Overview
Nick has a well-established reputation for helping both debtor and creditor clients whose assets or recoveries have been threatened by financial distress. Those clients include troubled businesses, their secured and unsecured creditors (e.g. commercial and alternative lenders, bondholders, indenture trustees, and official committees of unsecured creditors), and distressed investors and asset purchasers. The vast majority of his engagements involve actual or contemplated chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings.
He represents both large and small companies, but his focus is on the middle market. His work has spanned a broad range of industries, including gaming, hospitality, transportation, health care, consumer products, financial services, real estate, retail, manufacturing, media and various technologies.
Nick has been recognized for his work by clients and peers alike. He is a recognized leader in the insolvency field, having been elected to a broad range of leadership positions in various industry and professional organizations. Among other honors, Nick has been certified since 2008 as a Business Bankruptcy Specialist by the American Board of Certification — a distinction achieved by select professionals who have met rigorous, objective certification standards relating to experience, continuing legal education, integrity and peer review, and who have demonstrated a sophisticated understanding of business bankruptcy law. He has served on that organization’s board of directors and its Standards Committee.
Nick has the rare distinction of being a two-time winner of the Turnaround Management Association’s national Transaction or Turnaround of the Year Award, which recognizes insolvency practitioners who have “rescued companies from the shadow of complete ruin.” He is a Past President of the TMA’s Chicago/Midwest Chapter and currently serves on its board of directors.
He most recently received a Global M&A Network Turnaround Atlas Award for Consumer Products Turnaround of the Year (2019) for his work leading a group of attorneys in the firm's representation of Hobbico, Inc. and seven of its affiliated debtors.
In addition, Nick also has been recognized as a leader in Chambers USA: America’s Leading Lawyers for Business (recommended in Bankruptcy/Restructuring) since 2014. According to the survey, clients call him “very knowledgeable,” “very comprehensive,” “energetic and bright,” “thorough, organized,” “a terrific attorney” with a “wealth of practical commercial awareness” and a “great ability to help identify creative and practical solutions” whose “follow up is unparalleled.”
Nick currently serves as an emeritus board member for the Partnership to Educate and Advance Kids (PEAK). PEAK’s mission is to provide opportunities for Chicago’s at-risk youth to achieve academic and personal success through a quality, values-based education and the guidance of caring adult mentors. Nick also has provided a substantial amount of pro bono legal services to a number of clients over the years.He was a Cleveland Bar Fellow from 2002-09 and a trustee of the Cleveland Bar Association from 2002-03.
Nick earned his J.D. from Cleveland State University College of Lawin 1998, where he served as the associate editor of the Cleveland State Law Review, as a member on the Moot Court Board of Governors and as the business editor of the Journal of Law and Health. Miller completed his B.A. in political science in 1995 at Cleveland State, graduating summa cum laude while also serving as captain of the Vikings’ Division I baseball team and being recognized with the Director’s Award as CSU’s Most Distinguished Student Athlete.
Representative Cases & Matters
- Husky Int’l Electronics, Inc. v. Ritz, 136 S. Ct. 1581 (2016)
- In re BX Acquisitions, Inc., 2016 Bankr. LEXIS 1858 (Bankr. N.D. Ohio April 27, 2016)
- In re Crane, 742 F.3d 702 (7th Cir. 2013)
- Gifford State Bank v. Richardson (In re Crane), 487 B.R. 906 (C.D. Ill. 2013)
- River East Plaza, LLC v. LNV Corp. (In re River East Plaza, LLC), 669 F.3d 826 (7th Cir. 2012)
- Seraphin v. Morris Publ’g Group, LLC (In re Morris Publ’g Group, LLC), 2011 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 32025 (S.D. Ga. March 28, 2011)
- McMillan v. LTV Steel, Inc., 555 F.3d 218 (6th Cir. 2009)
- In re Ampex Corp., 2008 Bankr. LEXIS 1536 (Bankr. S.D.N.Y. May 14, 2008)
- Oil States Int’l, Inc. v. LTV Corp. (In re LTV Steel Co., Inc.), 253 Fed. Appx. 535 (6th Cir. 2007)
- McMillan v. LTV Steel Co., Inc., 2007 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 71621 (N.D. Ohio Sept. 26, 2007)
- In re LTV Steel Co., Inc., 357 B.R. 118 (Bankr. N.D. Ohio 2006)
- Oil States Int’l, Inc. v. LTV Corp., 2006 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 77307 (N.D. Ohio Oct. 24, 2006)
- C&K Indus. Servs. v. LTV Steel Co., Inc., 2006 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 68514 (N.D. Ohio Sept. 25, 2006)
- In re LTV Steel Co., 333 B.R. 397 (Bankr. N.D. Ohio 2005)
- Cleveland Bar Ass’n v. Johnson, 761 N.E. 2d 1043 (Ohio 2002)