Theodore S. Heckel

Theodore S. Heckel is a partner in the firm’s Houston office. Theo’s practice covers domestic and crossborder corporate restructuring, bankruptcy and insolvency proceedings, outofcourt workouts, and distressed financings and acquisitions. He has experience advising public and private companies, official committees of unsecured creditors, secured and unsecured creditors, equity holders, trade vendors, and other interested parties in complex financial and operational restructurings. Theo’s engagements have spanned various industries, including oil & gas, renewables, power generation, manufacturing, industrials, maritime, healthcare, life sciences, financial services, media and entertainment, retail, real estate, food and beverage, agriculture, technology, and cryptocurrency.

Theo has written on a variety of bankruptcy topics, including issues arising in connection with safe harbor transactions, repurchase agreements, subordination agreements, chapter 11 plans, chapter 15 cases, and avoidance actions. His works have been included in leading publications, such as the ABI Journal. Theo also assisted with the drafting of the Collier Bankruptcy Practice Guide’s chapter on oil & gas reorganizations.

Theo received a B.A. from the University of Wisconsin - Madison and a J.D. from the University of Minnesota Law School, where he cotaught first and secondyear legal writing courses and was awarded the American Bankruptcy Institute Medal of Excellence. Following law school, Theo served as a judicial law clerk to the Honorable Nancy Hershey Lord of the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of New York.

Clerkships

•Judicial Law Clerk, Hon. Nancy Hershey Lord (Bankr. E.D.N.Y.)

Publications

Assisted Coauthors, CHAPTER 135 Bankruptcy Cases Involving Oil and Gas Companies, 7 Collier Bankruptcy Practice Guide P 135 (2025).

Coauthor, Avoiding Foreign Transfers Based on Foreign Law Claims: Fairfield Sentry Cases Illustrate Broad Scope of Safe Harbor in Chapter 15, 17 Pratt’s J. of Bankr. Law 361 (Oct. 2021)

Coauthor, Attention, Buyers of Assets in Bankruptcy: How to Be a Good-Faith Purchaser and Ensure that Any Post Closing Challenges Will Be Dismissed as Statutorily Moot Under 363(m) of the Bankruptcy Code, Am. Bankr. Inst. Asset Sales Committee Newsletter (May 2021)

Coauthor, Third Circuit Decision Provides New Guidance on the Unfair Discrimination Standard of Cramdown and the Enforcement of Subordination Agreements When Confirming Cramdown Plans, 17 Pratt’s J. of Bankr. Law 30 (Jan. 2021)

Coauthor, How to lose a repo in ten days (but get your money back): When measuring damages under 562, measure now and cash in later, 37 Nov. Am. Bankr. Inst. J. 24 (Nov. 2017)