Rob Pfister is a bankruptcy litigator.
He counsels clients and serves as their advocate in disputes at all stages – from investigation, negotiation, and pre-filing strategy through complaint, discovery, trial, final judgment, and appeal in courts and tribunals across the country.
Over more than two decades, Rob has tried cases before judges, juries, and arbitrators in both state and federal forums. He has authored briefs and presented argument at all levels of the judicial system, and he has provided advice and counsel on a range of bankruptcy, restructuring, and insolvency-related matters to clients around the country.
Notable Representations
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Two trial wins in the 3M / Aearo bankruptcy.
See In re Aearo Technologies LLC, 2023 WL 3938436 (Bankr. S.D. Ind. 2023) (dismissing multi-billion-dollar mass tort bankruptcy case as an abuse of the Bankruptcy Code), and 642 B.R. 891 (Bankr. S.D. Ind. 2022) (denying request to protect non-debtors). The American Lawyer, September 2022 -
Oral argument before the en banc Ninth Circuit.
See In re Flores, 735 F.3d 855 (9th Cir. 2013) (en banc). Watch the argument -
Four trials in the Jefferson County, Alabama chapter 9 case, the then-largest municipal bankruptcy in U.S. history.
See, e.g., In re Jefferson County, Alabama, 474 B.R. 228 (Bankr. N.D. Ala. 2012) (denying relief-from-stay motions concerning hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue servicing billions of dollars in debt), 469 B.R. 92 (Bankr. N.D. Ala. 2012) (finding county eligible for bankruptcy relief), Bennett v. Jefferson County, Alabama, 899 F.3d 1240 (11th Cir. 2018) (reversing district court’s erroneous refusal to dismiss confirmation appeal as equitably moot). -
Securing a judgment and unprecedented joint opinion from twenty sitting bankruptcy judges that the federal Defense of Marriage Act is unconstitutional.
See In re Balas & Morales, 449 B.R. 567 (Bankr. C.D. Cal. 2011). Los Angeles Times, June 2011 -
Principal authorship of the successful certiorari petition and merits briefing in Travelers Indemnity Co. v. Bailey.
557 U.S. 137 (2009).
Experience
Rob has an AV® Preeminent™ peer review rating from Martindale-Hubbell. He volunteers at the Los Angeles County Superior Court, and was appointed as an Appellate Lawyer Representative to the Ninth Circuit Judicial Conference by the Chief Judge of the Ninth Circuit. Rob serves on the Board of the Ninth Judicial Circuit Historical Society and chairs the group’s oral history committee. He authored Marriage Equality in Bankruptcy Court: Joint Petitions for Same-Sex Couples, 32 Cal. Bankr. J. 109 (2012), and is an active member of the following professional organizations:
Admissions, Education & Prior Practice
- State bars
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- Connecticut 2001
- Indiana 2002
- New York 2003
- California 2006
- Courts
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- All state and federal courts in California, Indiana, New York, and Connecticut
- The Supreme Court of the United States
- The U.S. Courts of Appeals for the Second, Third, Seventh, Ninth, and Eleventh Circuits
- Education
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- New York University, J.D. 2001
- Indiana University, B.A. 1998
- Prior legal employment
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- Klee, Tuchin, Bogdanoff & Stern LLP, Counsel 2010 & Partner 2011–2023
- Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP, Associate 2003–2009 & Counsel 2010
- United States District Judge Janet Bond Arterton, Clerk 2001–2003