Shira R. Isenberg

Partner / Chicago

Shira Isenberg is a Partner in the Bankruptcy and Financial Restructuring Practice of Smith, Gambrell & Russell, LLP. Ms. Isenberg was a Senior Counsel at Freeborn & Peters, which combined with SGR in 2023.

  • Full Bio

    Ms. Isenberg has significant experience in all aspects of complex bankruptcy and out-of-court workout matters. Prior experience has led to significant expertise in the representation of committees and liquidating trustees, especially including analysis of secured lender matters.

    Moreover, her role in the Global Fraud, Investigations and Asset Recovery Team has utilized her skills with respect to thinking outside the box in obtaining successful results for clients.

    Before joining Freeborn, she was an Associate in the Bankruptcy group at Goldberg Kohn Bell Black Rosenbloom & Moritz and at Latham & Watkins. Ms. Isenberg also served as a Judicial Extern to the Hon. Barry Russell, U.S. Bankruptcy Court, in Los Angeles, California.

    Ms. Isenberg received her B.A. from the University of California, Berkeley with high distinctions and was a member of Phi Beta Kappa. She received her J.D. from the University of California, Los Angeles, where she was the Chief Managing Editor of the UCLA Law Review.

  • Representative Experience

    • Currently representing plaintiff bankruptcy trustee in the investigation and prosecution of complex claims in connection with a multi-billion dollar Ponzi scheme resulting in substantial settlements.
    • Currently representing the state-court appointed receiver in a domestic relations case spanning ten years and which involved millions of dollars of attorney’s fees; within days of the receiver’s appointment, significant support funds were secured for the benefit of the minor children.
    • Currently representing a bank with respect to several post-judgment matters.
    • Represented the Official Committee of Unsecured Creditors of Wagstaff Minnesota, Inc. and worked closely with counsel to Wagstaff to maximize the value of general unsecured claims, including asset sales, investigating the security interests of Wagstaff’s secured creditors and efforts to avoid the potentially devastating impact of certain agreements between Wagstaff and KFC.
    • Represented the Official Committee of Unsecured Creditors of broom purveyor Harper Brush Works and successfully facilitated the sale of Harper’s operating assets to Cequent Consumer Products during the course of Harper’s chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Iowa. For more information, please see: “Freeborn Helps Facilitate Sale of Harper Brush Works Operating Assets”.
    • Represents the Official Committee of Unsecured Creditors of R.T. Midwest Holdings, Inc., and assisted in the effective implementation of a sale-leaseback transaction that would allow the debtors to downsize and shed its real estate assets and secured indebtedness. Despite the secured lender’s undersecured position, the Firm was able to secure a meaningful distribution for general unsecured creditors.
    • Represents the Official Committee of Unsecured Creditors of RWJ Management Co. and its affiliated debtor entities, which own and operate ten BP-branded motor fuel and convenience store facilities in the Chicago metropolitan area with annual revenues exceeding $125,000,000 in the aggregate. The Firm is currently working with the debtors’ senior secured lender to file a joint plan that contemplates the creation of a trust for the benefit of unsecured creditors and the reorganization of the debtors’ business that will be owned and operated by new management.
    • Represented Official Committee of Unsecured Creditors in In re Giordano’s Enterprises, Inc. (Bankr. N.D. Ill.).
    • Represented Official Committee of Unsecured Creditors in In re Schwab Industries, Inc., et al. (Bankr. N.D. Ohio).

  • Bar Admissions

    Illinois
    United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit
    United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois

  • Education

    Undergraduate
    • University of California, Berkeley

    Law School
    • University of California

  • Publications and Speaking Engagements


    Co-author, “Clarity in Gifting Doctrine Is Elusive,” The Journal of Corporate Renewal (April 2011).

    Co-author, “Last in Line: Landlords Use Letters of Credit to Bypass the Claim Cap of § 502(b)(6),” American Bankruptcy Institute Journal (Dec./Jan. 2002).

    Co-author, “Post-Petition Financing,” Chapter 12, Business Bankruptcy Practice – IICLE (2006).