Frank N. White

Partner

Direct: 404.873.8744
Fax: 404.873.8745
Atlanta
171 17th Street NW
Suite 2100
Atlanta, Georgia 30363

Biography

Frank is a partner in the Bankruptcy, Creditors’ Rights, & Financial Restructuring practice and a member of the Entertainment & Sports and Payments Systems & Fintech industry teams. He is a founding member of the firm’s Diversity Committee and a co-chair of the Art Committee. He is an innovative lawyer whose practice encompasses litigation, intellectual property, bankruptcy proceedings, and entertainment law matters. With 30 years of experience, he is known for his work in the financial services, payment processing, food services, and entertainment industries.

In the bankruptcy area, Frank concentrates on creditors’ rights under the Bankruptcy Code, with an emphasis on unsecured creditors in large Chapter 7 and Chapter 11 cases. He defends a myriad of adversary proceedings and claims (preference, fraudulent transfer, and other avoidance claims, claims for violation of the automatic stay, etc.) that arise out of bankruptcy cases and litigates the complex jurisdictional, procedural, and legal issues that frequently arise in those proceedings. He has particular expertise defending fraudulent transfer claims and resolving bankruptcy issues related to trade vendors, credit card payment processors, and providers of critical services to large business and consumer debtors.

Frank handles every type of commercial litigation, with an emphasis on contract disputes, copyright, trade secret, and other intellectual property issues. He successfully prosecutes and defends copyright infringement actions involving computer software, photographs, and musical compositions. He has also handled breach of contract issues, business torts, non-compete covenants, fraud, libel, constitutional claims and defenses, and a host of other business-related issues.

Clients also hire Frank to counsel on both litigation and transactional work in entertainment law. His experience emphasizes issues relating to the music business and the use of music in film, television, and other media. His entertainment clients include recording artists signed to major and independent record labels, unsigned artists, songwriters and composers, filmmakers, producers, and recording studios, as well as independent record labels and music retailers. He also represents book authors in the negotiation of contracts with literary agents and publishing houses, commercial and fine art photographers, and other visual artists. From 2010 to 2020, Frank served as outside general counsel to the Atlanta Food and Wine Festival.

Frank serves as pro bono intellectual property counsel to The Center for Puppetry Arts and assisted in its acquisition of items from the Jim Henson Foundation collection. In 2008 the Daily Report presented him with the Pro Bono Award for Service to The Arts.

Experience

  • National representation of a leading food service provider in all aspects of bankruptcy proceedings involving its customers, including prosecution of secured and unsecured claims, critical vendor issues, issues concerning the automatic stay, and claims for trust funds under the federal Perishable Agricultural Commodities Act (PACA).

  • Serving as outside bankruptcy and litigation counsel, in cases across the United States, to an international processor of retail credit, debit and gift card transactions. Representation of this client has included the defense of preference claims and claim objections, and proceedings relating to merchant funds held in reserve, as well as the successful opposition of motions for injunctive relief based on alleged violations of the automatic stay.

  • National representation of a leading credit card company in the defense of high-exposure, fraudulent transfer and other avoidance actions brought by bankruptcy trustees, court-appointed receivers and assignees for the benefit of creditors.

  • Representation of Grammy-winning archival record label in licensing of historical sound recordings, artwork and related materials, from major labels and owners of original content, for inclusion in books, CD box sets and digital releases.

  • National representation of a Fortune 100 telecommunications company that is a significant trade creditor, and frequent litigation defendant, in numerous corporate bankruptcy cases filed across the United States. Through this representation, Mr. White developed particular expertise in bankruptcy issues relating to public utilities and counterparties to executory contracts with a debtor.

  • Serving as general copyright, intellectual property, licensing and contract counsel to a multi-Grammy Award-winning independent record label.

  • Successfully obtained dismissal by the Bankruptcy Court for the District of New Jersey, on a Motion to Dismiss, of 10-count, multi-million dollar complaint filed by the debtor on the basis that complaint failed to comply with the heightened pleading standards imposed under the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure and by the United States Supreme Court.

  • Successfully obtained full payment of creditor’s claim after extensive litigation in the Bankruptcy Court for the Middle District of Florida in which client won a multitude of litigated matters, including obtaining the remand (following removal to the Bankruptcy Court by the Debtor) to the Florida state court of the debtor’s appeal of an arbitration award issued in the client’s favor, defense of the debtor’s motion to disqualify the creditor’s vote on the grounds of alleged bias, and the blocking of confirmation of a Plan that failed to provide the required treatment for the client under the Bankruptcy Code.

Credentials

  • University of Georgia School of Law, Juris Doctor,
    magna cum laude
    • Order of the Coif
    • Notes Editor, Georgia Law Review
  • Duke University, Bachelor of Arts,
    cum laude
  • State of Georgia 1989
  • United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit 1992
  • United States District Court for the Middle District of Georgia 1991
  • United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit 1989
  • United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia 1989
  • Supreme Court of Georgia 1989
  • Georgia Court of Appeals 1989
  • Superior Courts of Georgia 1989