Bill Shmidheiser serves as Managing Partner of Lenhart Obenshain.
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 haec 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, 2002, 2003,
2004, 2005, 2006
- President, Harrisonburg Rockingham County Bar Association, 2005
- Named to Best Lawyers in America ® , Bankruptcy and Creditor-Debtor
Rights, 1999-2008
- 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
- Journal of Corporation Law, 1978 - 1979
- Member, Editorial Board
- Virginia Bar Association, Bankruptcy Section, 1988 - 1990, 2007
- Member, Executive Board
- National Conference of Bar Examiners, 1991 - 1993
- Member, Multi-State Essay Exam Drafting Committee, 1991-1993
*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.
Bill Shmidheiser
90 North Main Street, Suite 201
Harrisonburg, VA 22802
P.O. Box 1287
Harrisonburg, VA 22803
T: 540.437.3137
F: 540.437.3101
email: Bill Shmidheiser
Areas of Practice
Bar Admissions
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