Paul R. Traub (born January 31, 1952) is an American attorney who specializes in business law, specifically

bankruptcy Bankruptcy is a legal process through which people or other entities who cannot repay debts to creditors may seek relief from some or all of their debts. In most jurisdictions, bankruptcy is imposed by a court order, often initiated by the debtor ...

, insolvency, and trial

litigation - A lawsuit is a proceeding by a party or parties against another in the civil court of law. The archaic term "suit in law" is found in only a small number of laws still in effect today. The term "lawsuit" is used in reference to a civil actio ...

. He has participated in several large retail bankruptcies, including Kmart, FAO Schwarz,

KB Toys K·B Toys (also known as Kay Bee Toys) was an American chain of mall-based retail toy stores. The company was founded in 1922 as Kaufman Brothers, a wholesale candy store. The company opened a wholesale toy store in 1946, and ended its candy who ...

, Stage Stores,

Office Max OfficeMax is an American office supplies retailer founded in 1988. It is now a subsidiary of The ODP Corporation, which is headquartered in Boca Raton, Florida. As of December 2012, OfficeMax operated 941 stores in 47 states, Puerto Rico, the U. ...

, and

eToys.com eToys.com was a retail website that sold toys via the Internet. It was established by a startup company of the same name on November 3, 1997. After an initial public offering on January 4, 1999, the company quickly shot up in value, becoming embl ...

. Other clients have included Halston, Joan & David, Levitz, Bombay Company, Linens 'n Things, Zales, and Whitehall Jewelers.

Early life and education

Traub was born in Brooklyn, New York. Traub earned his Bachelor of Arts degree from the University at Buffalo in 1973, followed by a

Juris Doctor The Juris Doctor (J.D. or JD), also known as Doctor of Jurisprudence (J.D., JD, D.Jur., or DJur), is a graduate-entry professional degree in law and one of several Doctor of Law degrees. The J.D. is the standard degree obtained to practice law ...

from the

Golden Gate University School of Law Golden Gate University School of Law (informally referred to as GGU School of Law, GGU Law and Golden Gate Law) is one of the professional graduate schools of Golden Gate University. Located in downtown San Francisco, California, GGU is a Califor ...

in 1977. He was admitted to the

New York Bar Association New is an adjective referring to something recently made, discovered, or created. New or NEW may refer to: Music * New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz Albums and EPs * ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013 * ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator ...

in 1978.

Career

He is admitted to practice law before the

U.S. District Court The United States district courts are the trial courts of the U.S. federal judiciary. There is one district court for each federal judicial district, which each cover one U.S. state or, in some cases, a portion of a state. Each district cou ...

Southern, Eastern and Western Districts of New York, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals, and Eastern District of Wisconsin. Traub is the founding member and managing partner, of Traub, Bonacquist, and Fox, a New York-based boutique law firm specializing in bankruptcy and business reorganization matters. In September, 2006, Marc Dreier, sole equity partner of Dreier, LLP, acquired the boutique law firm. Paul Traub became a Dreier partner and co-chair with Norman Kinel of the Bankruptcy and Business Reorganization group. On December 5, 2008, after Dreier's arrest for being involved in an alleged scheme to sell $700 million in fictitious promissory notes, Traub and the other bankruptcy lawyers resigned and restarted Traub, Bonacquist & Fox. In February, 2009, Epstein, Becker & Green, a firm specializing in government contracts, brought the seven-member Traub/Dreier bankruptcy team into their New York office. Traub represented the creditors in

bankruptcy. The dotcom company filed for chapter 11 protection toward the end of the Internet bubble on March 7, 2001. The Office for United States Trustee accused him and his New York law firm of a

conflict of interest A conflict of interest (COI) is a situation in which a person or organization is involved in multiple interests, financial or otherwise, and serving one interest could involve working against another. Typically, this relates to situations i ...

non-disclosure A non-disclosure agreement (NDA) is a legal contract or part of a contract between at least two parties that outlines confidential material, knowledge, or information that the parties wish to share with one another for certain purposes, but wish ...

, and employing non "

arms length The arm's length principle (ALP) is the condition or the fact that the parties of a transaction are independent and on an equal footing. Such a transaction is known as an "arm's-length transaction". It is used specifically in contract law to ar ...

" key personnel, because of his business partnership with Barry Gold. In April, 2001, Traub founded Asset Disposition Advisors, LLC ( "ADA"), a Delaware liquidation company, with Gold, located at his Manhattan law office.Alt URL
/ref> Traub also appointed Gold CEO of

one month after forming ADA, while Gold had been receiving paychecks from Traub's lawfirm. The Court ruled in favor of Traub: Gold's participation in ADA with Traub was not sufficient to establish a conflict of interest, although the judge said failure to disclose such relationships in future could lead to sanctions. "In the future ... the failure of an officer of a debtor to disclose such relationships will subject that officer to review and possible

disgorgement Disgorgement is defined by ''Black's Law Dictionary'' as "the act of giving up something (such as profits illegally obtained) on demand or by legal compulsion." Overview Disgorgement is a remedy or penalty used in US securities law. For exampl ...

of compensation, if the court concludes that the relationship constitutes an actual conflict of interest."

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Traub, Paul R. American legal writers Lawyers from Brooklyn 1952 births Living people People from Massapequa, New York Golden Gate University School of Law alumni University at Buffalo alumni