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Sands Anderson Law Firm Sets Up Team To Serve Clients During Financial Recovery

RICHMOND, VIRGINIA -- Sands Anderson Marks & Miller, P.C., has assembled a team of experienced lawyers to offer legal advice, counsel and representation to clients dealing with the current financial and credit environment, firm President Pierce Rucker announced today.

"Lenders, banks, company finance officers, entrepreneurs and investors among our clients are asking for very specific and detailed analysis of their business options and legal alternatives during the tightening of credit markets and softening of business growth, and we're fortunate to have the skills they need among our shareholders and counsel," said Rucker.

The Financial Recovery Team will be headed up by C. Thomas Ebel, former Chairman of the City of Richmond Bar Association Bankruptcy Section and long time finance, commercial real estate and business attorney at the firm. Other members include William A. Gray, Peter M. Pearl and Danny M. Howell. Ebel and Gray are based in Richmond. Howell is in the firm's  McLean office and Pearl is in the Southwest Virginia office

"The advice that our clients are seeking right now involves four main areas: financial restructuring, federal deposit insurance coverage, asset purchases and sales, and bank oversight and recovery in light of the recent federal legislation," reported Ebel. "Among our team members, skills in these legal areas are well-developed and accessible."

Ebel's thirty years of  practice has given him experience in bankruptcy on both the creditor and debtor side including creditors rights, loan workouts, commercial and residential real estate foreclosures, commercial asset sales, corporate reorganizations and liquidations, and  restructuring in financial markets. At the law firm, Ebel is former Board member, past President and past chair of the Business, Finance and Real Estate practice group.

Prior to joining Sands Anderson, Gray was a Counsel in the Legal Division of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), where he represented the Liquidation Branch of the FDIC during the banking crisis of the late 1980s and early 1990s. He served as closing attorney at numerous bank closings and worked on hundreds of transactions involving the liquidation or disposal of troubled assets, including government auctions and sales, loan workouts, bankruptcy and commercial litigation. He also has  experience with issues of FDIC deposit insurance coverage, and bank oversight and regulation. At the firm, Gray is a member of the Business Finance and Real Estate and Government Relations and Lobbing practice groups.

Howell's experience includes representation of corporations, officers and directors, insurers, and professionals in asset recovery matters arising out of corporate receiverships, bankruptcy, and insurance coverage disputes. His commercial litigation practice among state and federal courts and in the District of Columbia has included work for executives, owners and directors of public and private corporations including financial and insurance companies. At the firm, he is a member of the Business and Professional Litigation practice group.

Pearl's skills are focused in bankruptcy and creditors rights, and include representations of creditors committees, secured and unsecured creditor clients in major bankruptcy cases and workouts and corporations in bankruptcy proceedings. He is experienced in financing workouts, asset recovery, financial restructuring and corporate liquidity issues. At the firm, he is a member of the Business, Finance and Real Estate practice group.

Founded almost 160 years ago, Sands Anderson has 74 lawyers practicing among its offices in Richmond, Christiansburg, Fredericksburg and McLean, Virginia, and the Research Triangle of North Carolina. In 2010, it was ranked 8th in the Virginia Lawyers Weekly annual listing of the state's largest law firms. Sands Anderson provides a full range of legal services to corporations and businesses, healthcare providers, financial institutions, state and local governments, the insurance industry and individuals.