Michael D. Cuda

Mr. Cuda has been involved in many areas of the business, banking and finance industry for the last 25 years at some of the largest international and regional law firms in the country.  Mr. Cuda’s practice focuses primarily on business issues that may vary from simple entity formation considerations to complicated multi-party corporate restructuring matters that include multiple lenders and layers of debt, domestic and international collateral and publically traded corporations.

Over this time, Mr. Cuda has represented some of the largest international lenders in multi-billion dollar transactions, involving international currencies and collateral.  However, Mr. Cuda also represents individual financial institutions in many different sized transactions across a variety of industry lines, including business loans and personal loans for high net worth individuals.

Mr. Cuda has also represented borrowers in various lending and restructuring transactions, bringing creative solutions to difficult situations that only years of lending experience can provide.  In November 2005, Mr. Cuda served as the borrower’s sole lending counsel in the acquisition by Lewis Hollingsworth LP of TMG Sports Marketing, LLC, which was selected by the Dallas Business Journal as the 2005 Best Buyout or Change of Ownership for the year.  The judges for the award specifically cited “creative deal structuring” as one of the key components in their decision to grant this transaction team the Award.

Mr. Cuda’s extensive loan structuring and documentation experience has also carried over into business structuring, restructuring and business “divorce” matters.   Mr. Cuda brings the same creative approach to business structuring transactions that he has successfully applied to lending transactions over the years, whether they relate to debt restructuring, ownership restructuring, business sales or division of business entities and assets among owners.

Mr. Cuda worked as a banker during the last significant economic downturn in the 1980’s in Texas as a workout officer, loan review officer and finally, as a special advisor to troubled financial institutions prior to attending law school to become a banking and business lawyer.

Mr. Cuda is a frequent speaker on finance related issues at business and continuing legal education events, and has served as an adjunct Professor of Law at several law schools including the University of Oklahoma and Texas Tech University.  Mr. Cuda received his B.A. in Politics from the University of Dallas in 1982, his M.B.A., summa cum laude, from St. Edward’s University in 1986, and his J.D., magna cum laude, from Texas Tech University School of Law in 1991.  He is a member of the Texas Bar Association and has numerous professional affiliations.

Mr. Cuda is a Board Member and the current Treasurer of Lutheran Outdoors Ministries of Texas, the Dallas-Tarrant Chapter Board President of Thrivent Financial, a Board Trustee on the Recovery Resource Council (which oversees drug and alcohol education and rehabilitation programs for a 12 county area), and a Committee Member and current Treasurer of Boy Scouts of America Troop 118 in Arlington, Texas.  Among other positions he has held, Mr. Cuda is a former member of the Loan Review Board for the City of Arlington, Texas, and a former member of the Consumer Law Council of the State Bar of Texas (responsible for supervision and planning for the former Consumer Law Section of the State Bar of Texas).

Susan Rathgeber Cuda’s  law practice focuses on estate planning, probate and elder law issues.  A 1987 graduate of the University of Texas School of Law, she gained a broad spectrum of experience in general practice firms in Austin, Texas and Levelland, Texas. 

In 1990, she began work at West Texas Legal Services in Lubbock, Texas, transferring in 1991 to Fort Worth, Texas, representing clients in family law matters involving domestic abuse.  For the past 17 years, she has worked to provide counsel and legal assistance to clients with estate planning and probate issues. 

Mrs. Cuda has assisted with estate planning and wealth preservation for families with young children, retirees, business owners and people from many other walks of life, providing solutions for a wide range of needs.