Leona Mogavero is a Shareholder in Zarwin Baum’s Business Practice Group and concentrates her practice in the areas of insolvency, creditor’s rights and bankruptcy. She has spent over thirty years representing clients, primarily secured creditors, in all aspects of loan works-outs, restructuring, enforcement and asset recovery. Lee also serves as a Subchapter V (of Chapter 11) Bankruptcy Trustee in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.
Lee is both an advocate and a problem solver. In most cases, she enters a situation in which something less than desirable has occurred—a borrower has defaulted on a loan, a bankruptcy petition has been filed, or some other event has transpired which makes the financial outcome (for all involved) problematic. Her goal, if representing a secured creditor, is to maximize the creditor’s recovery in as efficient a manner as possible without becoming immersed in prolonged and costly proceedings. If representing another party, for example a purchaser of assets in a bankruptcy case, the goal is similar—the best result without unnecessary costs and acrimony—in other words utilizing both advocacy and problem solving.
Lee is fortunate in that her practice affords her the opportunity to negotiate agreements, draft transactional documents, prepare pleadings, appear in court in trials and motion practice, and recover and liquate collateral—a true variety of legal endeavors. The debtor/creditor bar is smaller than that of other practice areas; they are a collegial group that encounters each other on multiple occasions, and Lee is proud to have participated, along with her debtor-creditor bar colleagues, in many educational and community activities.
& Events
2022 National Business Institute’s Live Virtual CLE Seminar, ‘Gun Law in Pennsylvania- Session I. State and Federal Firearms Laws: What Attorneys Need to Know and Session II.Liability Concerns for Gun Dealers and Owners
February 6, 2026, National Business Institute’s, CLE Seminar, Business Transaction Contracts Drafting Kit with Sample Provisions, Checklists, and More- Real Estate Purchase and Option Agreements; and Loan Agreements, Promissory Notes, and Confession of Judgment.
December 15, 2025, National Business Institute’s, CLE Seminar, Pennsylvania Real Estate Transaction Documents A-Z, Loan Documents: Sample Walkthroughs.
November 19, 2025 National Business Institute’s, CLE Seminar, Pennsylvania Collection Law: The Ultimate Guide, How Bankruptcy Affects Collections, How to Obtain a Judgment, and How to Enforce the Judgment: Liens, Garnishments, Veil Piercing, and More.
January 14, 2025, National Business Institute’s CLE Seminar, Business Transaction Contracts Drafting Kit With Sample Provisions, Checklists, and More, Real Estate Purchase and Option Agreements and Loan Agreement, Promissory Note, Confession of Judgment.
October 22, 2024 National Business Institute’s CLE Seminar, Distressed Asset Acquisition–To Buy or Not to Buy? Assessing Distressed Assets and Structuring Acquisition- Distressed Asset Purchase Options.
Frequent speaker at seminars for financial services professionals and attorneys regarding loan work-outs, bankruptcy, collections and real estate law
Lawdragon 500 Leading U.S. Bankruptcy and Restructuring Lawyers (2020)
Best Lawyers in America—Bankruptcy and Creditor Debtor Rights/Insolvency and Reorganization Law (2021-2025)
Supreme Court of Pennsylvania
U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit
Pennsylvania
Philadelphia Chapter, International Women’s Insolvency and Restructuring Confederation (IWIRC), Board Member
Turnaround Management Association, Board Member
Eastern District of Pennsylvania Bankruptcy Conference, Board Member
University of Pennsylvania Law School, J.D.
La Salle University, B.A. maxima cum laude
Subchapter V (of Chapter 11) Bankruptcy Trustee, United States Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania