The holder of an "AV" rating, Mr. Ito has been rated as preeminent with the highest ethical standard by Martindale-Hubbell, an authoritative resource on the legal profession.Mr. Ito has represented creditors' committees, debtors-in-possession, chapter 11 and 7 trustees, litigation trustees, secured and unsecured creditors, and buyers of distressed businesses in bankruptcy cases throughout the United States. He also has significant experience in workouts, equity and rents/profits receiverships, and counseling clients on bankruptcy considerations related to business transactions. Mr. Ito's industry experience encompasses, among other areas, oil and gas, real estate (golf course and residential home developments), telecommunications (festooned fiber optic cable, cellular phone manufacturer and service provider, and FCC licenses), manufacturing (pre-engineered steel buildings, twist-off bottle cap tops, aircraft insulation blankets), finance (subprime mortgages, subprime credit card receivables, accounts receivable securitizations, and collateralized investments), medical (self-insured physicians group), and gaming.Mr. Ito has significant experience representing creditors' committees in large and mid-size chapter 11 cases across the United States. With the singular goal of maximizing value for the benefit of the committee and its constituents, Mr. Ito's recent engagements as lead counsel to creditors' committees include the second largest destination resort club as measured by membership with in excess of $100 million in debt, a destination resort club with in excess of $50 million in debt, an automobile dealership operating under a franchise agreement with General Motors, a leading manufacturer of twist-off bottle cap tops, a pre-engineered steel building fabricator with operations in the United States and Canada with secured debt in excess of $400 million, and a financial services company that offered subprime credit card origination, cardholder services, and receivable sales and securitizations; face value of portfolio in excess of $7 billion. Mr. Ito also counsels and advises clients who sit as members of creditors' committees.Having practiced bankruptcy law since completing a judicial clerkship with the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of California, Mr. Ito has represented debtors-in-possession as well as chapter 11 and 7 trustees. Recent engagements in which Mr. Ito served as lead counsel include the owner and operator of a festooned submarine fiber-optic network system built along the coast of California and designed to provide high-capacity carrier, enterprise and governmental customer route diversity for telecommunications in California, and a privately held provider of advanced test messaging and outsourced customer care and technical support.Mr. Ito's creditors' rights practice includes representing secured and unsecured creditors on matters involving bankruptcy and the attainment of provisional remedies on behalf of secured lenders. In the bankruptcy arena, Mr. Ito has served as lead counsel to the lessor of gaming equipment involved in a dispute with the owner/operator of a "cruise to nowhere" maritime vessel in Florida and a major Korean company that sold telecommunications equipment and provided telecommunication services to a privately held provider of cellular service operating in the mid-west United States. Mr. Ito has also represented secured lenders and receivers in more than 200 equity and rents/profits receiverships in Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, and San Diego Counties involving multi-family housing, retail shopping centers, office buildings, restaurants and a golf course.From 1989 to 1990, Mr. Ito served as a law clerk to the Honorable Louise DeCarl Adler, Judge of the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of California. Mr. Ito also served as a judicial intern to the Honorable Barry S. Schermer, Judge of the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of Missouri.