Victor A. Vilaplana is of counsel with Foley & Lardner LLP. He is a member of the firm’s Bankruptcy & Business Reorganizations, International, and Latin America Practices and Automotive Industry Team. Mr. Vilaplana focuses his practice on the handling of insolvency matters, particularly complicated business bankruptcies and international transactions. His experience includes representing multiple industries with Chapter 11 cases.
Prior to joining Foley, Mr. Vilaplana was a shareholder of Seltzer Caplan McMahon Vitek and a managing partner of the San Diego office of Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton.
Mr. Vilaplana is a graduate of Stanford University (J.D., 1973), George Washington University (M.A., with highest honors, 1970) and San Diego State University (B.A., with honors, 1968).
He is a frequent lecturer for the California Continuing Education of the Bar, Practicing Law Institute, Law Education Institute, and National Institute of Trial Advocacy on the topics of insolvency, uniform commercial code, and various U.S./Mexico related issues, such as real estate ownership, commercial law, equipment leasing and debtor/creditor relations. He is also an ALI-ABA lecturer on practice under the Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act (BAPCPA).
Mr. Vilaplana has authored articles on the administration of multi-national bankruptcies and prepackage Chapter 11 plans of reorganization. He is co-editor of Advanced Chapter 11 Bankruptcy Practice for the American Law Institute.
Mr. Vilaplana is a member of the American Bar Association, the American Law Institute, and the State Bar of California. He is a fellow for the American College of Bankruptcy, a delegate to UNCITRAL on various international insolvency projects, and has been selected by his peers for inclusion in The Best Lawyers in America® (1993-2013) in the field of bankruptcy and creditor-debtor rights law. He has also been Peer Review Rated as AV® Preeminent™, the highest performance rating in Martindale-Hubbell's peer review rating system and was selected for inclusion in the 2007-2012 San Diego Super Lawyers® lists.
Mr. Vilaplana’s community involvements include his of counsel position for the San Diego Regional Economic Development Corporation, board member for the San Diego Port Authority and the San Diego Children’s Hospital and vice president and director of the San Diego Museum of Contemporary Art.