Departments

Trial

Practice Areas

Education

J.D., Georgetown University, 1975
A.B., magna cum laude, Boston College, 1972

Admissions

Missouri, 1975
Kansas, 2007

Kansas City (Downtown)

Phone: 816.395.0697

Fax: 816.374.0509

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Paul D. Sinclair

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Mr. Sinclair has spent more than 30 years as a first chair trial lawyer in jury, non-jury and arbitration cases and represents secured and unsecured creditors, business debtors, committees of unsecured creditors and equity security holders, and liquidating trusts in business restructuring, workout and bankruptcy matters. Mr. Sinclair has frequently represented directors and officers in fiduciary duty litigation, and buyers and sellers of significant businesses in asset/business sales and acquisitions. His general business clients are active in the service industry, real estate, lending and finance, insurance, airline, automotive and other general business enterprises.

Among Mr. Sinclair’s professional distinctions are his Missouri Bar Association Oliver Rasch Award conferred in 1989, and his continuous listing since 2003 in the “Best of Bar” award from the Kansas City Business Journal. He is also listed as a Missouri Super Lawyer and in Best Lawyers in America. Mr. Sinclair has published numerous articles in the American Bankruptcy Institute Journal on Ponzi scheme clawback cases, and serves as a member of the board of the American Bankruptcy Institute Law Review. He has frequently lectured on legal topics and contributed to Missouri Bar publications. He served as an adjunct professor of real estate transactions at the University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Law. Mr. Sinclair is admitted to practice in Missouri and Kansas.

Memberships and Affiliations

The Missouri Bar
Kansas Bar Association
American Bankruptcy Institute
UMKC Midwestern Bankruptcy Institute, Advisory Board

Distinctions

Honored by The Kansas City Business Journal as "Best in the Bar," in Corporate Directors & Officers Liability Litigation; Business Litigation, 2003-2011
Selected for inclusion in Missouri & Kansas Super Lawyers for Bankruptcy & Creditor/Debtor Rights, 2007-2011
Selected for inclusion in The Best Lawyers in America^®2007-2012
- Bankruptcy and Creditor-Debtor Rights Law/Insolvency and Reorganizations Law
W. Oliver Rasch (Writing) Award, 1989
Serving as lead counsel for over 30 years in business jury trials, bench trials and arbitration proceedings
Serving as co-counsel to Official Committee of Unsecured Creditors, Interstate Bakeries Corporation and as lead counsel on its Post-Petition Trust Preference Actions
Served as lead counsel defending officers and directors in an action by bankruptcy trustee and investigation by Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation as well as in SEC non-disclosure breach of fiduciary duty case
Serving as counsel to the principal workers’ compensation, automobile and general liability insurance carrier in the bankruptcy of the nation’s largest farmer-owned cooperative, Farmland Industries, Inc.
Serving as creditors’ committee chairman and attorney to the committee in a land development real estate reorganization, resulting in a distribution to the unsecured creditors of 150 cents on the dollar

Experience

Bankruptcy Preferences Cases

Defended scores of bankruptcy preference cases throughout the country, reducing clients' liability to a fraction of the demand., including a major success in Payless Cashways, proving that this major lumber and building supply retailer was solvent for 67 of the 90 days prior to bankruptcy. Silverman Counsulting, Inc. v. Hitachi Power Tools, USA, Ltd., 290 B.R. 689 (Bankr. W.D. Mo. 2003)

Collet v. American National Stores, Inc.

Early in his career, Mr. Sinclair established new law in Missouri regarding piercing the corporate veil in a case involving an NYSE-listed parent corporation. Collet v. American National Stores, Inc., 708 S.W.2d 273 (Mo.App1986)

Secured Creditor

Represented a secured creditor whose equipment had been used in liquidation sales to establish a super priority administrative claim superior to the debtor-in-possession lender.

U.S. Bank Trustee of the IBC Creditors' Trust

Represented U.S. Bank Trustee of the IBC Creditors' Trust in numerous preference and directors/officers liability litigation.

Publications & Presentations

August 2011	Red Flags Part III: Director and Officer Liability American Bankruptcy Institute Journal
June 2011	Red Flags of Fraud Part II: A Due-Diligence Checklist American Bankruptcy Institute Journal
May 2011	Red Flags of Fraud: Background for Due Diligence American Bankruptcy Institute Journal
May 2010	The Sad Tale of Multiple Overlapping Fraudulent Transfers-Part IV (Does SIPC Protect Customers in Ponzi Scheme Cases?) American Bankruptcy Institute Journal
April 2010	The Sad Tale of Fraudulent Transfers-Part III (Recovery of Interest, Profits, and Commissions in Ponzi Scheme Cases) American Bankruptcy Institute Journal
May 2009	The Sad Tale of Fraudulent Transfers-Part II (When Did Ponzi Preferences Morph into Fraudulent Transfers?) American Bankruptcy Institute Journal
April 2009	The Sad Tale of Fraudulent Transfers-Part I (The Unscrupulous are Rewarded and the Diligent are Punished) American Bankruptcy Institute Journal