Robert E. Nies, a partner at Wolff & Samson PC, has served the business community for more than twenty years. Mr. Nies has advised clients in such diverse practice areas as restructuring of a retail fuel oil business that involved the sale of valuable customer lists, remediation of environmentally contaminated real property, and the retention by the owners of a spin-off fuel distribution business. He has represented a national car rental licensor in the restructuring and/or liquidation of troubled licensees nationwide; used Chapter 11 as a means to acquire and sell assets or whole companies; and has negotiated, compromised, and settled personal guarantees with the RTC and FDIC as part of corporate workouts. Mr. Nies has developed a niche litigation practice pursuing fraudulent transfers of assets, including by the unlawful use of alter ego and successor entities, both in state court litigation and subsequent bankruptcy filings. Mr. Nies has practiced extensively nationwide in the corporate insolvency and reorganization areas. Sample representation includes: the representation of The Bank of New York in the O’Brien Environmental Energy Inc., a Chapter 11 reorganization in which he obtained for the bank a five million recovery that included repayment of principal in full; the representation of Forest Oil Corporation in pursuing a $40 million “take-or-pay” gas purchase contract claim in the Chapter 11 reorganization of Columbia Gas Transmission Corp.; the representation of Public Service Electric & Gas Inc., in the Chapter 11 reorganization of Thermal Systems Inc., involving efforts to reject a $20 million contract with PSEG; and having confirmed—through the use of the proceeds of a public stock offering in Chapter 11—a plan of reorganization for Skylands Park Management Inc., a publicly owned, minor-league baseball stadium that hosts the New Jersey Cardinals. Mr. Nies has developed an expertise in mediation, which he has applied successfully to all aspects of bankruptcy and commercial litigation. He is a former chairperson of the New Jersey State Bar Association’s Dispute Resolution Section (1998-1999). As a founding member, he served as a Master in the Justice Marie L. Garibaldi American Inn of Court for Alternative Dispute Resolution until 2000. Mr. Nies has served as a lecturer and training instructor for state-approved mediators with New Jersey’s Institute of Continuing Legal Education. Mr. Nies has also lectured and authored many articles including: “Mortgage Foreclosure and Business Workouts,” The National Business Institute and New Jersey Institute of Continuing Legal Education, 1992; “Strip Downs Barred for Residential Liens,” 135 N.J.L.J. 838 (Oct. 1993); “Section 362 of the Bankruptcy Code Should Be Amended to Allow An Exception For An Administrative Freeze,” The Essex County Bar Association Chronicle (August, 1992); and “Bankruptcy Needn’t Become a Haven For Frauds,” American Banker, Vol. CLVI No. 174 (Sept. 1991). Mr. Nies is a member of the Essex County Bar Association and New Jersey State Bar Association. He served for two years as a founding Master of the New Jersey Bankruptcy Inn of Court (participant on behalf of the Inn for its presentation at the 1997 National American Inns of Court in Princeton, New Jersey.) In addition to his other state and federal bar involvements, by appointment of the New Jersey Supreme Court, Mr. Nies served as a member of the District V-C Ethics Committee for Essex County from 1998 to 2002. He is the recipient of Martindale-Hubbell Law Directory’s highest accolade—an AV rating. Mr. Nies received his J.D. from Seton Hall University and his B.A. from University of Delaware and Rutgers University.