an arbitrator for commercial law cases.
Prior to beginning his legal career, Stephen served a one-year clerkship with the Honorable William F. Tuohey, a United States Bankruptcy Judge in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of New Jersey.
He has been awarded the Award for Exemplary Service (2013) by the American Bankruptcy Institute, where he served as Chair of the Secured Credit Committee, and was named to NJBIZ magazine’s “40 under 40” in 2006. He is currently a Trustee for the ARC of Essex County, which serves the needs of individuals with intellectual disabilities, and in 2001 received the Essex County Bar Association Special Merit Award for his volunteer work.
He is a frequent author and lecturer on all aspects of commercial law and bankruptcy.
- Represents and defends banks and other financial institutions in contested creditor’s rights enforcement cases, including Article 9 and real estate foreclosure proceedings
- Serves as national bankruptcy counsel to a number of major corporations, including one of the largest providers of satellite services in the world
- Represented one of the largest suppliers of merchandising, assembly, and installation services in the United States as a chapter 11 debtor
- Served as co-counsel to the debtor in one of the largest chapter 11 hospital bankruptcy cases ever filed in the District of New Jersey
- Represented one of the largest insurance companies in the United States in a complex, asbestos-driven chapter 11 reorganization of a national sheet and tile flooring manufacturer
- Successfully prosecuted significant fraudulent transfer and RICO-based creditors’ rights action
- Regularly defends all types of preference and fraudulent transfer bankruptcy litigation
- Represented successful stalking horse bidder in bankruptcy acquisition of major pigment and dye manufacturer
- Best Lawyers ® 2017-2021
- American Bankruptcy Institute Award for Exemplary Service to Committee (May 2013)
- “40 under 40,” published in NJBIZ magazine (2006)
- Essex County Bar Association Special Merit Award – for volunteer work on Law Day, Essex County Bar Association (2001)
(Awards referenced are not approved by the Supreme Court of New Jersey. Selection methodology is available.)