William R. Moorman Jr.

William R. Moorman Jr.

Shareholder, Boston
617 226-3423
wmoorman@murphyking.com

About William R. Moorman Jr.

A trusted advisor to businesses and individuals, Bill is known for obtaining a deep understanding of how his client’s businesses operate, enabling him to develop creative business and legal solutions to resolve disputes, wade through complex issues and achieve the desired results for his clients. His many years of working on complex restructurings in a wide variety of industries has made him an invaluable asset to his clients in both business and litigation matters.

Bill has a wide variety of experience representing clients in complex business transactions, mergers and acquisitions, licensing and other contractual matters, financial restructurings, reorganizations, corporate finance transactions and litigation. Additionally, he represents debtors, trustees and creditors in complex Chapter 11 reorganizations and Chapter 7 bankruptcy cases. Bill’s local and national business clients include SaaS companies, manufacturers, financial institutions, real estate owners and developers, hotels, franchisors, environmental service businesses, information technology companies, retailers, restaurants, health care businesses, venture capital firms, hedge funds and purchasers of distressed real estate and other assets.

Bill also has a reputation providing counsel to commercial real estate brokers and other employees in employment-related transitions, including the negotiation of new employment agreements, the negotiation of severance agreements and the analysis of non-solicitation obligations.

Additionally, he specializes in representing Boards of Directors, individual directors, chief executive officers and chief financial officers in a variety of matters, including the analysis of fiduciary duty obligations, their roles in mergers and acquisitions and in connection with financially distressed companies.

Bill’s practice includes providing specialized advice in the complex and developing area of cannabis laws and helps clients with capital raising, banking and finance issues, real estate transactions and other business matters.

Prior to joining Murphy & King in 2020, Bill practiced for over thirty years at Craig and Macauley and Partridge Snow and Hahn. He has received legal accolades from Chambers USA, Top Lawyers, Best Lawyers and Super Lawyers. Clients interviewed by Chambers USA describe Bill as “a very talented lawyer and a really wonderful guy.”

Representative Engagements

Corporate/M&A

  • Represents clients in sales, mergers and acquisitions and contractual matters, and provides general business advice to a variety of companies, partnerships and family businesses.
  • Represents family businesses and partnerships in internal disputes with the goal of reaching resolutions without the necessity of litigation.
  • Represents a global data intelligence and brand protection company in all corporate matters, including in connection with licensing and private equity transactions.
  • Represents a regional wealth management firm in corporate transactions and general business matters.
  • Represents a nationally recognized leader in the consumer solar financing industry, including capital raising, contractual matters and arbitration.
  • Represents the director of a manufacturing company in connection with fiduciary obligations and the potential sale of company.
  • Represents the director and stockholder of a company in connection with claims involving other directors and investors.
  • Represented a facilitator of educational and patient financing in all corporate matters, including the $140 million sale of the company.
  • Represented a real estate developer in the resolution of litigation involving trustees of a condominium trust.
  • Represented a provider of peptides and antibodies, including in connection with multiple sales and acquisitions.
  • Represented a regional sub-franchisor in the automotive care industry, including preparation of franchise disclosure documentation, franchise agreements, real estate transactions, employment issues and other business matters.
  • Represented an 8(a) small business environmental services company in all business matters, including contracts, employment issues, real estate transactions and the sale of the business to an Alaskan Native Corporation.

Restructuring

  • Represents debtors and creditors in all aspects of Chapter 11 reorganization cases.
  • Represents Chapter 11 debtors and creditors in various matters, including asset dispositions, preference and fraudulent conveyance actions, and claims litigation.
  • Represents the owner of a commercial and industrial real estate portfolio in connection with various bankruptcy cases and issues, including landlord/tenant rights, environmental issues and lease assumptions and assignments.
  • Represents lenders and borrowers in the negotiation and documentation of loan workouts and restructurings.
  • Represented a hedge fund in defeating the quick sale of a Chapter 11 biotechnology company’s assets to an insider, and then negotiated debtor-in-possession financing, formulated a Chapter 11 plan of reorganization and negotiated exit financing, resulting in the successful reorganization of the company, which then became publicly traded.
  • Represented a Massachusetts court-appointed receiver with respect to the disposition of commercial real estate located in Connecticut.
  • Represented numerous real estate owners and developers in successful Chapter 11 reorganizations and out-of-court restructurings.
  • Represented a Chapter 7 bankruptcy trustee in the contested sale of a manufacturing business and related right of first refusal litigation.
  • Represented commercial landlords in the Chapter 11 bankruptcy cases of Cenveo, Inc. and Nashua Corporation in the Southern District of New York.
  • Represented a substantial trade creditor in the Chapter 11 bankruptcy case of Toys “R” Us, Inc. in Virginia.
  • Represented a substantial trade creditor in the Chapter 11 bankruptcy case of The Weinstein Company in Delaware.
  • Represented the country of Canada in a Chapter 11 bankruptcy case in Maine involving Montreal Maine & Atlantic Railway, Ltd., which arose from the deadliest rail disaster in Canada since 1864.
  • Represented the purchaser of Fort Devens, Massachusetts real estate and equipment assets in the Chapter 11 bankruptcy case of Evergreen Solar, Inc. in Delaware.
  • Represented the purchaser of the solid tire division in the Chapter 11 bankruptcy case of GPX International Tire Corporation in Massachusetts.
  • Represented a commercial landlord in the Chapter 11 bankruptcy case of Masonite Corporation in the Southern District of New York.
  • Represented the Official Committee of Retirees in the Chapter 11 bankruptcy case of United Shoe Machinery Corporation in Massachusetts.
  • Represented the Official Committee of Unsecured Creditors in the Chapter 11 bankruptcy case of Nordic Track in Massachusetts.
  • Represented the Official Committee of Unsecured Creditors in the Massachusetts Chapter 11 bankruptcy case of Statler Industries, Inc., one of the largest paper mills in Maine.
  • Represented the Chief Executive Officer of a multi-national public company in a securities class action and director and officer liability litigation, including matters in the United States, Belgium and Korea.
  • Represented the Chief Financial Officer in the Chapter 11 bankruptcy case of a newspaper publisher in Delaware.
  • Represented the Chief Executive Officer in the Chapter 11 bankruptcy case of an investment management firm in Delaware.
  • Represented the petitioning creditors in the involuntary bankruptcy filing against a Ponzi scheme operator in the RMA Strategic Opportunity Fund, LLC case in Massachusetts and represented a substantial creditor in the Ponzi scheme-related Chapter 11 bankruptcy case of 1031 Tax Group, LLC in the Southern District of New York.
  • Represented Kmart Corporation in bankruptcy-related lease litigation with respect to property in Massachusetts.

Employment

  • Represents commercial real estate brokers in employment transitions, employment contract negotiations, severance agreements and non-solicitation issues.
  • Represents employees in various industries in connection with the analysis of employment related claims and the negotiation of severance agreements.
  • Represents various corporate clients in the negotiation of employment agreements, termination and severance agreements and analysis of litigation risks.

Cannabis

  • Represents real estate developers, landlords and other entities in various matters related to cannabis laws, including the negotiation and drafting of dispensary and grow facility leases and the analysis of risk factors related to private placement transactions.
  • Advises institutions of legal risks in cannabis financing.
Professional Involvement
  • Massachusetts Bar Association
  • American Bar Association
  • American Bankruptcy Institute, Board of Advisors
  • Turnaround Management Association
Honors
  • AV ® Preeminent Rated from Martindale-Hubbell, highest possible rating on both legal ability and ethics based upon the confidential opinion of peers and judges
  • Repeatedly recognized in Chambers USA for Bankruptcy/Restructuring-Massachusetts
  • Best Lawyers in America© Bankruptcy and Creditor Debtor Rights / Insolvency and Reorganization Law (since 2009) and Litigation – Bankruptcy (since 2011)
  • Recognized twenty-one years as a Massachusetts Super Lawyer – Bankruptcy: Business
  • 2021 – 2023 Top Lawyers, Boston Magazine
Speaking Engagements
  • Panel Speaker, Banking and Financing for Marijuana Businesses, Marijuana Business Operations Seminar, National Business Institute, May 17, 2019
  • Panel Speaker, “Sub Rosa Plans”: Their Impact in, and Provision of a Potential Alternate Exit Strategy from, Chapter 11, ABI Northeast Bankruptcy Conference (2016)
  • Panel Speaker, Employment Issues in Chapter 11 Cases, 15th Annual New England Bankruptcy Law Conference (2013)
  • Moderator, Environmental Problems in Bankruptcy: Part 1, ABI Northeast Bankruptcy Conference (2012)
  • Panel Speaker, Individual Chapter 11s are not Just Big Chapter 13s, ABI Northeast Bankruptcy Conference Consumer Forum (2010)

Education

  • Colby College B.A.
  • Boston University School of Law J.D., cum laude

Bar and Court Admissions

  • Massachusetts
  • U.S. District Court, District of Massachusetts
  • First Circuit Court of Appeals, First Circuit

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