Maria K. Pum
Partner
Admissions
California
Address
525 B Street, Suite 2200, San Diego, CA 92101
Office Tel.
619.906.5783
Overview
Maria represents clients in all stages of secured lending, be it negotiating and documenting of original loans, including construction loans and other real estate-secured loans, shepherding clients through a restructuring or workout of a troubled loan, assisting lenders in the enforcement of their creditors’ rights and remedies through foreclosure or litigation, or representing clients in all facets of a chapter 11 bankruptcy case. She represents financial institutions, Fortune 100 companies, high net-worth individuals, creditors, trustees, receivers, lenders, borrowers, landlords, real estate developers, technology companies, venture capital companies and private equity funds in many contexts. Her services include buying assets and intellectual property in bankruptcy, litigating contract disputes and fraudulent conveyance claims, completing real estate acquisitions and financing, negotiating and drafting loan transactions, structuring and documenting workouts and restructurings, and litigating commercial disputes. She brings her clients over thirty years of experience in debt and contract-related matters and involving a broad spectrum of industries including biotechnology, agriculture, the hospitality industry, and real estate development.
- Represented the trustee of a multi-million-dollar decedent’s estate in litigation defending against the California PUC’s efforts to require the estate to continue operating a sewage treatment plant near Tehachapi, California.
- Represented the committee of municipalities located outside Orange County, California, in the county’s Chapter 9 case.
- Represented various venture capital companies in acquiring businesses and assets from debtors in bankruptcy.
- Assisted a Canadian-based corporation in its multimillion-dollar acquisition of real property downtown Los Angeles.
- Represented a national lender as agent in several multi-million-dollar syndicated construction loan projects.
- Represented a high-net worth individual seeking to partition a family real estate empire among several family-owned entities involving complex secured loan arrangements.
- Represented a national private construction lender in litigating relief from stay matters and challenges raised by a chapter 11 debtor in its effort to forestall the lender’s efforts to foreclose on its collateral.
- Represented a national online service company in successfully protecting payments the client received against efforts by a bankruptcy trustee to claw back those payments as avoidable transfers.
- Represented North Coast Village, Ltd. In its decades-long chapter 11 case involving several trips to the appellate courts.
- Best Lawyers®, Bankruptcy and Creditor Debtor Rights / Insolvency and Reorganization Law, Commercial Transactions / UCC Law, and Litigation – Bankruptcy, 2017-present
- Super Lawyers®, Creditor Debtor Rights: Business, Bankruptcy: Business, General Litigation, Real Estate: Business, 2006-2025
- Martindale-Hubbell® AV Preeminent Rating
- Women of Influence in Law, San Diego Business Journal, 2024
- Top 25: Women San Diego Super Lawyers®, 2014, 2018
- JD, UC Berkely School of Law (Boalt Hall) Berkeley, 1985
- BA (Economics), University of California, Los Angeles, 1982
- Author. “Seventh Circuit Rules Borrower is Third Party Beneficiary of Trust Agreement to Whom Indenture Trustee Owes a Duty of Good Faith and Fair Dealing,” Banking Law Journal, Vol. 123, No. 9, October 2006.
- Author. “Court Explores Obligations of Non-Debtor Counter-Party Under Unassumed Executory Contract,” Pratt’s Journal of Bankruptcy Law, Vol. 10-6, October 2006.
- California Lawyers Association, member, Business Law and Real Property Law Sections
- San Diego County Bar Association, member, Bankruptcy Law Section
- San Diego Law Library Justice Foundation, President 2015-2019, Board of Trustees member 2011-2020
- Mills, James. “Procopio Expands In San Diego With Bankruptcy Specialist,” Law360, May 22, 2025.
