Bruce Francis Smith, one of the founders of Jager Smith, oversees the firm’s Bankruptcy and Restructuring Group and Litigation Group. Bruce has over forty years of experience and he represents creditors’ committees, debtors, creditors, executory contract parties, plan of reorganization proponents and asset purchasers in a number of areas including: chapter 11 reorganizations, out-of-court restructurings, debtor-in-possession financing and inter-creditor relationships.

Chambers USA ranks Bruce as a leader in the fields of bankruptcy and restructuring in Massachusetts. Chambers notes that he is “superb counsel in the bankruptcy area.” Sources say that “he is a multi-talented attorney with extensive experience of corporate insolvency and bankruptcy litigation.” In addition, Bruce has received the highest possible rating from Martindale Hubbell and has been named a Massachusetts Super Lawyer every year since 2004.

Bruce served as a law clerk to the Honorable M. Joseph Blumenfeld, the Chief Judge of the United States District Court for the District of Connecticut. Prior to forming Jager Smith, Bruce served as an Assistant United States Attorney in the Civil and Criminal Divisions of the Office of the United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York.

• Served as lead counsel to the official creditors’ committee in the Chapter 11 cases of an international shipping company, achieving a substantial dividend for unsecured creditors after payment through a consolidated liquidating plan of the remaining secured debt and substantial administrative expenses. 

• Represented the Liquidating Trustee of Boston Generating LLC, having previously represented the Official Committee of Unsecured Creditors. Boston Generating was the owner and operator of a $2 billion power generating portfolio in New England.
• Served as counsel the Unsecured Creditors' Committee of Twin River Casino in Rhode Island in connection with an $800 million restructuring that provided for a 65% recovery.
• Represented the Official Committee of Unsecured Creditors in Majestic Capital, Ltd., which was a specialty provider of workers’ compensation insurance products and services.
• Represented the creditors’ committee and then the post-confirmation Liquidating Supervisor in suits against former officers and employees of a credit card servicing company that processed $10.5 billion in the twelve months prior to bankruptcy.
• Represented the post-confirmation Liquidating Supervisor in the liquidation of ServiSense.com, a technology company, in which litigation recovered a substantial dividend for unsecured creditors.
• Served as lead counsel for a manufacturer, distributor and supplier of concrete and aggregate products in its Chapter 11 case, and in that capacity negotiated and closed the sales of substantially all of its assets to strategic buyers.
• Represented the debtor and the equity interests trustee in an extraordinary Chapter 11 case that paid all creditors’ claims in full and paid $17 million to equity holders.
• Successfully challenged the security interests claimed by a Chapter 11 debtor’s equipment lenders in certain of the debtor’s assets, leading to a significant dividend paid to the unsecured creditors.
• Handled extensive construction litigation as special counsel to the Chapter 7 trustee of a construction company.
• Represented an international law firm in its dissolution and the sale of portions of its practice.
• Acted as counsel to the official creditors’ committee in the Chapter 11 case of the largest contractor on Boston's "Big Dig" project.
• Counseled numerous debtors in reorganization cases involving substantial real estate assets.
• Represented a significant demolition contractor on Boston's "Big Dig" project in connection with criminal investigations concerning the use and disposal of hazardous materials, guided the client through the removal and remediation process, and resolved the criminal charges.
• Served as lead counsel for the official creditors’ committee in a case involving check kiting and fictitious sales used to defraud banks and creditors.
• Represented a mortgage origination and servicing organization in its Chapter 11 case.