Mr. Shmidheiser specializes in complicated financial messes, including disputes among shareholders and partners in businesses, divorces, foreclosures, real estate disputes, difficult collections, bankruptcies and workouts. Mr. Shmidheiser has substantial trial experience as lead counsel in scores of commercial cases, both jury and non-jury trials.

Experience

• Tried cases in federal courts in Harrisonburg, Roanoke, Lynchburg, and Charlottesville, Virginia; in the Virginia state courts of the Counties of Albemarle, Arlington, Augusta, Clark, Culpeper, Frederick, Greene, Highland, Loudon, Madison, Montgomery, Orange, Page, Prince William, Roanoke, Rockbridge, Rockingham, Shenandoah, Spotsylvania, and Warren, and the Cities of Charlottesville, Fredericksburg, Lynchburg, Staunton, Waynesboro, and Winchester; and federal bankruptcy courts in Alexandria, Charlottesville, Harrisonburg, Lynchburg, Richmond, and Roanoke, Virginia
• Admitted pro hac vice to try commercial cases in federal courts in Washington, DC; Philadelphia, PA.; Pittsburgh, PA.; Greensboro, NC; Trenton, NJ; and state courts in Pensacola, FL; Bristol, TN; and Moorefield, WV
• Represented over forty different banks and other lenders in difficult collections involving bankruptcies, lender liability claims, collateral with significant legal issues, and just plain hard-to-collect-from people
• While he primarily represents creditors, Mr. Shmidheiser has also served as debtor's counsel in dozens of successful Chapter 11 bankruptcy cases resulting in confirmed Plans of Reorganization, and drawing upon that experience has also represented debtors in dozens of successful out-of-court workouts with creditors
• Negotiated where possible and successfully litigated where necessary, dozens of hard-fought business disputes among business and property owners: brother v. brother; parents v. children; partner v. partner; husband v. wife; and every other variation of business, property and family relationships that may become entangled in complicated legal disputes
• Expertise in litigation involving complicated accounting, appraisal, and business valuation issues
• Conducted more than 100 foreclosure sales of every kind of property, including residences large and small, and businesses of every description, including auto dealerships, restaurants, factories, dairy, poultry, and cattle farms, a glass table top factory, a wood stove factory, a Tilapia fish farm, and, in one never-to-be-forgotten case, a villa on five acres in Montego Bay, Jamaica

Honors and Awards

• "Legal Elite," Virginia Business Magazine, 2001-2007
• Named to Best Lawyers in America® , Bankruptcy and Creditor-Debtor Rights, 1999-2009
• AV* Peer Review Rated by Martindale-Hubbell®
   

Education

• University of Iowa College of Law, Iowa City, Iowa
  J.D., Summa Cum Laude, 1979
• Duke University, Durham, North Carolina
  B.A., 1975

Classes/Seminars Taught

• Lecturer on Bankruptcy Issues: Virginia Bankers Association, Mid-Atlantic Bankruptcy Institute, Virginia Bar Association
• Frequent lecturer for Virginia Continuing Legal Education Seminars

Professional and Community Associations

• Journal of Corporation Law, Editorial Board, 1978 - 1979
• Virginia Bar Association, Executive Board, Bankruptcy Section, 1988 - 1990, 
• National Conference of Bar Examiners, 1991 - 1993
• Multi-State Essay Exam Drafting Committee, 1991-1993
• President, Harrisonburg Rockingham County Bar Association, 2005

*CV, BV and AV are registered certification marks of Reed Elsevier Properties Inc., used in accordance with the Martindale-Hubbell certification procedures, standards and policies.