Patrick E. Mears is retired of counsel in the Grand Rapids, Michigan office of Barnes & Thornburg LLP. He was a member of the firm's Finance, Insolvency and Restructuring Department and New York Law Practice Group. Mr. Mears concentrated his practice in distressed real estate, insolvency, workouts and restructurings, commercial finance, securitizations, and creditors’ rights. He represented financial institutions as individual creditors and as members of loan syndicates in matters throughout the state of Michigan and the remainder of the country. Although his primary practice was representing financial institutions as secured and unsecured creditors, he also represented debtors and creditors committees in bankruptcy cases and out-of-court workouts.

Mr. Mears has been an elected fellow of the American College of Bankruptcy and an elected member of the American Law Institute. He has been listed in Chambers USA, The Best Lawyers in America®, Euromoney’s Guide to the World’s Leading Insolvency and Restructuring Lawyers, Michigan Super Lawyers® 2006-2012 and Who’s Who in America. Mr. Mears is formerly the chairperson of the Real Estate Financing Group of the American Bar Association's Real Property, Probate and Trust Law Section and has served as chair of the Uniform Commercial Code Committee of the Michigan State Bar’s Business Law Section.