Fishman, Larsen, Goldring & Zeitler

Attorneys

Practice Areas:

Peter practices in the areas of commercial finance, corporate law and real estate, with an emphasis on transactional matters. His expertise includes mergers and acquisitions, commercial and real estate lending, troubled debt restructure, general business transactions, tax exempt bond finance, business restructure and general business transactions.

Representative Transactions and Matters Include:

• Represented Capital Corp of the West and its operating subsidiary County Bank as Interim Outside General Counsel with overall responsibility for all legal matters including the loan workout department.
• Regularly represents lenders in restructuring and forbearance of loans (real estate and non-real estate). Experience includes agricultural and non-agricultural properties.
• Regularly represents lenders and borrowers in both taxable and tax-exempt industrial revenue bond transactions ranging from $2 million to $30 million.
• Represented Rain Creek Baking, Inc. in connection with the sale of substantially all of its business assets to Kronos Foods, Inc.
• Represented Silvas Oil Company in connection with the acquisition of substantially all the assets of Pence Petroleum.
• Represented Ultra Gro Plant Food Company in connection with the sale of substantially all of its assets to an employee group in a leveraged buyout.
• Represented American Biomedical Laboratory in connection with the sale of substantially all of its business assets to Physicians Clinical Laboratories.
• Represented Valley Ag Credit in connection with turnkey financing package for construction of tomato processing plant, including construction loan, takeout loan and letter of credit for offshore purchase of equipment.
• Represented Sunset Waste Paper, Inc. in all aspects of construction and financing of $12 million recycling plant, including $10 million tax-exempt industrial revenue bond.
• Represented Rug Doctor, Inc. in the acquisition of the business and assets of Blue Lustre, Inc. and the subsequent integration of several hundred Blue Lustre distributorships and chain stores.
• Represented Rug Doctor, Inc. in negotiation of chain store affiliations with Wal-Mart and Winn Dixie stores.
• Represented Domtar Industries, Inc. in connection with the $241 million purchase of Genstar Gypsum Products Company and the subsequent divestiture of certain assets.
• Regularly advises individual board members of publicly traded and private companies regarding business judgment rule, director liability and D&O coverage issues.

Previous Work:

After graduation from law school Peter joined Jones, Day, Reavis & Pogue, where he was an associate in both the Dallas, Texas, and Cleveland, Ohio, offices. At Jones Day, Peter specialized in corporate mergers and acquisitions, and other complex corporate transactions. He then joined McCutchen, Doyle, Brown & Enersen in San Francisco, California, where he specialized in corporate and real estate transactions. In 1989, Peter joined the Fresno firm of Lang, Richert & Patch where he established the firm's corporate and real estate practice. In 2004, Peter joined the firm of Fishman, Larsen, Goldring & Zeitler.

Professional Activities:

Peter is active in the local county bar where he has served as the chairman of the Central Valley Real Property Roundtable, the Fresno County Bar Association Real Property Law Section and the Fresno County Bar Association Business Law Section. Peter has also served as a member of the Board of Directors of the California Receivers Forum-Central Valley Chapter.

Community Activities:

Peter is a member of The Rotary Club of Fresno, and has served on the Board of Directors of the Rotary Club and of Rotary Playland-Storyland. He is a past director and past president of the Rotary Club of Fresno Foundation. He is presently a member of the Board of Trustees of the Fresno Art Museum, and is a past President of the Board of Directors of Break the Barriers, a non-profit organization which provides athletic opportunities for special needs children.

Bar Admissions:

• State of California – 1985
• State of Ohio – 1983
• State of Texas – 1982

Education:

• University of Michigan, J.D., 1982
  • Order of the Coif
  • Cum Laude
  • Michigan Law Review
• University of Michigan, M.A., 1977 (Human Genetics)
• Albion College, B.A., 1976 - Phi Beta Kappa, Summa Cum Laude

Life Beyond The Law

Peter and his wife Denise have three children, Amanda, Jonathon and Allyson. The Zeitler family enjoys outdoor sports including skiing, backpacking, scuba diving and sailing, and are all avid travelers. Peter is also an accomplished marine aquarist and has recently been elected as the president of CV Reefers, the Central Valley's marine and reef aquarium society.