Thomas Waldrep

Practice Areas

Bankruptcy and Restructuring

Career

Tom Waldrep's deep institutional expertise in the bankruptcy space is informed by his decade of experience serving as a bankruptcy judge. He acts for all parties in complex proceedings and out-of-court matters, including particular skills advising on bankruptcies and distressed M&A transactions in the healthcare industry. Tom represents secured creditors, debtors, unsecured creditors’ committees, and trustees in business bankruptcy cases. He has extensively represented buyers and sellers of assets in bankruptcy. Tom has noteworthy experience in cases involving healthcare debtors, especially hospitals, and regularly represents private equity groups and other financial institutions in buying and managing distressed healthcare assets, particularly in the Southeast. He also represents healthcare providers, particularly those looking to purchase or sell assets in or out of bankruptcy. Tom also has extensive experience in representing tort claimants in asbestos bankruptcies. Prior to starting Waldrep Wall Babcock & Bailey PLLC, Tom founded and managed Waldrep LLP, a boutique bankruptcy practice. Prior to that, Tom was a partner in the Winston-Salem, North Carolina office of Womble Carlyle Sandridge & Rice, LLP. From 2004 to 2013, Tom was a United States Bankruptcy Judge with the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Middle District of North Carolina. He is a 1983 graduate of the Indiana University School of Law. Tom has served the North Carolina Bar Association in several different capacities, including as Chair of the Bankruptcy Section and as a member of the Board of Governors. He is also a frequent lecturer at continuing legal education seminars and law schools and has authored articles on insolvency issues.

Professional Memberships

• American Bankruptcy Institute

• Federal Bar Association

• National Association of Federal Equity Receivers

• National Association of Bankruptcy Trustees

• North Carolina State Bar

• North Carolina Bar Association (Member—Bankruptcy Law Section)

• Turnaround Management Association

• Asbestos Litigation Group, American Association for Justice

Publications

• “Forensic Examinations,” Fraud Fighter Podcast, October 4, 2021

• “Building An Ethical Foundation,” National Business Institute (February, 2010)

• “Medicare and Medicaid Receivables: Recoupment or Setoff?” Vol. XXI No. 5 American Bankruptcy Institute Journal 18 (June 2002)

• “Selected Ethical Issues in Bankruptcy: Employment of Special Counsel, Representation of Multiple Creditors, and Withdrawal from Representation of Individual Debtors,” 10 Journal of Bankruptcy Law and Practice 343 (2001)

• Credit Card Receivables: What Are Those Little Slips of Paper?, Vol. XIV No. 5 American Bankruptcy Institute Journal 20 (June 1995)

• The Classification of Credit Card Receivables: re: Brendle’s Stores, Inc., 100 Commercial Law Journal 355 (Fall 1995)

• Appeals from the Bankruptcy Courts, North Carolina Bankruptcy Practice Manual Chapter XXIII (rev. ed. 1989)

• Executory Contracts and Unexpired Leases, North Carolina Bankruptcy Practice Manual Chapter XIX (rev. ed. 1989)

• Co-author and editor, Chapter 12 of the Bankruptcy Code- Family Farm Reorganization, 2 Bankruptcy and Reorganization 1987 81 (A. Quittner & L. Luger ed. 1987) (Commercial Law and Practice Course Handbook Series No. 442)

• Representation of Farm Creditors and the New Chapter 12, 8 The Bankruptcy Lawyer 145 (June 1987), continued in 9 The Bankruptcy Lawyer 155 (September 1987)

• Sections 9-307(1) and 1-201(9) of the Uniform Commercial Code: The Requirement of Buying From a Person in the Business of Selling Goods of That Kind, 58 Indiana Law Journal 335 (1983)

Personal

Tom Waldrep enjoys giving back to his community in his spare tine and serves in the following:

• Chair, Pastoral Council, Our Lady of Mercy Catholic Church, 2011–2015

• President, Lewisville Civic Club, 2011–2013

• Winston-Salem Family YMCA Board of Management, 2000–2001

• Board of Directors, Piedmont Irish Children’s Summer Program, 1989–1999

Expert in these Jurisdictions

• North Carolina, 1983

• United States District Court, Middle District of North Carolina, 1983

• United States District Court, Eastern District of North Carolina, 1983

• United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, 1984

• United States District Court, Western District of North Carolina, 1992

• Supreme Court of the United States of America, 1997

• United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, 2022

Education