Areas of Practice
Christopher J. Panos is the Managing Shareholder of Craig and Macauley Professional Corporation where he concentrates in general business law, mergers and acquisitions, commercial litigation, and insolvency matters including bankruptcy and business reorganization. Mr. Panos also represents lenders and borrowers in the negotiation and documentation of commercial finance transactions, loan workouts and restructurings. Clients have found that Mr. Panos’s broad experience and skills in these practice areas results in effective and efficient representation and facilitates unique strategic consideration in complex matters.
Mr. Panos is recognized in The Best Lawyers in America in the area of bankruptcy law. He has consistently been named a Massachusetts and New England “SuperLawyer” and in 2006 was recognized as a “Top 100” attorney in Massachusetts by the publishers of Law & Politics and Boston Magazine. In 2008, he was elected as a Fellow of the American College of Bankruptcy.
Representative Matters
Mr. Panos has represented individuals, privately-owned businesses, and public companies in a wide range of matters from routine business issues involving contracts, employment, compliance and governance to high-stakes litigation, acquisitions, and reorganizations or restructurings of debt and equity. Mr. Panos has also represented a number of lawyers, accountants, and their firms in connection with dissolution of their partnerships or in connection with liabilities associated with multiple claims arising from the activities of professionals formerly employed by their firms.
Recent engagements reflect the scope of Mr. Panos’s practice.
Mr. Panos represented Brine, Inc., a leading manufacturer of lacrosse, soccer and other sporting goods equipment, in connection with its acquisition by New Balance, Inc. He represented a private equity fund client in a staged transaction resulting in a $225 million acquisition of energy-related assets and businesses located in California and Texas. Mr. Panos represented Bruegger’s Bagel Corporation and its affiliates in connection with a number of restructurings and transactions in various regions of the country culminating in the acquisition of all assets of that business. Mr. Panos has also recently represented clients in connection with business acquisitions in the manufacturing, technology, trucking and logistics, healthcare, and other industries and a private equity fund client in the buy out of a significant institutional partner.
Mr. Panos successfully tried the defense of a multimillion dollar claim against a prominent Boston law firm arising from the alleged malfeasance of one of its former partners relating to investment activity with an entity that claimed to be a client of that firm. The judgment removed an obstacle to the establishment of a multi-million dollar settlement fund for other clients of the firm that was structured and negotiated by Mr. Panos with insurers and claimants in a Chapter 11 reorganization plan. Mr. Panos also serves as Boston counsel to a large national bank in connection with litigation of fraud and conspiracy claims arising from an alleged scheme that resulted in a loss exceeding $25 million. He has represented other clients in a wide-range of recent commercial litigation and appeals involving claims against officers and directors, contract disputes, asbestos liability and related insurance coverage, and claims arising from finance agreements.
Mr. Panos represented Cornell Trading, Inc., which operated more that seventy-five April Cornell™ retail stores throughout the United States, in connection with its Chapter 11 proceedings. He represented a regional home healthcare company in its successful reorganization and a large group of real estate entities and automobile dealerships located in New England and Florida in a successful debt restructuring. Mr. Panos represented the Official Committees of Unsecured Creditors in the chapter 11 proceedings of Toysmart.com and also of Learningsmith, Inc. He represented the Official Committee of Unsecured Creditors of RoweCom, Inc. in connection with RoweCom’s Chapter 11 proceedings and those of its corporate parent, Divine, Inc. and currently serves as plan trustee under RoweCom’s confirmed plan of reorganization. Mr. Panos has also represented other clients in numerous other recent workout and bankruptcy matters, including debtors, secured creditors, lessors, acquirors, and unsecured creditors.
Professional Recognition and Activities
Mr. Panos was appointed to and currently serves on the Attorney Advisory Board of the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Massachusetts when that board was formed in 2003. In 2004, Mr. Panos was appointed to and served on the Bankruptcy Judge Merit Selection Panel for the District of Massachusetts. Mr. Panos is included in the list of approved Masters/Receivers/Arbitrators for the Superior Court Department of the Trial Court of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
Mr. Panos is recognized in The Best Lawyers in America® in the area of bankruptcy law and has been regularly named a Massachusetts “SuperLawyer” by the publishers of Law & Politics and Boston Magazine. He has been recognized in that publication as one of the “Top 100” lawyers in Massachusetts.
Mr. Panos is a member of the American, Massachusetts and Boston Bar Associations and their Business Law, Litigation and Bankruptcy Law Sections. He is a past Chair of the Bankruptcy Law Section of the Boston Bar Association (1998-2000) and member of the Nominating Committee of the Boston Bar Association (1999). He remains a member of the Steering Committee for the Bankruptcy Law Section of the Boston Bar Association. Mr. Panos is also a member of the Turnaround Management Association (Northeast Chapter) and American Bankruptcy Institute.
Mr. Panos has published numerous articles and frequently speaks on business law topics and insolvency issues. Mr. Panos has spoken and served as Chair and Moderator for the Annual Bench Meets Bar program sponsored by the Boston Bar Association Bankruptcy Law Section, has spoken at the American Bankruptcy Institute’s Northeast Bankruptcy Conference, and has taught a portion of the Bankruptcy Law and Practice advanced legal studies course offered by Suffolk University Law School. Most recently, Mr. Panos has spoken at the national conference of the Association of Insolvency and Restructuring Advisors, the national CLE International Venture Capital Finance Conference, and the annual bankruptcy conference sponsored by Massachusetts Continuing Legal Education. He is also active in pro bono activities including the Boston Bar Association Volunteer Lawyers Project.
Mr. Panos has taught several courses in the Writing and Advocacy Program at Boston University School of Law.
Bar and Court Admissions
- Massachusetts
- United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts
- United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit
Education
Mr. Panos received his A.B. from Georgetown University and his Juris Doctor, cum laude, from Boston University School of Law.