Dean A. Ziehl

Dean Ziehl has been a managing partner of the firm since it was founded in 1983, overseeing its growth into the nation’s largest law firm specializing in insolvency matters. Resident in the firm’s Los Angeles office, he has a national bankruptcy and litigation practice, specializing in complex bankruptcy proceedings and business litigation, with significant trial experience in both state and federal courts. Dean has represented debtors, creditors’ committees, bondholders, trustees, examiners, and equity holders in many of the firm’s most notable engagements, including the high-profile chapter 11 cases of Lehman Brothers, Adelphia Communications, American Suzuki Motor Corporation and TK Holdings (Takata), as well as numerous out-of-court workouts. He is or has been involved in many other significant chapter 11 cases, including Washington Mutual, Mike Tyson, Webvan Group, Chrysler Corporation and Polaroid Corporation. In addition, he currently serves as the liquidation trustee and disbursing agent for The Weinstein Company and as chair of the trustees overseeing the liquidation of Adelphia Communications. He has also represented the National Association of Bankruptcy Trustees as amicus curiae in the U.S. Supreme Court as well as on numerous appeals in federal courts of appeal and state supreme and appellate courts.

Dean currently serves as a member of the board of trustees of the U.S. Supreme Court Historical Society, the advisory board of the Loyola Law School Advocacy Institute, and the board of directors of the Ninth Judicial Circuit Historical Society. He is a former chair of the Los Angeles County Bar Association Litigation Section and the Ninth Circuit Judicial Conference Central District Lawyers Representatives. Dean has long held an “AV Preeminent Peer Rating,” Martindale-Hubbell’s highest recognition for ethical standards and legal ability; has been voted by his business litigation peers as a “Super Lawyer” in Los Angeles and New York; and was selected by Best Lawyers in America for his work in Bankruptcy and Creditor Debtor Rights / Insolvency and Reorganization Law as well as Commercial Litigation. In 2014, the Century City Bar Association honored him as its “Bankruptcy Lawyer of the Year.“ In 2020, he was listed by Lawdragon as one of the”Lawdragon 500 Leading Global Restructuring & Insolvency Lawyers” and named “Lawyer of the Year” in the 2021 edition of Best Lawyers in America. Dean is a graduate of U.C. Berkeley and received his J.D. from Loyola Law School of Los Angeles, where he was a member of the Loyola Law Review editorial staff. Following law school, he clerked for the Hon. Albert Lee Stephens, Jr., Chief Judge of the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California.

Clerkships

•Law clerk, Chief Judge Albert Lee Stephens, Jr. (C.D. Cal.)

Fiduciary Engagements

•Liquidation/litigation trustee:
•The Weinstein Company . Liquidation trustee administering the remaining assets of this film studio following its chapter 11 in the aftermath of numerous and highly publicized sexual misconduct claims against the company and its co-founder
•SFX Litigation Trust . Litigation trustee and disbursing agent for SFX, a live events, ticketing, and digital entertainment conglomerate that owned or operated electronic dance music festivals and concerts worldwide
•Physiotherapy Associates . Chair of the board of trustees overseeing the litigation trust of Physiotherapy Associates, the largest pure-play provider of outpatient therapy services in the United States with over 1500 clinicians and 581 rehabilitation, orthotics, and prosthetics clinics in 29 states and the District of Columbia
•Adelphia Communications . Chair of the board of trustees overseeing the liquidation of the Adelphia Communications, the fifth largest cable company in the U.S. before filing for bankruptcy after accounting scandals revealed $2.3 billion of off-balance-sheet debt, and the prosecution of litigation claims held by the Adelphia Recovery Trust, a public Delaware grantor trust

News

PSZJ Ranked in 2026 Edition of Benchmark Litigation California, Dean Ziehl Named “Litigation Star”

October 28, 2025

Eighteen PSZJ Attorneys Named to the Lawdragon '500 Leading Global Bankruptcy & Restructuring Lawyers' Guide for 2025

LawdragonJune 27, 2025

PSZJ Attorneys Named in 2025 Edition of Best Lawyers in America and Best Lawyers: Ones to Watch

August 15, 2024

Eighteen PSZJ Attorneys Named to the Lawdragon 500 Leading Global Bankruptcy & Restructuring Lawyers for 2024

LawdragonJune 14, 2024

PSZJ Ranked in 2024 Edition of Benchmark Litigation California, Dean Ziehl Named “Litigation Star'

October 5, 2023

PSZJ Attorneys Named in 2024 Edition of Best Lawyers in America

August 17, 2023

Eighteen PSZJ Attorneys Named to the Lawdragon 500 Leading Bankruptcy & Restructuring Lawyers for 2023

LawdragonJune 16, 2023

PSZJ Ranked in 2023 Edition of Benchmark Litigation California, Dean Ziehl Named “Litigation Star'

September 1, 2022

PSZJ Attorneys Named in 2023 Edition of Best Lawyers in America

August 18, 2022

Fourteen PSZJ Attorneys Named to 2022 Lawdragon '500 Leading U.S. Bankruptcy & Restructuring Lawyers' Guide

LawdragonJanuary 14, 2022

PSZJ Attorneys Named in 2022 Edition of Best Lawyers in America

August 19, 2021

Nineteen PSZJ Attorneys Named 2021 Southern California “Super Lawyers”

January 1, 2021

Dean Ziehl Named a “Lawyer of the Year” in 2021 Edition of Best Lawyers in America

August 20, 2020

PSZJ Attorneys Named in 2021 Edition of Best Lawyers in America

August 20, 2020

Eleven PSZJ Attorneys Named to Lawdragon’s Leading Global Restructuring & Insolvency Lawyers Guide

August 11, 2020

Twenty-One PSZJ Attorneys Named 2020 Southern California “Super Lawyers”

January 15, 2020

PSZJ Named to 2020 Edition of Benchmark Litigation California, Dean Ziehl Named “Litigation Star'

September 26, 2019

PSZJ Attorneys Named in Best Lawyers in America

August 15, 2018

Twenty-One PSZJ Attorneys Named 2019 Southern California “Super Lawyers”

January 30, 2019

PSZJ Attorneys Named in Best Lawyers in America

August 15, 2019

Twenty PSZJ Attorneys Named 2018 Southern California “Super Lawyers”

January 31, 2018

Thirty-Five PSZJ Attorneys Named Best Lawyers in America

August 15, 2017

Eighteen PSZJ Attorneys Named 2017 Southern California “Super Lawyers”

January 25, 2017

Nineteen PSZJ Attorneys Named Best Lawyers in America

August 1, 2016

Seventeen PSZJ Attorneys Named Best Lawyers in America

August 17, 2015

Thirteen PSZJ Attorneys Named Best Lawyers in America

August 1, 2014

Dean Ziehl: Bankruptcy Lawyer of the Year

April 9, 2014

Pachulski Stang Ziehl & Jones: Five M&A Advisor Turnaround Awards

February 1, 2014

Ten Southern California Super Lawyers at Pachulski Stang

Los Angeles magazineFebruary 1, 2014

American Suzuki Swiftly Glides to Plan Confirmation

March 6, 2013

Eight Southern California Super Lawyers at Pachulski Stang

Los Angeles magazineJanuary 1, 2013

Eight Southern California Super Lawyers at Pachulski

Los Angeles MagazineMarch 1, 2008