Professional Experience

The current real estate crisis gripping Florida has clients from the real estate industry or industries closely related to it such as construction and construction materials calling on Mr. Charbonneau to represent them in large Chapter 11 cases involving business restructuring and creditors’ rights. Experienced in debtor side representation as well as in the representation of institutional title insurers and construction and mechanic lien holders, his clients include corporate debtors, secured lenders, creditors’ committees, panel bankruptcy trustees, and individual creditors. He also frequently serves other attorneys who do not have a bankruptcy practice but need assistance for a client. He represents their cases in Federal court, bankruptcy court, and state court insolvency proceedings, as well as in out-of-court workouts and debt restructuring negotiations.

By design, the founding members of Ehrenstein Charbonneau and Calderin set themselves apart as a firm that is willing and open to collaboration with one another to better serve their clients’ needs. When you retain Mr. Charbonneau for a legal matter, you’re also getting the benefit of other very skillful and smart senior level attorneys and associates.

In most insolvency cases there are a range of issues that require professional assistance beyond the legal issues. In this regard, credible and effective relationships between lawyers, accountants, consultants, and finance professionals can provide efficient and seamless counsel. Mr. Charbonneau’s experience and established relationships allow him to bring together the right team for his clients.

Mr. Charbonneau is board certified in both business and consumer bankruptcy by the American Board of Certification.

 

Education:

 

• Boston College Law School, J.D.
• University of Florida, B.A.

 

Professional Affiliations:

Mr. Charbonneau has been a member in good standing of the Florida Bar since 1992. He is admitted to the U.S. District Court, Southern and Middle Districts of Florida and the U.S. Court of Appeals, Eleventh Circuit. A member of the American Bar Association Business Law Section, he currently serves on the e-Newsletter Committee. He is also a member and former president of the Bankruptcy Bar Association for the Southern District of Florida, a Vice-chair of the Florida Bar Grievance Committee (11B), and a member and former Chair of the Broward County Bar Association’s Commercial Law Section.

 

Robert P. Charbonneau

Email: rpc@ecclegal.com
Ehrenstein Charbonneau Calderin
501 Brickell Key Drive, Third Floor
Miami FL 33131
T. 305.722.2002

Representative Engagements

Representing a creditors’ committee in a telecom case, once the assets were sold, the trade creditors were faced with the possibility of losing any dividend they might receive to the large regional carrier who had dominated the case. Working collaboratively with the committee’s investment bankers, Mr. Charbonneau and his team were able to structure a deal that delivered an excellent return to the trades.

In a Chapter 11 reorganization proceeding involving a large not-for-profit hospital that served a largely ethnic and poor urban population, Mr. Charbonneau and his team were able to thwart the attempts of an aggressive, unethical private equity group who wanted to seize control of the hospital and either turn it into a for profit institution or sell for the break up value of its considerable real estate assets. Over the course of two years he was able to avoid but one litigation, having worked out a resolution at the negotiation table.

An individual debtor who had lost everything including his son to suicide, his business, and his wife in divorce found himself facing the prospect of losing his home to the Internal Revenue Service over recorded liens for back tax assessments on disqualified tax shelters. Mr. Charbonneau represented him in his bankruptcy and was able to make a technical challenge to the timing of notice by the IRS regarding the tax assessments. The challenge was successful and saved the client hundreds of thousands of dollars in tax liens, and save his home. As an interesting postscript, the client went on to win the Florida Lottery a year later!

Honors and Recognitions

June 2012: Robert Charbonneau is Vice Chair of the Bankruptcy and UCC Committee for the Business Law Section of the Florida Bar

2012: Robert Charbonneau recognized by The South Florida Business Journal as “Best of the Bar"

2012: Robert Charbonneau Recognized by Florida Trends magazine as a Florida “Legal Elite”

2012: Robert Charbonneau listed as a “Top Lawyer” in the South Florida Legal Guide and a Florida “Super Lawyer” in Thomson Reuters’ Super Lawyer publication

January 2011: Robert Charbonneau is appointed Chair of the Study Group of the Bankruptcy/UCC Committee of the Business Law Section of the Florida Bar

Recognized by Chambers USA as one of “America’s Leading Lawyers for Business”

Events

February 2013: Robert Charbonneau moderated a bankruptcy panel of local attorneys, trustees and judges on various issues for the Dade County Bar Association Bench & Bar Conference, the largest event ever put on by the Dade County Bar Association, with over 650 attendees.

September 2012: Robert Charbonneau, Jacqueline Calderin, David Rothenstein and Nicole Grimal spoke at the Dade County Bar Association and Dade Legal Aid Society’s Bankruptcy View from the Bench program held on September 14, 2012 in Miami, FL.