At Pyle Sims Duncan & Stevenson, the client’s objective is paramount. We view our relationship with our clients as a partnership. As partners, we are committed to achieving the most cost-effective, practical solution to our client’s legal problems. The most distinctive quality of Pyle Sims Duncan & Stevenson is the highly specialized expertise of our attorneys. Each attorney has developed superior expertise in insolvency law and commercial litigation. In addition, we have assembled a support staff with the same specialized background. Our highly specialized team enables us to provide our clients with superior and efficient legal representation. Our mission is to ultimately provide our clients with unsurpassed legal services which meet their substantive and budgetary objectives.

Our Attorneys

Ross M. Pyle is widely recognized and respected as one of San Diego County's prominent bankruptcy specialists. 

Mr. Pyle served as a judge of the Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of California from 1975 to 1985 and as its Chief Judge from 1983-1985.  Mr. Pyle was a Judge of the Ninth Circuit Bankruptcy Appellate Panel from 1983 to 1985.  After retiring from the bench, Mr. Pyle joined Jennings, Engstrand & Henrikson and began formation of the group that is now Pyle Sims Duncan & Stevenson.  Mr. Pyle served as the chairman of Jennings, Engstrand & Henrikson's bankruptcy group from 1985 until he was elected President of the firm in 1990. 

Mr. Pyle's contribution to the bankruptcy bar is substantial.  He has been involved in many of the significant Chapter 11 cases in the Southern District of California, first as a judge and later as an advocate.   In addition to representing parties, Mr. Pyle is serves as an expert witness in bankruptcy related matters. Mr. Pyle is an active member of numerous organizations including the National Conference of Bankruptcy Judges, the National Association of Former Bankruptcy Judges, and the American Bankruptcy Institute.  He is a Fellow of the American College of Bankruptcy.  Mr. Pyle was a founder and first President of the San Diego Bankruptcy Forum and served on the Board of Editors for the California Bankruptcy Journal.  He was also a member of the Board of Directors for the California Bankruptcy Forum.  He is a Master of the Bench of Louis M. Welsh, Chapter of the American Inns of Court Foundation.  He served as a member of the U.S. District Court's "Biden Committee" to assist the Southern District of California as a pilot District under the Civil Justice reform Act of 1991.   In addition, Mr. Pyle is a Mediator for the Mediation Program of the Southern District of California.  Given his status as a preeminent bankruptcy attorney, Mr. Pyle frequently served as a seminar panelist lecturing on bankruptcy topics for California Continuing Education of the Bar, the Rutter Group, San Diego Trial Lawyers Association and the National Business Institute.   Mr. Pyle served as an Adjunct Professor at California Western Law School.

Mr. Pyle's commitment to the San Diego community has likewise been extensive.  As a member of the Rotary Club of San Diego since 1975, Mr. Pyle served as Director (1987-1989), Secretary (1989-1990) and President (1992-1993).  He has served as a Member of the Advisory Board of Trustees for Boys Clubs of San Diego, Inc., (1975-1987), a Member of the Board of Trustees of the United Methodist Church (1982-1985, Chair 1984-1985), and Charter Director Member of the San Diego High School Alumni Association. 

A graduate of Stanford University (A.B. 1955; J.D. 1958), Mr. Pyle was admitted to the California Bar in 1959.  Since admission to the Bar, Mr. Pyle has been an active member of the San Diego County Bar Association and chaired several committees.  He is a Member of the American Bar Association and has served as a Representative to the Executive Council of the Conference of Barristers of the State Bar of California (1967-1970).  He was also a Member of the Judicial Nominees Evaluation Commission of the State Bar (1987-1988).

___________________________________________________________

Gerald N. Sims specializes in bankruptcy and business reorganizations and represents secured and unsecured creditors, trustees, debtors, and committees in Chapter 11 cases.  Mr. Sims has particular expertise in the areas of plan confirmation and negotiating and structuring the sale of assets in bankruptcy.  Mr. Sims had primary responsibility for negotiating and drafting the Chapter 11 plan for the Lincoln Savings Subsidiaries.

Widely recognized and respected as a bankruptcy expert, Mr. Sims has been appointed to several committees of the Bankruptcy Court of the Southern District of California, including the Attorney Advisory Committee, the Rules Committee, and a committee devoted to making the Bankruptcy Court a "paperless" court.   Mr. Sims is also a Mediator for the Mediation Program of the Southern District of California and was named Mediator of the Year in 2004.  He served as President of the San Diego Bankruptcy Forum and was among its founding Directors.   He is a past editor of the California Bankruptcy Journal.  Mr. Sims is a regular panelist on bankruptcy topics for CEB, the Bankruptcy Forum, and other civic groups.  He is a member of the American Bankruptcy Institute, the National Association of Bankruptcy Trustees, the California Bankruptcy Forum, the San Diego Bankruptcy Forum and the San Diego County Bar Association.  Prior to the formation of Pyle Sims Duncan & Stevenson, Mr. Sims served as Chairman of the Insolvency Practice Group at Jennings, Engstrand & Henrikson.   

While at Jennings, Engstrand & Henrikson, Mr. Sims participated in the representation of the San Jose Unified School District in its Chapter 9 bankruptcy.  Mr. Sims has represented creditors committees in a variety of cases, including Alliance Leasing, Amtel Communications and Leap Wireless.  He represented creditors in the Orange County Chapter 9 bankruptcy and in Chapter 11 cases nationwide.

Mr. Sims is a graduate of San Diego State University (A.B with Distinction 1976) and the University of San Diego School of Law (J.D., magna cum laude, 1981) where he served as Executive Comments Editor for the San Diego Law Review.  Mr. Sims was admitted to the California Bar in 1981.  Mr. Sims was the law clerk to Hon. Ross M. Pyle, U.S. Bankruptcy Court, Southern District of California and was a judicial intern with Hon. J. Clifford Wallace, Circuit Judge, U.S. Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit.

___________________________________________________________

Peter L. Duncan specializes in bankruptcy and commercial litigation.  He has extensive experience representing financial institutions in real property, collection, and lender liability cases.  Mr. Duncan served as counsel on complex litigation in such matters as the Lincoln Savings and Loan subsidiaries Chapter 11 cases, the Pioneer Mortgage case, and the Nucorp Energy, Inc. Chapter 11 case.  Committed to maximizing results while minimizing costs, Mr. Duncan routinely uses computerized litigation support and practice management programs as a means to reduce costs and increase communication to the client in major cases.

In addition to representing financial institutions, Mr. Duncan regularly represents trustees in significant bankruptcy cases.  Mr. Duncan recently obtained multimillion dollar recovery on behalf of a Chapter 7 Trustee in fraudulent conveyance litigation involving an individual debtor.  Mr. Duncan also recently represented a Chapter 7 estate in liquidating vacant land for several million dollars. Both of these cases resulted in a significant distribution to creditors.    

Mr. Duncan is immediate past Chairman of the Bankruptcy Section of the San Diego Bar Association.  A frequent lecturer on bankruptcy law issues, Mr. Duncan serves as a Mediator for the Mediation Program of the Southern District of California and was named Mediator of the Year for 2000-2001.  He is also a Barrister Member of the Louis M. Welsh American Inns of Court.  In addition, Mr. Duncan is a former member of the Board of Directors of the San Diego Bankruptcy Forum, a member of the Attorney Advisory Committee for the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of California, a member of the San Diego County Bar Association and the State Bar of California.  Mr. Duncan is a graduate of the University of Iowa (B.A., cum laude, 1979).  He attended law school at the National Law Center of the George Washington University in Washington D.C. (J.D., with honors, 1982).   Mr. Duncan was admitted to the Oklahoma Bar in 1982 and the California Bar in 1986.

___________________________________________________________

Susan C. Stevenson represents trustees, liquidating agents, unsecured and secured creditors, creditors' committees, and debtors in possession in all types of bankruptcy cases.  A substantial portion of her practice is comprised of representing trustees in both Chapter 11 and Chapter 7 cases.  She has particular expertise in litigating disputes in the Bankruptcy Court, particularly in the area of avoidable transfers.  She also has extensive experience in mediating and litigating commercial disputes in both state and federal court.  Her article, "The Timing of Adequate Protection Payments," appeared in the California Bankruptcy Journal.

Ms. Stevenson has served as Special Referee for the Superior Court for various cases, including a complex class action securities fraud case and a partition action involving assets with a value in excess of $1,000,000.  She has been appointed by the Office of the United States Trustee to serve as a Chapter 11 Trustee.  She has also served as Special Master for the Superior Court on various bankruptcy-related issues.  Ms. Stevenson has also served as an arbitrator for the Superior Court.

Ms. Stevenson holds an undergraduate degree from the University of California, San Diego.  A graduate of the University of San Diego Law School (J.D., magna cum laude, 1986), Ms. Stevenson served as Executive Editor of the San Diego Law Review, where she also was published.  She was admitted to the State Bar of California in 1986.  From 1994 through 1996, Ms. Stevenson was a Director of the San Diego Bankruptcy Forum, as well its past Secretary (1995), and past President (1996).  She is an active member of both the San Diego Bar Association and its Bankruptcy Law section.  In addition, Ms. Stevenson is a member of the California Bar Association and the American Bar Association.  She is also a member of the American Bankruptcy Institute, the San Diego Women's Insolvency Network and the National Association of Bankruptcy Trustees.  She presently serves on the Editorial Board of the California Bankruptcy Journal.

_____________________________________________________________________

Michael Y. MacKinnon practices primarily in the areas of business litigation, commercial law and bankruptcy.  Mr. MacKinnon is bilingual, speaking both Spanish and English, and has represented Spanish and Latin American clients in business and commercial litigation, as well as American clients with respect to investments or disputes in Spain and Latin America, and is among a small group of bilingual attorneys trained for mediation and arbitration of cases under NAFTA.  Mr. MacKinnon has been involved in many notable San Diego bankruptcy cases, including representing the Official Creditors Committee in the Chapter 9 reorganization of Heffernan Memorial Hospital.

Mr. MacKinnon received an A.B Magna Cum Laude from Dartmouth College with highest distinction in history in 1974 and a Juris Doctor from Southern Methodist University in 1977.  In his last year at Southern Methodist University, he was the Citations Editor for the Journal of Air and Commerce and president of the school's International Law Society.  He also received a diploma in tax law from the University of San Diego School of Law.  Mr. MacKinnon was admitted to the State Bar of California in 1978.  He is admitted to practice before all courts of the State of California and the United States District Court for the Southern, Central, Northern and Eastern Districts of California, as well as being admitted to appear before the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, the United States Court of International Trade (formerly the Customs Court), the United States Tax Court and the United States Supreme Court.

Mr. MacKinnon is a member of the American Bar Association Sections of Business Law and International Law, Federal and San Diego County Bar Associations.  He is a past president of the San Diego County Chapter of the Federal Bar Association, and is active in the Bankruptcy, Commercial Law and International Law Sections of the San Diego County Bar Association.   He is also a member of the San Diego and California Bankruptcy Forums.  He has served as lecturer and panelist at bankruptcy, commercial law and private international law seminars and symposiums.

____________________________________________________________________

Kathleen A. Cashman-Kramer practices in the areas of business and commercial litigation, with emphasis on bankruptcy, real estate and title insurance matters.  She has practiced in these areas in California since 1987.  She was a member of a small general practice firm in Brockton, Massachusetts until 1987 when she moved to San Diego.  In addition to her work in state and federal courts, she represents creditors, committees, trustees and debtors in bankruptcy court and parties in non-bankruptcy work-outs.  She has represented clients in connection with many local San Diego and Southern California matters during her years of practice. 

Ms. Cashman-Kramer graduated from Stonehill College in 1981, summa cum laude, and from the New England School of Law in 1984.  She was admitted to practice law in January 1985 in Massachusetts, in California in 1987, and in 1993 she was admitted to practice law in the District of Columbia.  She remains a member in good standing in each of these jurisdictions.  In addition, she is admitted to practice in each federal jurisdiction in California, as well as certain federal district courts in Massachusetts.

Ms. Cashman-Kramer presently serves on the Board of Directors of the San Diego Bankruptcy Forum, acting as secretary.  She previously served on the same board from 1995 through 1998, acting as treasurer in 1996 and vice-president in 1997.  She has been a member of the California and San Diego Bankruptcy Forums in 1989, and during that time she has participated in several local seminars on real estate and construction issues in bankruptcy; exemptions, pre-bankruptcy planning and ethical considerations, and preferential transfers.  She co-chairs of the Bankruptcy Section of the San Diego County Bar Association and serves on the Mediation Panel for the Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of California.  She  is a member of the American Bar Association, the California Trustee's Association, the Association of Insolvency Accountants, the National Association of Bankruptcy Trustees and the San Diego County Bar Association.

____________________________________________________________________

Gary B. Elmer, Of Counsel, practices primarily in the bankruptcy area, representing Chapter 7 and Chapter 11 Trustees, Chapter 7 debtors, Chapter 11 debtors-in possession, Chapter 11 examiners and creditors. In the recent 6 years, he has added creditor representation in the Delaware and Arizona bankruptcy courts and has expanded his practice to include general company representation and corporate law, mergers and acquisitions, intellectual property law, employment law, environmental law, real estate transactions, and real estate brokerage law.

Mr. Elmer is a 1984 graduate from the California Western School of Law where he received the Judge Lloyd E. Griffith scholarship award. He served as Law Clerk to the Honorable Lawrence E. Ollason, Bankruptcy Judge for the District of Arizona and Bankruptcy Appellate Panel Judge from 1985 to 1988 and as Estate Administrator for the United States Bankruptcy Court’s Clerk’s Office in 1989. He has Bar Admissions in California (1988), U.S. District Court, Southern District of California (1988), U.S. District Court, Central District of California (1991), and Arizona (1985), U.S. District Court, Arizona (1985) and Colorado (1986). Mr. Elmer was a past director of the San Diego County Bankruptcy Forum and California Western School of Law Alumni Association. He is a member of the State Bar of California, the State Bar of Arizona, the State Bar of Colorado and the San Diego County Bar Association.

Return to top