Morris S. Bauer

Partner

  • Morris S. Bauer
  • Phone: +1 973 424 2037

    Morris S. Bauer - LinkedIn Import to Address Book

  • Duane Morris LLP
    200 Campus Drive, Suite 300
    Florham Park, NJ 07932-1007
    USA

Morris S. Bauer has represented debtors, creditor committees, banks and other secured creditors, trade creditors, and landlords in Chapter 11 proceedings and is a New Jersey bankruptcy mediator. Businesses he has represented in Chapter 11 proceedings include a multistate nonprofit behavioral and mental healthcare facility, a regional supermarket chain, a national distributor of electronics, residential developers and income-producing property owners, construction contractors and small businesses. Mr. Bauer has also been appointed by the court as a Chapter 11 trustee, a liquidating trustee, an assignee for the benefit of creditors and a bankruptcy mediator.

In addition to his bankruptcy practice, he has represented banks, equipment lessors and one of the nation’s largest utility providers in commercial foreclosure and commercial collection matters. Mr. Bauer has been an instructor for the New Jersey Skills and Methods Course and the New Jersey Bankruptcy Inn of Court, and a panelist for the annual New Jersey Bankruptcy Bench Bar Conference, the American Bankruptcy Institute, and local bar associations in New Jersey and Pennsylvania. He is vice chairman of the Washington Township, Morris County Zoning Board of Adjustment.

Mr. Bauer is a 1988 graduate of Hofstra School of Law and a 1985 graduate of Dickinson College.

Areas of Practice

  • Bankruptcy Law
  • Creditors’ Rights
  • Chapter 11
  • Bankruptcy Mediation

Representative Matters

  • Represent Miku, Inc., as a subchapter 5 debtor in its pending chapter 11 case.

  • Representation of non-profit entity that owns three senior living facilities.

  • Co-counsel to the FILO Lender and DIP Lender in the nationally profiled chapter 11 case of Bed Bath & Beyond. 

  • Represented the Debtors in a complex 7-year real estate chapter 11 case that entailed negotiated resolutions with a municipality, the United States Environmental Protection Agency and a large secured creditor culminating in a successful contested confirmation hearing. (See In re: SB Building Associates Limited Partnership, 621 B.R. 330 (2020) United States Bankruptcy Court, D. New Jersey.)

  • Represented Debtor in complex 8-year single asset real estate chapter 11 case, which included complex insurance litigation, negotiations of property remediation with the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) and resulted in significant settlement with insurance carriers and the NJDEP as well as entry into a property sale agreement.

  • Represent creditor in the chapter 11 cases of American Center for Civil Justice and affiliate, non-profit entities assisting in providing legal services to terrorist victims.

  • Local Counsel to JP Morgan in the chapter 11 case of Modell’s Sporting Goods, a sporting goods retailer. Case is known for using Section 305 to suspend the chapter 11 case for a period of time during the pandemic until shopping malls were permitted to reopen.

  • Represent Debtors in chapter 11 liquidation, which included negotiating resolution of on-going complex litigation with significant creditor, negotiation with landlord, confirming chapter 11 plan of liquidation and pursuing collection adversary proceeding against supplier.

Admissions

  • New Jersey
  • New York
  • Pennsylvania
  • U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York
  • U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York
  • U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania
  • U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit

Education

  • Hofstra University School of Law, J.D., 1988
  • Dickinson College, B.S., 1985

Experience

  • Duane Morris LLP
    - Partner, 2021-present
  • Norris McLaughlin PA
    - Partner, 2007-2021
  • Ravin Greenberg PA
    - Partner, 1996-2007
    - Associate, 1990-1996
  • Arthur Anderson & Co.
    - Staff Accountant, 1988-1990

Professional Activities

  • Turnaround Management Association

  • American Bankruptcy Institute
    - Mediation Committee; News Letter Editor
  • Morris County Bar Association
    - Co-Chair, Bankruptcy/Creditors’ Rights Section

  • American Bar Association

  • New Jersey State Bar Association

  • Pennsylvania Bar Association

  • Northampton County Bar Association

  • New Jersey Bankruptcy Lawyers Advisory Committee

  • Association of Federal Bar of New Jersey
    - Bankruptcy Section

Civic and Charitable Activities

  • Homeless Solutions, Inc.
    - Corporate Advisory Board

  • Teams for Kids Foundation, Inc.

  • Washington Township Board of Adjustments

Honors and Awards

  • Listed in The Best Lawyers in America, 2010-2024

  • Listed in Chambers USA: America's Leading Lawyers for Business, 2021-2024

  • Listed in New Jersey Super Lawyers

  • AV Preeminent® Peer Review Rated by Martindale-Hubbell®

No aspect of these rankings has been approved by the Supreme Court of New Jersey. Further information on methodologies is available via these links.

No aspect of these rankings has been approved by the Supreme Court of New Jersey. Further information on methodologies is available via these links.

Selected Publications

  • “2021 Outlook,” Turnarounds & Workouts, January 2021

  • “Year in Review,” Turnarounds & Workouts, December 2020

  • “Third Circuit Again Strictly Applies the Plain Language in Denying Lender’s Credit Bid Rights in Philadelphia Newspapers, LLC,” ACC Focus on New Jersey Chapter, July 2010

  • “A Bankruptcy & Creditors’ Rights Group Hits Its Stride,” The Metropolitan Corporate Counsel, December 2007

  • “Real Estate Tax Appeals Section 505 Supercedes State Statute of Limitations and Compelled Payment Prohibitions,” New Jersey State Bar Association Bankruptcy Law Section Newsletter, April 1996

Media Hits

  • Quoted, “New Year Means Coping with List of Overdue Bills,” NJBiz, January 11, 2010

Selected Speaking Engagements

  • Speaker, "Real Estate, Land Use, Repurposing Real Estate," The 2023 NJSBA Bankruptcy and Restructuring Forum, November 2, 2023
  • Speaker, Duane Morris LLP Annual Fall Finance and Restructuring Seminar, October 6, 2022
  •  Moderator, "Involuntary Bankruptcy – Procedure, Issues, and Trying the Case," NJICLE 2022 Bankruptcy and Restructuring Forum, November 3, 2022
  • Presenter, Duane Morris LLP Annual Fall Finance and Restructuring Seminar, Webinar, October 20, 2021 

  • “Ins and Outs of Confirming a Chapter 11 Plan: How to Confirm a Chapter 11 Plan Whether Individual, Complex, Small Business or Subchapter V,” Association of the Federal Bar of New Jersey, Webinar, April 23, 2021

  • “Surviving COVID-19: Now and Beyond:” New Jersey Turnaround Management Association and New Jersey Business & Industry Association, Webinar, May 6, 2020

  • “Small Business and Individual Chapter 11 Cases in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of New Jersey,” NJSBA Annual Meeting and Convention, Borgata Hotel Casino and Spa, Atlantic City, New Jersey, May 17, 2019

  • “Lien and Mean: Whose Asset Is It Anyway?” Bankruptcy Bench Bar Conference, Borgata Hotel Casino and Spa, Atlantic City, New Jersey, April 4-5, 2019

  • “Small Business and Individual Chapter 11 Cases in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of New Jersey,” K&L Gates, Newark, New Jersey, March 13, 2019

  • “Bankruptcy Topics for the Non-Bankruptcy Practitioner,” Norris McLaughlin, P.A., Allentown, Pennsylvania, June 13, 2018

  • “Bankruptcy Topics for the Non-Bankruptcy Practitioner,” Norris McLaughlin, P.A., Bridgewater, New Jersey, May 7, 2018

  • “The Effect of Bankruptcy On Your Case: What Every Lawyer Should Know,” MCBA, June 21, 2016

  • Moderator, “Revel’s Rippling Effect,” ACG NJ Joint Meeting with TMA NJ, Iselin, New Jersey, April 21, 2015

  • Somerset County Bar Foundation CLE Day, Bridgewater Manor, Bridgewater, New Jersey, May 11, 2011

  • Panelist, Ninth Annual Hon. William H. Gindin Bankruptcy Bench-Bar Conference, April 13, 2007, Norris McLaughlin, P.A., Bridgewater, New Jersey, June 16, 2009

  • “Bankruptcy ABCs for Healthy Companies: What You Need to Know When Your Customer or Supplier Goes Bankrupty!” Norris McLaughlin, P.A., Bridgewater, New Jersey, March 27, 2009

  • “Strategies to Minimize Damage from Madoff & Other Recent Investment Scandals,” Norris McLaughlin, P.A., Bridgewater, New Jersey, March 26, 2009

  • “Corporate Bankruptcy 101 and Select Bankruptcy Issues,” Norris McLaughlin, P.A., Bridgewater, New Jersey, March 24, 2009

  • “Corporate Bankruptcy 101,” New Jersey Corporate Counsel Association, Bridgewater, New Jersey, October 21, 2008

  • “Sale of Assets,” Tenth Annual Hon. William H. Gindin Bankruptcy Bench-Bar Conference, East Brunswick, New Jersey, May 2, 2008