Overview

Nathan draws on over two decades of insolvency and workout experience to provide practical and insightful advice to clients. He builds relationships to obtain favorable results in both transactional and litigation matters.

Nate is the chair of BFKN’s Bankruptcy & Creditor Rights Group. He has extensive experience in all aspects of business reorganizations, workouts, and bankruptcies, inside and outside of court restructurings. This includes the representation of creditors, suppliers, equipment lessors, lenders, landlords, OEMs, and asset purchasers in small to large, complex Chapter 11 cases.

Nate also counsels parties in business restructuring and liquidation situations outside of bankruptcy, such as assignment for the benefit of creditors, receivership, workout, and forbearance situations. He represents suppliers to bankrupt and other distressed entities, including counseling on and prosecuting 503(b)(9) claims, advising on post-petition credit, and defending preference claims and avoidance actions. He also works with transactional lawyers on distressed deal structures and provides legal opinions that support secured financings.

Nate is distinguished among his peers, consistently recognized in the areas of Bankruptcy and Reorganization in the Illinois Super Lawyers, in Creditor Rights in The Best Lawyers in America publication, and in the Commercial Bankruptcy and Workout Law categories in the Leading Lawyers publication, and has received the Peer Review Rating – AV Preeminent, the highest peer rating standard by Martindale-Hubbell. He is band ranked for Bankruptcy/Restructuring in Chambers USA.

Nate is actively involved in volunteer and charity work. Locally, he served as co-chair of the Bankruptcy Court Liaison Committee and serves on the Volunteer Attorney Panel in the Northern District of Illinois. The judges for the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois awarded Nate for “Excellence in Pro Bono and Public Interest Service” in 2022. He is also a member of the Receivership Legislation Subcommittee of The Chicago Bar Association, actively working to develop uniform receivership law for Illinois.

Outside the practice of law, Nate has worked with World Bicycle Relief for years to fundraise and raise awareness for its mission to provide large-scale, comprehensive bicycle distribution programs to aid poverty relief in developing countries around the world. In 2024, Nate completed a years-long campaign of fundraising through running challenges to generate over $70,000 for WBR.

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Nate is an active runner, often racing all distances from 5ks to marathons, and has completed the six original World Marathon Majors. Combining charity work with running is a passion. Nate has used running to raise tens of thousands of dollars collectively for the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless, Asha for Education, Doctors Without Borders, and World Bicycle Relief.

Credentials

Admissions

  • State of Illinois
  • U.S. District Court -  Northern District of Illinois
  • U.S. District Court - Northern District of Illinois (Trial Bar)
  • U.S. District Court - Central District of Illinois
  • U.S. Court of Appeals - 7th Circuit
  • U.S. District Court - Northern District of Indiana
  • U.S. District Court - Eastern District of Michigan
  • U.S. District Court - Western District of Michigan

Education

  • University of Illinois College of Law, J.D., cum laude, 2000
  • Dartmouth College, B.A. History, 1997

Experience

Creditor & Contract Party Representation in Chapter 11

  • Protect creditor rights for Fortune 250 companies for all Chapter 7 and Chapter 11 bankruptcies across the country, recently including Accuride, Zachry Holdings, and Enviva complex Chapter 11 cases.
  • Represented Sephora USA, Inc. in Amyris and in J.C. Penney Chapter 11 bankruptcy cases, the latter including treatment of the Sephora’s “store in store” agreement covering 600 locations nationally, negotiation of assumption and assignment, and payment of claims in full.
  • Represents LVMH and affiliated brands in connection with their supply agreements with national stores, including bankruptcy matters, including in large national cases such as the Neiman Marcus Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
  • Represented debtors Nexii Building Solutions, Inc. and affiliates in fully administered Chapter 15 bankruptcy cases.
  • Represents VTG Rail, Inc., a transport company specializing in railcar sales and leasing services, in connection with its pre- and post-bankruptcy lessee disputes.
  • Represents McGrath RentCorp rental companies in bankruptcy cases throughout the country.
  • Represents several suppliers in Exide Technologies bankruptcy cases for supply agreement assumption issues, claims for goods supplied, and defending preference claims.
  • Represented a lender in a Chapter 11 bankruptcy resulting in full payment of a seven-figure claim, including post-petition interest and attorney fees.
  • Represented creditor and plan proponent to obtain reorganization of unique hospitality space in Los Angeles Chapter 11 case. 

Motor Vehicle Dealer Bankruptcies & Workouts

  • Regularly counsels automobile manufacturers and importers with respect to dealers that have filed for bankruptcy. Nate advised a manufacturer in a dealer Chapter 11 bankruptcy in Florida. He negotiated with the debtor as part of its going-concern sale in bankruptcy, ensured a transition to a manufacturer-approved dealer, and obtained payment in full on all pre- and post-bankruptcy claims.
  • Represented an OEM in a contract dispute with a Korean entity that attempted to dissolve to avoid liability for defective batteries. The supplier filed for bankruptcy in Korea, and shortly before mandatory arbitration commenced, it filed a Chapter 15 petition with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court and asked the court to enjoin the arbitration. Nate led the BFKN team in successfully opposing the injunction after extensive briefing and oral argument.

Supplier Bankruptcies

  • Regularly serves as bankruptcy counsel for the leading supplier of driveline solutions to the global automotive industry, providing creditor rights counseling, and recently negotiated a successful transition of its business from a key supplier to a buyer in the supplier’s Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

Retail & Healthcare Bankruptcies

  • Regularly serves as landlord counsel in out-of-court workouts and in small to “mega” Chapter 11 bankruptcies, including representation of landlords in Genesis Care, Steward Health, Party City, Buyk, Pier 1, Chuck E. Cheese, Shilo Industries, Stein Mart, and GNC cases.
  • Respectively represented clients Yamaha Corporation of America and Lululemon USA Inc. as creditor and member of creditors committee in retail debtor Chapter 11 cases.

Preference & Avoidance Action Defense

  • Regularly represents national companies in defense of section 547 preference actions and section 548 avoidance actions in bankruptcies in jurisdictions across the country, including successful defense of a seven-figure preference complaint in the Dean Foods case.
  • Represented defendant in a complex preference and avoidance action complaint, obtaining dismissal of eight-figure avoidance counts at the motion to dismiss stage.

Newsroom

News

Recognitions

  • Band Ranked, Chambers USA (2023-2024)
    • Bankruptcy/Restructuring
  • Best Lawyer, The Best Lawyers in America© (2021-2025)
    • Bankruptcy & Creditor Rights
    • Insolvency & Reorganization Law
    • Litigation - Bankruptcy
  • Super Lawyer, Illinois Super Lawyers (2016-2025) 
  • Leading Lawyer, Leading Lawyers Network (2017-2025)
  • Top 100, Illinois Super Lawyers (2019)
  • Rising Stars, Illinois Super Lawyers (2009-2015)
  • Martindale Hubbell Peer Review Rating - AV Preeminent
  • bl_rugg2025
  • chambers_rugg_2024

Organizations

  • Member & Author, American Bankruptcy Institute
    • Central States Bankruptcy Workshop, Advisory Board
    • Mid-Level Professional Development Program (Chicago), Advisory Board
  • Member, Chicago Bar Association
    • Bankruptcy & Reorganization Committee, Vice-Chair
  • Member, Illinois State Bar Association
    • Commercial Banking, Collections & Bankruptcy Section
  • Member, Co-Chair, Northern District of Illinois Bankruptcy Court Liaison Committee (2010-2012)
  • Volunteer Attorney Panel - Bankruptcy Court, Northern District of Illinois
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