With more than a decade of judicial service, Judge Raymond T. Lyons brings a wealth of experience in financial restructuring and bankruptcy matters to NAM (National Arbitration and Mediation). While on the bench, he earned a reputation for helping parties settle a wide array of disputes in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of New Jersey. He completed the first bankruptcy mediation training offered by the American Bankruptcy Institute at St. John’s University School of Law and was an instructor in the inaugural training for mediators offered by the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of New Jersey. Judge Lyons was appointed to the Panel of Mediators for the Bankruptcy Courts in New Jersey, Delaware and the Western District of Pennsylvania, as well as the Southern and Eastern Districts of New York.
With the approval of the Third Circuit Court of Appeals, Judge Lyons served as mediator for the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware. Among his most well-known and significant mediations is the Chapter 11 case filed by bank holding company Washington Mutual, Inc. following the largest bank failure in history. The mediation, which was covered by major news outlets across the country, led to a bankruptcy exit plan valued at $7 billion and spawned mediation with additional groups of claimants. He was lauded in the official court transcript for his dedication and commitment to achieving a resolution that benefited all parties involved in the matter.
Notably, Judge Lyons presided over Zais Investment Grade Limited VII, an involuntary Chapter 11 case against a Cayman Islands entity that issued and invested in collateralize debt obligations. He served as visiting bankruptcy judge in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware where he presided over the Chapter 11 case of Montgomery Ward and the Chapter 11 case of Federal Mogul filed by more than 130 multinational companies with parallel insolvency proceedings in England involving billions of dollars in asbestos claims.
Prior to his appointment to the bench in 1999, Judge Lyons spearheaded the bankruptcy department of a major New Jersey law firm, primarily representing secured lenders and other creditors in corporate Chapter 11 cases. During the economic downturn and banking crisis of the late 1980s and early 1990s, he represented the Resolution Trust Corporation (RTC) and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) in bankruptcy matters and commercial litigation. He also represented a bank in a multi-day arbitration of a contract dispute that involved the servicing of a $100 million portfolio of reverse mortgages. Judge Lyons has been credited with settling more than one hundred bankruptcy Chapter 11 cases as well as other adversary proceedings.
Judge Lyons has spoken before many industry and bar groups including the Third Circuit Judicial Conference, American Legal and Financial Network, Eastern District of Pennsylvania Bankruptcy Conference, Turnaround Management Association, National Business Institute, Pennsylvania Bar Institute, Central New York Bankruptcy Bar Association, National Association of Chapter 13 Trustees and the Allegheny County Bar Association.
An active participant in bar activities, Judge Lyons is former chair of the New Jersey State Bar Association Pro Bono Services Committee. In 1999, he received the New Jersey State Bar Association’s Legislative Services Award for his work in spearheading the passage of a law providing counsel to indigent children and parents in guardianship and parental rights proceedings. In 1997, he was recognized by Legal Services of New Jersey with the Equal Justice Medal for his role as chair of the New Jersey State Bar Association (NJSBA) Bankruptcy Law Section’s Pro Bono Bankruptcy Committee.
Judge Lyons was also an adjunct professor at his alma mater, Seton Hall University School of Law, teaching courses on banking law and legal writing.
Raymond T. Lyons is available to arbitrate and mediate cases nationwide.
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