facebook twitter linkedin google gplus pinterest mail share search arrow-right arrow-left arrow print vcard
Earle Erman

Earle I.
Erman

Counsel

"It may sound old fashioned, but I truly live to see my clients happy.

Practices

Bankruptcy, Restructuring and Debtor-Creditor Rights, Corporate and Business

EARLE I. ERMAN, counsel, is a member of our Bankruptcy, Restructuring and Debtor-Creditor Rights group. Widely recognized as one of Michigan’s top bankruptcy and insolvency lawyers, Earle’s practice focuses on insolvency-related matters in and out of bankruptcy.

Earle handles creditor-related matters, contract disputes, out-of-court workouts, mediations, receiverships, defense and prosecution of preference and fraudulent transfer actions, representation of debtors, creditors’ committees, and secured and unsecured creditors.

With significant litigation experience in bankruptcy, commercial matters and collections, Earle serves as an expert mediator, facilitator, and arbitrator in a wide range of contract disputes. He has facilitated settlements in many complex commercial cases. Earle also has acted as counsel for receivers and as the receiver at the request of various institutional parties, including the Securities and Exchange Commission.

From 1975 through 1991, Earle served as a member and bankruptcy trustee of the Panel of United States Trustees for the Eastern District of Michigan. He acted as a liquidating and operating trustee in a broad range of business bankruptcy matters.

In 2006, 2013, and 2015, Earle was appointed a member of the Judicial Selection Committee for the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. He made recommendations for the selection of bankruptcy judges for the Eastern District of Michigan. He co-chaired the committee in 2013.

Earle is AV rated in the Martindale Hubbell Law Directory. Since 1995, he has been named in the Best Lawyers in America® in the areas of bankruptcy and creditor debtor rights/insolvency and reorganization law and litigation-bankruptcy. He also has been recognized in the Michigan edition of Super Lawyers® in the areas of business bankruptcy, business litigation, and creditor/debtor rights. He was named among the Super Lawyers® 2021 Top 100 Lawyers in Michigan.

In 2020, DBusiness Magazine listed Earle as a Top Lawyer in the areas of bankruptcy and creditor/debtor rights law, commercial law, and mediation. He also has been recognized as a Michigan Leading Lawyer in the area of bankruptcy and workout law: commercial.

Earle received the Federal Bar Association’s 2018 Barbara J. Rom Award for Bankruptcy Excellence. He is board certified in business bankruptcy by the American Bankruptcy Board of Certification.

Education

Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan, Bachelor of Arts, 1971

Wayne State University, Detroit, Michigan, Juris Doctor, cum laude, 1974

 

Professional Memberships

State Bar of Michigan
– Member, Debtor/Creditor Rights Sub-Committee of the Real Property Law Section

Federal Bar Association, Detroit Chapter

 

Bar Admissions

State Bar of Michigan, admitted 1974

U.S. District Court, Eastern and Western Districts of Michigan

U.S. Court of Appeals, Fifth and Sixth Circuit

 

Recognition

 

Presentations:

Seven Ways to Leave Your Creditor,” Maddin Hauser’s Twenty-Seventh Annual Tax Symposium (2018)

 

Articles & News: