Laura joined Sandberg Phoenix in 2023 and is a member of the Business Law Practice group. She enjoys assisting clients in negotiating successful transactions for both for-profit and non-profit business development.
With a broad range of experience representing parties to commercial transactions, Laura has represented lenders and borrowers in connection with loan financing for construction loans, tax-credit financed loans, and other asset-based loans, and also provides guidance to purchasers and sellers in real estate development and investment projects.
In addition, Laura is experienced with workouts, restructurings, and commercial collections, including bankruptcy and out-of-bankruptcy restructurings, collections litigation, and receiverships. She has represented Chapter 11 debtors, creditors, receivers, and other entities involved with insolvency proceedings, including a Chapter 7 trustee, a committee of unsecured creditors, a disbursing agent, and a liquidating trustee.
Laura is committed to improving her community through public service. She served for eight years as the Executive Director of the Keyway Center for Diversion and Reentry (formerly known as Center for Women in Transition), a St. Louis-based nonprofit organization that provides housing and other critical services to women, leading the organization through significant growth and expansion. In that role, she gained real-world experience in leading a non-profit business. Laura holds a certificate in business management for nonprofit leaders from Washington University and has taught a course on nonprofit leadership and management at the University of Missouri-St. Louis. Laura is also a proud foster mom.
Prior to working at Sandberg Phoenix, Laura served as an Attorney Advisor for the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission and as a Staff Attorney for the U.S. Court of Appeals, Eighth Circuit.
Cornell University, J.D., 2001
Cornell University, LL.M., 2001
University of Utah, B.A., cum laude, 1997
Illinois
Missouri
New York
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit
U.S District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri
U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Florida
U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Illinois
Negotiating and documenting numerous construction financing loans ranging from $15 million to $50 million on behalf of lender.
Structuring, negotiating, and documenting loan and security documents in debt-financed asset sales.
Representing debtors in successfully restructuring businesses through section 363 sale in bankruptcy.
Defending creditors against preference demands in bankruptcy proceedings
Representing receiver in completing friendly foreclosure of substantially all assets of debtor for in excess of $10 million.
Defending creditors against preference demands in bankruptcy proceedings
Keyway Center for Diversion and Reentry
Housing Sub-Committee Member, 2021-present
Board Member, 2006-2013
Board President, 2012
Member and Chair of the Development Committee, 2006-2011
Altrusa International Club of St. Louis
Member, 2014-present
Membership Committee Chair, 2017-2019
St. Louis City Continuum of Care for Homelessness
Member, 2014-2021
Governance and Membership Committee Chair and Board Member, 2018-2021
Co-presenter, "Elimination of Bias - Eastern District Section," The Missouri Bar Annual Bankruptcy Institute 2023 I Virtual, June 16, 2023
Co-speaker, "Elimination of Bias," 2023 Annual Bankruptcy Institute, March 10, 2023
Speaker, "Potpourri of Dischargeability Issues," 2011 Annual Bankruptcy Institute, 2011
Contributing Author, "Confirmation and Cram Down of Chapter 11 Plans," MoBarCLE Publications 2011 Catalog - Chapter 9 Supplement, 2011
American Bankruptcy Institute
The Bar Association of Metropolitan St. Louis
International Women's Insolvency & Restructuring Confederation (IWIRC)
Commercial Receivers Association
The Missouri Bar