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David A. Honig

David Honig, a Partner in Joseph & Cohen’s San Francisco office, has been selected by his peers for inclusion in The Best Lawyers in America® 2013 in the field of Litigation – Bankruptcy.  He has specialized for over twenty years in business restructuring, insolvency, corporate finance, and related transactions and litigation.  He is known for his ability to create practical, business-oriented solutions to complex legal and financial problems.

Mr. Honig represents debtors, institutional and non-traditional lenders, trustees, receivers, official creditors’ committees, private equity funds, vendors, licensors, real and personal property lessors, and asset purchasers in bankruptcy, receivership, and other restructuring and workout matters in and out of court. He has extensive experience in the reorganization of distressed financial services businesses, vineyards and wineries, and other food and beverage companies, as well as manufacturing, technology, telecommunications, retail, and real estate investment concerns.

In addition to his out-of-court engagements, Mr. Honig has served as lead or special counsel to clients in many prominent controversies, including:

  • Cisco Systems and Cisco Systems Capital Corporation in customer and channel partner bankruptcy cases throughout the United States, including the Chapter 11 cases of MCI WorldCom, At Home Corporation (Excite@Home), Global Crossing, Exodus Communications, ICG Communications, PSINet, Rhythms NetConnections, NorthPoint Communications Group, and Winstar, Inc., aggregating over $2 billion in distressed assets;
  • EMC Corporation, a leading manufacturer of mass storage devices, in distressed customer and supplier matters nationally;
  • The Chapter 11 Trustee in the bankruptcy cases of Food Service Management, Inc., et al., franchisee-operator of 70 Jack in the Box restaurants in California;
  • The Official Committee of Unsecured Creditors in the Chapter 11 case of The Legacy Estate Group LLC, producer of luxury and ultra-premium wines under the Arrowood, Freemark Abbey, and Byron labels;
  • The Official Committee of Unsecured Creditors in the Chapter 11 case of Red Envelope, Inc., operator of a leading gift merchandise website;
  • The Chapter 11 Trustee in the bankruptcy cases of SK Foods, L.P., and RHM Industrial/Specialty Foods, Inc., one of the largest tomato processors in the nation;
  • The debtor in the Chapter 11 case of Pacific Education Foundation, a non-profit public benefit corporation;
  • Institutional lenders in bankruptcy matters, including the Chapter 11 case of a regional retailer in which he won a declaratory relief action to enforce payoff of his client’s entire secured claim despite the debtor’s assertions of preference and lender liability;
  • Non-traditional investors and license parties in cross-border technology cases, including several software provider bankruptcies in which Mr. Honig’s creative litigation approach allowed his clients to preserve their rights arising from acquisitions of source code and related products and services.

Prior to joining Joseph & Cohen, Mr. Honig was a partner in the restructuring and insolvency practice group of Winston & Strawn LLP (2003-April, 2013), after having been an associate and then a partner at Murphy Sheneman Julian & Rogers (previously known as Murphy Weir & Butler), a nationally recognized bankruptcy and restructuring boutique based in San Francisco (1992-2003).

Mr. Honig received a B.A. in English, magna cum laude, in 1984 from the University of Oregon (Clark Honors College), where he was elected to Phi Beta Kappa.  After working in commercial real estate and securities brokerage, he earned a J.D. from the University of Chicago Law School in 1991, and then served as law clerk to Justice Charles L. Levin of the Michigan Supreme Court.  Mr. Honig has been a member of the State Bar of California since 1992 and is admitted to practice before the California Supreme Court and the Northern District, Eastern District, Central District, and Southern District Courts of California.

Mr. Honig frequently appears on panels, and is the author or co-author of numerous articles, addressing corporate governance, business finance, corporate and municipal insolvency, and related intellectual property matters. He is also co-author of Desktop Communications (John Wiley & Sons, 1990), a business handbook on data communications and networking.  He is a member of the Business Law Section of the State Bar of California, a former member of its Insolvency Law Committee, and former chair of its Education Committee.  From 2004 through 2012, Mr. Honig served on the Board of Directors of The Legal Aid Society – Employment Law Center, which has protected the legal rights of low-income members of the Bay Area community since 1915.