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Patricia Kirkwood Burgess
Partner
Nashville, TN
Partner
Nashville, TN
Patricia is a results-oriented, trusted legal advisor to her clients. For more than 25 years, she has helped individuals and businesses navigate financial difficulties and legal disputes to reach innovative, cost-effective and efficient solutions. She places great emphasis on thoroughly understanding all aspects of her clients’ businesses so she can focus not only on their legal issues, but also on the practical implications those issues have on their businesses and lives.
Patricia currently chairs FBT’s Automotive Industry Team and leads FBT’s representation relating to troubled automotive suppliers, including large supplier and automotive bankruptcies, and supply chain risk management matters (Takata Corporation, Dana Corporation, Delphi Corporation, Johnson Rubber Company, Excello Engineered Systems, Intermet Corporation, Lear Corporation, Metavation, General Motors, Chrysler, Dura Automotive and Pace Industries). She has guided individual and corporate debtors in Chapter 11 bankruptcy, as well as workout negotiations outside of court across a spectrum of industries, including logistics companies, franchises and franchisors, real estate investors, restaurant owners, manufacturers, communication companies and automotive suppliers.
Counsels businesses of varying sizes engaged in complex commercial disputes such as breach of contract, negligence, fraud, misrepresentation, tortious interference, successor liability, business ownership, control and governance issues, mineral trespass and energy-related disputes, franchise disputes and violations of various state and federal statutes.
Works with secured lenders in protecting and recovering their collateral whether through workout and forbearance, self-help remedies, state or federal court litigation, or bankruptcy proceedings.
Assists secured and unsecured creditors, debtor in possession lenders, landlords, utilities and purchasers of assets in both complex commercial bankruptcies as well as large and small individual Chapter 11 cases.
Represents plaintiffs and defendants in preference actions nationally, fraudulent conveyance actions, claim objections, breach of fiduciary duty investigations, and any other contested or litigation matters in bankruptcy court.
Assists individuals involved in all levels of litigation disputes, such as will contests and estate litigation, challenging and defending enforceability of contracts, fraud and negligence.
Represents financial institutions (from local to national) in defending lender liability claims and violations of state and federal statutes, as well as pursuing commercial foreclosure and collection actions.
Manages filing, enforcing and defending mechanic’s liens and litigation in Kentucky.
Mediates complex commercial disputes.
University of Cincinnati College of Law, J.D., 1994
Order of the Coif
Moot Court Board
Delta Theta Phi
Thomas More College, B.A., 1991, summa cum laude
Ohio, 1994
Kentucky, 1995
Tennessee, 2022
Supreme Court of Ohio
Supreme Court of Kentucky
Supreme Court of Tennessee
U.S. Court of Appeals, Sixth Circuit
U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky
U.S. District Court for the Western District of Kentucky
U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan
U.S. District Court for the Western District of Tennessee
U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee
U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio
U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio
The Best Lawyers in America,® Commercial Litigation, 2025
The Lawdragon 500 Leading U.S. Bankruptcy & Restructuring Lawyers, 2020-2024
Leadership Northern Kentucky (LNK) Class of 2016
Peer Review Rated, Martindale-Hubbell®
Top Rated Lawyer, Martindale-Hubbell®
Turnaround Management Association
American Bar Association
American Bankruptcy Institute
Ohio Bar Association
Tennessee Bar Association
International Women’s Insolvency & Restructuring Confederation, Board Member, Tennessee Representative
Northern Kentucky Chamber of Commerce, Woman’s Initiative
Southern Automotive Women’s Forum, Treasurer
Women Presidents Organization
Tennessee Automotive Manufacturers Association, Board Member
Mobility Industry Team, Chair
Compensation Committee, Member
Panelist, Bankruptcy Alternatives Panel, ABI Southeast Bankruptcy Workshop, July 2024
Co-host, ABI TechBytes Podcast Concludes Cryptocurrency Series with Key Insights for Practitioners – Ep. 262, December 2023
Co-host, ABI TechBytes Podcast Examines Fiduciary Duties in Cryptocurrency Cases – Ep. 260, December 2023
Co-host, ABI TechBytes Podcast Examines Cryptocurrency and the Law – Ep. 257, November 2023
Co-host, ABI TechBytes Podcast Examines Cryptocurrency Basics – Ep. 255, October 2023
Supply Chain Panel, International Women’s Insolvency & Restructuring Confederation 2021 Fall Conference, October 2021
Supply Chain Disruption Panel, ABI Winter Leadership Conference, December 2022
Author, “What investors need to know about the automotive sector,” PE Hub, October 22, 2024
Co-Author, “Distressed Auto Industry Players Have Options to Avoid Bankruptcy,” Bloomberg Law, October 2024
Author, “How I Made Industry Team Leader: ‘Build Relationships and Trust,’ says Patricia Kirkwood Burgess of Frost Brown Todd,” Law.com, October 14, 2022
Co-Author, “Have Automotive Suppliers Traded in for a New Model? Alternatives To Chapter 11 Bankruptcy in the Post-COVID Era,” INSOL International, April 1, 2022
July 11, 2024 | Press Releases
Two Frost Brown Todd partners have been named to The Lawdragon 500 Leading Global Bankruptcy & R...
July 8, 2024 | Publications
The automotive industry is one of the most heavily regulated industries in the U.S., and automakers ...
June 26, 2023 | Publications
Business email compromise (BEC) fraud is the number one cybercrime faced by American businesses, as ...
Publication: INSOL World Q2 2022 edition
Publish Date: April 1, 2022
June 15, 2015 | Press Releases
Frost Brown Todd (FBT) is pleased to announce the relocation of Patricia (Trish) Kirkwood Burgess to...