Christina “Crissie” W. StephensonShareholder/Director
Crissie Stephenson is a shareholder in the firm’s Dallas office and serves as Co-chair of the Bankruptcy & Creditor’s Rights Practice Group. She assists companies and individuals in restructuring matters including Chapter 11 reorganizations, bankruptcy-related litigation and appeals as well as out of court restructuring. As a member of the firm’s Real Estate, Banking & Financial Institutions, Corporate & Securities, Healthcare, and Indian Law & Gaming Practice Groups, she also negotiates and closes complex commercial real estate transactions, provides non-consolidation opinions and lease review and negotiation.
An active member in her professional and civic community, Crissie is a board member of the International Women’s Insolvency & Restructuring Confederation and served as a barrister for the John C. Ford American Inn of Court from 2009 to 2018. She also donates her time as an appellate briefing attorney for Texas Appleseed, a nonprofit organization promoting social and economic equality.
Crissie graduated cum laude from Southern Methodist Dedman School of Law where she was a Dean’s Scholarship recipient and Chief Counsel for the Southern Methodist University Civil Clinic. While in law school, Crissie served as an extern for the Honorable Harlin D. Hale in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Texas.
She holds a Master of Arts in Communication degree from the University of Louisiana at Monroe where she graduated summa cum laude, received the Emma Alexander Award and was the President and Co-founder of the TheatreWorks Student Support Group.
Representative experience includes*:
- Confirmed Chapter 11 Plan for Texas Hospital and publicly traded parent company, assisting clients with hospital closure and plan administration
- Successful 363 sale of physician-owned hospital inside Chapter 11 resulting in maintained hospital operations, patient care and safety, and continued employment options for hospital staff
- Confirmed Chapter 11 Plan for large scale restaurant franchisee owner
- Representation of physician practices in partner practice acquisitions
- Confirmed Chapter 9 Plan of Reorganization for Texas municipality
- Prosecuted discharge/dischargeability litigation to judgment for creditor clients, then defended judgment on appeal through the 5th Circuit
- Successful defense of alleged debtor in involuntary bankruptcy proceeding, including attorneys’ fees award
- Representation of Native American tribes in real estate and financial transactions
*Past results afford no guarantee of future results. Every case is different and must be judged on its merits.
- Honorable Harlin D. Hale, U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Texas, Extern (2006)
Southern Methodist Dedman School of Law
Dallas, Texas
J.D., 2006
Honors:
Cum Laude
Chief Counsel, SMU Civil Clinic
Dean's List
Dean's Scholarship Recipient
University of Louisiana at Monroe
Monroe, Louisiana
M.A., Communication, 2002
Honors:
Summa Cum Laude
Emma Alexander Award
University of Louisiana Monroe
Monroe, Louisiana
B.A., 2000
Honors:
Summa Cum Laude
President's List
Dean's List
Honor Roll
- Dallas Bar Association
- International Women's Insolvency & Restructuring Confederation, Board Member (2018 - present)
- John C. Ford American Inn of Court, Barrister (2009 - 2018)
- Bar Association of the Fifth Federal Circuit, Member
- "Intellectual Property Issues," The Bankruptcy Handbook for Franchisors and Franchisees, American Bar Association (2018)
- "Exxon Mobil v. SABIC and the Corseting of Rooker-Feldman," Federal Bar Association Newsletter (March 2006)
- "The Impact of BAPCPA on Homestead Exemptions: Is the Party Over?" Consumer Bankruptcy Practice Seminar (June 2006)
- Speaker, "Circuit Splits in Bankruptcy 2018: Key Decisions Distinguishing the Fifth Circuit from Other Circuits in Business Bankruptcy," 37th Annual Jay L. Westbrook Bankruptcy Conference, Austin, Texas, November 16, 2018
- Texas Appleseed, Appellate Briefing Attorney
