Partner

Laura F. Ashley

LOUISIANA

Laura represents sureties, secured and unsecured creditors, financial institutions, debtors, trustees, and other stakeholders in complex bankruptcy, insolvency, and commercial litigation matters. She is often called upon when financial distress creates an immediate need to protect collateral, preserve contractual rights, address competing claims, or develop a practical path forward.

Laura has particular experience representing sureties when contractors and subcontractors encounter financial distress or default. She handles performance and payment bond claims, indemnity and collateral enforcement, disputes over contract balances and retainage, and bankruptcy proceedings affecting a surety’s rights and remedies. Her work includes substantial Chapter 11 and Chapter 7 matters involving bonded obligations, project-completion issues, competing claims to contract funds, and the preservation of subrogation and indemnity rights.

Her bankruptcy practice includes Chapter 11 reorganizations, asset sales, automatic-stay disputes, claim objections and priority disputes, preference and fraudulent-transfer actions, executory-contract and lease issues, and other contested matters. She represents clients throughout the restructuring process, from pre-bankruptcy planning and workouts through plan negotiations, asset dispositions, and post-confirmation implementation. Because she has represented parties on different sides of financially distressed situations, Laura is able to anticipate competing interests and develop strategies that account for both the legal issues and the commercial realities of the dispute.

Laura’s broader commercial litigation practice includes construction disputes, contract claims, secured transactions, loan defaults, foreclosures, and disputes among business owners, contractors, subcontractors, suppliers, lenders, and other commercial parties. She represents national and regional clients in complex disputes in federal and state courts across a range of industries, including construction, maritime, oil and gas, real estate development, financial services, hospitality, restaurants, and retail.

Laura is a frequent speaker on bankruptcy, surety law, financial distress, and emerging issues affecting legal practice. She serves on the board of the Louisiana Chapter of the Turnaround Management Association and is a past chair of the Louisiana Network of the International Women’s Insolvency & Restructuring Confederation. She is also a past chair of the New Orleans Film Society, reflecting her longstanding involvement in the professional, civic, and cultural life of New Orleans.

Before joining Krebs Farley, Laura was a partner at Jones Walker and served as a law clerk to the Honorable Ivan L.R. Lemelle of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana.