- Location: Birmingham, Michigan
- Direct: 248-971-1711
- Mobile: 248-882-8496
- Fax: 248-971-1801
- Email: Wilkins@BWST-Law.com
Matthew E. Wilkins
Matt Wilkins advises customers and suppliers, primarily in the automotive industry, on a wide variety of contract issues and disputes. He has special expertise in the negotiation and documentation of complex supply-chain agreements and asset sales, where either the customer or supplier is financially distressed. Matt also has a deep background in bankruptcy and creditors’ rights and commercial and business litigation.
Matt is proud of co-founding and helping develop Brooks Wilkins Sharkey & Turco into a preeminent boutique law firm specializing in high stakes litigation, supply chain counseling and advising clients in financial distress situations. While based in the Detroit area, the firm has a national reach.
Prior to founding Brooks Wilkins Sharkey & Turco in 2009, Matt was a shareholder at Butzel Long in Detroit. Before joining Butzel Long in 1997, he was a partner in the Chicago firm of Coffield, Ungaretti & Harris. Matt is licensed to practice in Michigan, Illinois and Indiana.
Representative Experience
- Daily counseling of customers and suppliers on various aspects of their supply contracts, including terms and conditions, pricing disputes, and force majeure issues.
- Representation of many automotive suppliers and customers in distress situations, including the negotiation and execution of complex support, restructuring and exit agreements with their contract counterparties.
- Representation of numerous multi-national Tier One automotive customers in their distressed supplier matters throughout the United States, Mexico and Canada.
- Representation of the Receiver in a large Tier One automotive manufacturer, resulting in a sale as a going concern preserving hundreds of local jobs.
- Representation of a large, critical Tier One supplier in the restructuring of its Customer relationships, facilitating its sale to an international corporation.
- Co-counsel for the Official Committee of Retirees in the City of Detroit Chapter 9 bankruptcy.
- Representation of the Creditors’ Committee of a significant scrap metal dealer in its consensual liquidation.
- Representation of a distressed aerospace supplier in restructuring the supply agreements with its customers and then the sale of its business as a going concern.
- Representation of the Creditors’ Committee and the Liquidating Trustee of a manufacturer with over $500,000,000 in liabilities.
- Representation of real estate developers and guarantors in the negotiation and documentation of workout and discounted payoff agreements.
- As debtors’ counsel, representation of a substantial Michigan not-for-profit hospital in its Chapter 11 bankruptcy and ultimate sale as a going concern.
- Advising boards of directors regarding their fiduciary responsibilities in the insolvencies of subsidiary and related entities.
- Representation of the purchaser of substantially all of the operating assets of an insolvent solar energy company.
- Prosecution and defense of many bankruptcy preferential and fraudulent transfer actions.
Education, Professional Associations and Recognitions
- Indiana University School of Law (J.D., 1983)
- Vanderbilt University (B.A., 1980)
- Licensed to practice in Michigan (1997), Illinois (1987) and Indiana (1983)
- Recognized as a Michigan “Superlawyer” 10+ years
- Recognized as a Detroit “Top Lawyer” by Hour Detroit Magazine
- Recognized as a Michigan “Best Lawyer”
- Martindale-Hubbell “AV” rated
- Member, American, Michigan and Chicago Bar Associations
- Member, American Bankruptcy Institute
- Past-member of the ABA Young Lawyer’s Divisions’ national Executive Council
- Past-Chair of the Bankruptcy and Professionalism Committees of the Division
- Past-Chair, Indianapolis Bar Association Young Lawyer’s Committee
Recent Speaking Engagements
- “Saving the DIA: How the Detroit Institute of Art Survived the City’s Bankruptcy.”
- What Creditors Should Know About Municipal Bankruptcies – 26th Annual State Bar of Michigan Business Law Institute
- “Strategies for OEM Insolvencies – P.O. Terms and Conditions”
- OESA Annual OEM-Supplier Terms and Conditions Conference
- “Autos and Auto Suppliers: The Nuts and Bolts of Supplier Restructuring”
- Beard Group Annual Conference on Corporate Reorganization
- “OEM Insolvency Risks & Strategies”
- Precision Machined Products Association, Competitive Strategies Seminar
- “Basics of Bankruptcy”
- Presented to Detroit Automotive News editors and staff
Personal
- Past President and current Director, Menonaqua Corporation, Harbor Springs, Michigan
- Member, Wolverine Sports Club, Cadieux Bicycle Club
- Past Director and Treasurer, Birmingham Blue Dolphins Swim Club Boosters
Specialists in High-Stakes Litigation, Bankruptcy and Supply Chain Counseling.
