Patricia A. Staiano is the former United States Trustee for the Districts of New Jersey, Delaware and Pennsylvania. She is a 1983 graduate of Boston College, where she attended the School of Management receiving her Bachelor of Science degree in finance and marketing. Ms. Staiano is a graduate of Seton Hall School of Law, receiving her JD in 1986. Ms. Staiano clerked for the Honorable William H. Gindin, United States Bankruptcy Judge in Trenton, New Jersey. She has concentrated her practice area in insolvency and commercial litigation, specializing in bankruptcy and representation of Chapter 7 and Chapter 11 trustees in business reorganization and consumer matters. She has also represented Chapter 7 and Chapter 11 debtors, secured lenders, official committees of unsecured creditors and individual creditors.

As United States Trustee, Ms. Staiano appointed and oversaw Chapter 7, Chapter 11 and Chapter 13 Trustees. She was instrumental in forming Bankruptcy Fraud Task Forces in conjunction with United States Attorneys and other law enforcement agencies in five federal judicial districts. Ms. Staiano reviewed and litigated issues of professional conflicts, confirmation of plans of reorganization, adequacy of disclosure statements, formed creditor committees, appointed Chapter 11 trustees and reviewed fee applications for all professionals retained pursuant to court order in bankruptcy cases. During her tenure, Ms. Staiano oversaw the administration of the largest and most complex Chapter 11 cases filed in the nation, managing five offices and approximately 100 Chapter 7 trustees and over 100 Chapter 11 trustees. Further, while at the Department of Justice, Ms. Staiano was Chair of the Chapter 11 subcommittee for the Department of Justice, United States Trustee Program, a member of the Chapter 7 Subcommittee, and a member of the Director’s Advisory Committee. Ms. Staiano testified before the Subcommittee on Commercial and Administrative Law of the House Committee on the Judiciary regarding the Chapter 11 small business provisions contained in the House of Representatives version of the Bankruptcy Reform Act. Ms. Staiano served for two years as Co-chair of the Business Reorganization Committee of the American Bankruptcy Institute. She was also designated by the Department of Justice to draft special rules to be presented to the Rules Committee of the United States Supreme Court.

Ms. Staiano lectures frequently on Chapter 11 reorganizations and consumer bankruptcies. Ms. Staiano is a member of the New Jersey Bar, as well as a member of the bars of the Southern District of New York and the Eastern District of New York and is admitted to practice before the United States Circuit Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit.

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