Bankruptcy Attorney in Northern Virginia
When a Bankruptcy Touches Your Business, Act Before the Stay Locks You Out
A customer files, a partner folds, or your own company needs to reorganize. Bankruptcy moves fast and rewrites the rules overnight. We help Northern Virginia businesses and creditors protect their position when it happens.
The Day a Filing Hits, the Rules You Were Counting On Change
Bankruptcy not only affects the company that files. It freezes collection through the automatic stay, can claw back payments you already received as preferences, and decides who gets paid and in what order. If a customer, a tenant, a supplier, or a business partner files, the moves you make in the first weeks shape how much you recover.
We guide businesses and creditors through that process, protecting your claim and collateral, and we advise companies considering reorganization on their options. This is a place where doing nothing is itself a costly decision, so we help you act with a clear plan.
Schedule a ConsultationWhere We Step In
- ✓ A customer or client filed and owes you money
- ✓ You received a demand to return a “preference” payment
- ✓ You need to file a proof of claim
- ✓ The automatic stay is blocking your collection
- ✓ Your business is weighing reorganization
- ✓ A bankruptcy is affecting a contract or lease
How We Help
Protecting Your Position in Bankruptcy
Whether you are owed money, asked to give some back, or deciding your company’s future, here is where we help most.
Creditor Claims & Proofs of Claim
When someone who owes you files, we prepare and file your proof of claim, assert your priority, and work to recover as much of the debt as the case allows.
Proof of claimPriorityRecovery
Preference & Clawback Defense
Got a demand to repay money a bankrupt customer paid you before filing? We raise the available defenses and work to reduce or defeat the clawback.
PreferenceClawbackDefenses
Automatic Stay & Relief
The automatic stay halts collection the moment a case is filed. We advise you on what you can and cannot do, and seek relief from the stay when your collateral is at risk.
Automatic stayStay reliefCollateral
Business Reorganization Options
If your company is struggling, we explain the paths, from negotiated workouts to Chapter 11 or Subchapter V reorganization, and help you weigh them against the alternatives.
Chapter 11Subchapter VWorkouts
Contracts, Leases & the Estate
Bankruptcy lets a debtor assume or reject contracts and leases. We protect your interests when an agreement you depend on is caught up in someone else’s case.
Assume/rejectLeasesCure
Choosing the Right Chapter
Chapter 7, 11, 13, and Subchapter V each serve different goals. We help you understand which fits your situation and connect you with the right counsel where a matter falls outside our focus.
Chapter 7Chapter 13Guidance
Why Businesses and Creditors Call Us
Bankruptcy is federal, fast, and unforgiving of missed deadlines. We help you stay ahead of it.
We Protect What You Are Owed
When a debtor files, we move to preserve your claim, your priority, and any collateral or security you hold.
We Defend the Money You Kept
Preference demands surprise good companies. We raise the defenses that let you keep what you fairly earned.
We Watch the Deadlines
Claim bar dates and objection windows are firm. We calendar them and act in time so your rights do not lapse.
We See the Whole Dispute
A bankruptcy usually grows out of a contract, a project, or a deal. We connect it to the business issues that drive it.
What to Expect
What Working With Us Looks Like
1
Consultation
Tell us how the bankruptcy touches you, as a creditor, a counterparty, or a business weighing its options. We flag the deadlines.
2
Assess Your Position
We review the debt, the documents, and the case posture, then tell you what you can recover or what you risk.
3
File or Respond
We file the claim, answer the preference demand, or seek stay relief, on the court’s schedule and ahead of the bar date.
4
Pursue the Outcome
We negotiate, litigate in the bankruptcy court, or guide your reorganization toward the best result available.
Attorney Insight
“For a business owed money, the worst thing to do when a customer files is nothing. The automatic stay stops you cold, claim deadlines pass quietly, and months later a trustee can even demand you return payments you already collected. Bankruptcy runs on a federal calendar that does not care that you were busy. The owners who recover the most are the ones who call the day they hear the word filed, not the day they get the clawback letter.”
Anthony I. Shin, Esq.
Founder, Shin Law Office
Common Questions
Answers Before You Call
A customer who owes me money filed for bankruptcy. What should I do?
Stop collection efforts right away, because the automatic stay now applies, then move to protect your claim. You will likely need to file a proof of claim by a set deadline. The sooner you act, the better your odds of recovering something from the case.
What is the automatic stay?
It is an immediate halt on most collection activity that takes effect the moment a bankruptcy is filed. Continuing to collect in violation of the stay can carry penalties, so it is important to know what you can and cannot do. When your collateral is at risk, we can ask the court for relief from the stay.
I got a letter demanding I repay money a bankrupt customer paid me. Is that real?
Yes, it can be. Payments a debtor made shortly before filing can sometimes be recovered as preferences. The good news is there are recognized defenses, such as payments made in the ordinary course of business. We assess the demand and work to reduce or defeat it.
What is a proof of claim, and is there a deadline?
A proof of claim is the document a creditor files to be considered for payment in a bankruptcy. There is almost always a deadline, called a bar date, and missing it can cost you your recovery. We prepare and file it correctly and on time.
What is the difference between Chapter 7, 11, and 13?
In broad terms, Chapter 7 is a liquidation, Chapter 13 is a repayment plan for individuals, and Chapter 11, including Subchapter V for smaller businesses, is reorganization that lets a company keep operating. The right chapter depends on the goals and the numbers, and we help you understand which path fits.
Can my business reorganize without shutting down?
Often, yes. Chapter 11 and Subchapter V are designed to let a business restructure its debts and keep operating. Before filing, a negotiated workout with creditors is sometimes possible too. We help you weigh the options against the costs and the alternatives.
What happens to a contract or lease when the other side files?
A debtor can generally choose to assume or reject many contracts and leases. That decision affects your rights and any cure of past defaults. We step in to protect your interest in agreements that get pulled into someone else’s bankruptcy.
Do you handle personal consumer bankruptcy filings?
Our focus is helping businesses and creditors navigate bankruptcy and advising companies on reorganization. If your situation calls for a different kind of representation, we will tell you directly and help point you toward the right counsel.
Visit Us
Two Offices Serving Northern Virginia
Leesburg Office
Fairfax Office
Phone 571-445-6565 • Fax 703-442-8938 • Cell 571-215-8823
The Clock Started When the Case Was Filed
In bankruptcy, the deadline you miss is the recovery you lose. Tell us how a filing is affecting you and we will move to protect your position. Serving Leesburg, Fairfax, and all of Northern Virginia.
Prefer to talk now? Reach Anthony I. Shin, Esq. at 571-445-6565.
Based in Loudoun County and serving clients across Virginia, Washington DC, and Maryland, we know that when everything’s on the line, the right attorney doesn’t just make a difference, they determine the outcome.
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Copyright © 2025 Shin Law Office, PLC. All rights reserved.
Copyright © 2025 Shin Law Office, PLC. All rights reserved.
Reproduction of any content on this site is prohibited except for individual, non-commercial, informational use. This limited permission does not allow modification, distribution, or incorporation of any content into other works or publications in any medium. You may not reproduce or distribute content from this site to any third party.