“[Emily is] a natural leader, with a servant’s heart and diligent work ethic, all while exuding grace and humility.”
Emily F. Shanks is an associate in the Bankruptcy section at Gray Reed in Dallas, and she has represented debtors, secured creditors and unsecured creditors in a wide range of corporate restructurings in various industries. She has also frequently represented secured lenders through in- and out-of-court workouts, and she has worked on a variety of bankruptcy-related litigation. Ms. Shanks has experience in general commercial litigation, representing clients in both federal and state court matters. Previously, she clerked for Justice Paul Green at the Supreme Court of Texas and served as Judge Scott Everett’s first term law clerk at the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Texas. Ms. Shanks was selected for and participated in the National Conference of Bankruptcy Judges’ 2023 NextGen class, and in 2020, she participated in the John C. Ford Inn of Court Dallas area chapter 11 restructuring course, where she tied as “Runner Up” for the “Rookie of the Year” Award. She also has served as the vice chair of the State Bar of Texas Bankruptcy Section’s Young Lawyers Committee (YLC), for which she assisted with its “Starting Out Right Program.” Additionally, she is co-chair of Events for the Dallas-Fort Worth Chapter of the International Women’s Insolvency & Restructuring Confederation (IWIRC), and she serves as a member of the Pipeline Programs Subcommittee for the State Bar of Texas Bankruptcy Law Section’s DEI Committee. She also is member of the John C. Ford Bankruptcy Inn of Court. Ms. Shanks is a 2024 ABI “40 Under 40” honoree. She received her B.A. cum laude in psychology from the University of Texas at Austin and her J.D. summa cum laude from Texas Tech University School of Law.