News & Insights

Berger Singerman Expands Team With Addition of Christopher Andrew Jarvinen, Robin Rubens and Michael Niles

February 24, 2019

Berger Singerman, Florida’s business law firm, is pleased to announce that Christopher Andrew Jarvinen has returned as a partner on the Business Reorganization Team, and Robin Rubens, has joined the firm as a partner on the Business Reorganization Team and the Dispute Resolution Team. Both Rubens and Jarvinen will be resident in the firm’s Miami office. Additionally, Michael Niles has joined the firm as an associate on the firm’s Business Reorganization Team, and he is resident in the firm’s Tallahassee office.

“We are thrilled by Christopher’s return and by the addition of Robin and Mike to our team,” said Paul Steven Singerman, Co-Chair of Berger Singerman. “Robin, Christopher and Mike are terrific lawyers and share our commitment to the delivery of passionate client service and creative and effective solutions for our clients.”

A former partner with Berger Singerman, Jarvinen has served for over two decades in leading roles in Chapter 11 cases, Chapter 15 cases and other cross-border insolvency matters, out-of-court restructurings and bankruptcy-related litigation, in Florida, across the United States and internationally. Additionally, he regularly counsels companies, their boards and senior executives with respect to their fiduciary duties.

Jarvinen recently founded and serves as the Co-chair of the Claims Trading Committee of the American Bankruptcy Institute (ABI). He is also a member of the organizing committee of the ABI’s New York City Bankruptcy Conference and is a prior Co-chair of the ABI’s Caribbean Insolvency Symposium. Jarvinen also co-founded the TMA-Brasil, the Brazilian chapter of the Turnaround Management Association, and he served for over a decade on the editorial board of the International Corporate Rescue.

Jarvinen has been elected to the American College of Bankruptcy, American Law Institute, and the International Insolvency Institute. He received his law degree from Boston College Law School, and has attended Brown, Harvard, Yale, and Columbia universities in the United States, FGV-EAESP in Brazil, and Oxford and Cambridge universities in the United Kingdom. 

Rubens brings more than 25 years of experience in Miami’s public and private sectors, specializing in handling business restructurings, commercial loan workouts and complex commercial litigation. She began her career as a law clerk for Chief Judge Sidney M. Weaver and Chief Judge Paul G. Hyman, Jr. of the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Florida. In the private sector, she represented developers, financial institutions, wholesale distributors, title insurers, unsecured creditors and fiduciaries in business reorganizations. She was responsible for handling various business disputes, including fraudulent transfers and preferential transfers against businesses and individuals. She acted as counsel for asset-based lenders in sales of borrowers’ assets in bankruptcy court and out of court workouts and for banks and asset-based lenders in loan restructurings. She also has experience serving as counsel for corporate debtors, secured creditors, unsecured creditors, landlords, physician groups and trustees in Chapter 11 and Chapter 7 bankruptcy cases.

Rubens is involved in professional organizations and is a member of the Miami-Dade Chapter of the Florida Association for Women Lawyers, the American Bankruptcy Institute and the Bankruptcy Bar Association for the Southern District of Florida. Rubens earned her bachelor’s degree from American University, her master’s degree from University of Miami, and her J.D. from Nova University.

Niles specializes in commercial bankruptcy and creditors’ rights matters, bankruptcy litigation, and commercial real estate transactions. His experience includes representing both local and national developers, property owners, lenders and borrowers in the acquisition, disposition, financing, leasing and development of real property. He has also represented creditors in bankruptcy proceedings filed under Chapter 7, 11 and 13 and assisted clients in the purchase and sale of property from bankruptcy estates.

Niles is a member of The Florida Bar’s Real Property, Probate and Trust Law section along with their Young Lawyers Division. He is also a member of the Tallahassee Bar Association, a board member of the Northern District of Florida Bankruptcy Bar Association and the William H. Stafford Inn of Court and an active volunteer for March of Dimes.  Niles received his law degree and bachelor’s degree from Florida State University.

The recent new hires are the latest in a series of recent high-profile additions to join the firm which has included C. Sha’Ron James, former Division Director of the Florida department of Financial Services, as partner on the GRT; Eddie Raychaudhuri as Chief Legal Project Management (LPM) and Pricing Officer; and Michael Levinson, as partner on the Business, Finance & Tax Team and leader of the firm’s healthcare practice.