Meaghan E. Murphy

MEAGHAN is a Bankruptcy and Restructuring, Commercial Litigation, Creditors’ Rights, Receiverships and Assignments partner with Meland Budwick, P.A. in Miami, where she focuses her practice on bankruptcy and complex commercial litigation. She represents business debtors, bankruptcy trustees, creditors and creditors’ committees in a variety of chapter 7 and 11 proceedings, with an emphasis on representing commercial landlords and tenants. Her strong understanding of commercial leasing and its treatment in bankruptcy has benefited both commercial landlord and tenant clients, including in helping successfully guide multiple retail debtor-tenants in distressed commercial leasing situations through chapter 11, resulting in millions in relief. She also regularly pursues and defends adversary proceedings, including fraudulent transfers and preference matters, and she represents clients in state court insolvency and receivership proceedings, including assignees and creditors in assignments for the benefit of creditors and receivers in receiverships.

Meaghan also handles a wide variety of complex commercial litigation matters for clients, including pursuing and defending commercial foreclosure matters, as well as contract and business tort claims. She frequently handles post-judgment asset-recovery in matters involving high-net-worth judgment debtors and financial fraud. She is the second vice president of the Bankruptcy Bar Association of the Southern District of Florida, and a member of the International Women’s Insolvency & Restructuring Confederation, ABI and the Federal Court Practice Committee of The Florida Bar. She also is a 2024 recipient of the Miami-Dade Bar Young Lawyers Section 40 Under 40 Award and a 2024 Florida Legal Awards “Dealmaker of the Year” finalist, and she is listed in The Best Lawyers in America for 2024.

Meaghan’s journey into the insolvency profession began when she was a child in the 90s, when her family moved from the Philadelphia area to rural southern Idaho, where they knew no one and were not part of the predominant religious community. They were poor and isolated, living hours away from any major city. Despite her disadvantages, after graduating high school she attended the University of Idaho, then went on to attend the University of Miami School of Law. While in law school, an internship at the Bankruptcy Assistance Clinic and a bankruptcy course sparked her interest in bankruptcy work. She participated in forming the first Diversity Committee at her firm and has chaired it since its inception. She also has recently taken on a new ombudsman role at her firm, serving as a single point of contact between attorneys and the firm for all kinds of issues. Outside of the office, she is an active member of the Junior League of Miami, serving in leadership roles and volunteering at events aimed at reducing food insecurity for at-risk women and children, and providing shelter and training for women and children victims of domestic violence. She also provides pro bono representation and assistance to chapter 7 debtors, and has assisted individuals in residential foreclosure proceedings, as well as individuals with major health concerns, such as HIV and AIDS, with immigration, Social Security and public benefits matters.