Practical Advice: Basics of Representing Creditors in Bankruptcy

FACULTY

Kelly M. Barnhart, Roussos & Barnhart, PLC / Norfolk
Paul A. Driscoll, Zemanian Law Group / Norfolk

ABOUT THE SPEAKERS

Kelly M. Barnhart, Roussos & Barnhart, PLC / Norfolk
Kelly M. Barnhart is a member of Roussos & Barnhart, PLC, and she primarily focuses on helping businesses and business owners deal with financial matters but also represents trustees and creditors in bankruptcy proceedings.

Ms. Barnhart attended Randolph-Macon Woman’s College, and in 1998 she graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in history and political science. In 2002, she received her Juris Doctor degree from the University of Mississippi School of Law and enjoyed spending her last year of law school as a visiting student at the University of Notre Dame School of Law.

Ms. Barnhart is a former President of the Tidewater Bankruptcy Bar Association, a former Chair of the Bankruptcy Section of the Virginia Bar Association’s Bankruptcy Section, and currently on the Board of the Bankruptcy Section of the Virginia State Bar and the International Women’s Insolvency and Restructuring Confederation. 

Ms. Barnhart has been selected as a “Rising Star,” which selection continued through December of 2012 and following that she has been selected as a “Super Lawyer” every year since 2013.  She has also been selected and listed as a member of Virginia’s “Legal Elite” (Bankruptcy/Creditors’ Rights) since 2015.  She has also been named to the Lawdragon 500 Leading U.S. Bankruptcy and Restructuring Lawyers list and inducted into Marquis Who’s Who, which will be published in the upcoming 74th edition of Who’s Who in America.

Paul A. Driscoll, Zemanian Law Group / Norfolk
Paul A. Driscoll is past president of the Tidewater Bankruptcy Bar Association and is of counsel with Zemanian Law Group in Norfolk, Virginia. His practice is focused on bankruptcy and creditors’ rights with experience in foreclosures and collections in state court; representation of debtors, financial institutions, landlords, and trade creditors in business bankruptcy cases; and he has represented trustees and defendants in dozens of avoidance actions.

Mr. Driscoll received his undergraduate and law degrees from Washington and Lee University and served successive one-year terms as a law clerk for bankruptcy and district court judges in the Eastern District of North Carolina before entering private practice in 1993. He joined the Bank of Hampton Roads in 2009 as associate general counsel and later served as general counsel, corporate secretary, and director of special assets until his return to private practice in 2017. He became a pool Subchapter V Trustee in 2020.

Mr. Driscoll retired from the Army Reserve as a colonel in 2015 after thirty years of service in a variety of command, staff, and leadership positions.