About me
Shawn M. Christianson focuses her practice on insolvency, receiverships, and complex litigation with an emphasis on technology related issues. She represents financial institutions, secured and unsecured creditors, technology companies, receivers, and bankruptcy trustees. Her practice spans the state, federal and bankruptcy courts, as well as out of court proceedings and mediation. She argued and prevailed, at every level from the trial court through the Ninth Circuit, a seminal case on the topic of perfection of security interests in unregistered copyrights, In re: World Auxiliary Power.
Ms. Christianson is a former member of Buchalter’s Board of Directors, as well as the former Managing Shareholder of the Firm’s San Francisco office. Ms. Christianson was elected to and served two terms on the Board of Directors as a Director-At-Large of the International Women’s Insolvency and Restructuring Confederation and is a former Co-Chair of the Northern California Network of IWIRC.
She has served on several boards and committees, including the California Receiver’s Forum, the Bay Area Chapter of the California Receiver’s Forum, where she also served as Vice President, the Board of Directors of the Bay Area Bankruptcy Forum (“BABF”), BABF’s Program and Finance Committees and the organizing committee of the California Bankruptcy Forum’s Fifth Annual Conference. She was appointed to a three-year term as a Lawyer Representative to the Ninth Circuit Judicial Conference and served on the Northern District of California’s Local Rules Committee which addressed both the District and Bankruptcy Court’s Local Rules. She is a trained mediator and has acted as a Resolution Advocate on the Bankruptcy Dispute Resolution Panel in the Northern District of California since that Panel’s creation. She served as both Chair and Vice-Chair of the Bar Association of San Francisco’s Commercial Law and Bankruptcy section, and was a founding member of the Barrister Club’s Speakers Bureau. She is a frequent lecturer and author, and has been profiled in the Receivership News.
Ms. Christianson served two terms as the Mayor of the Town of Hillsborough, California, including leading the city through the first year of the pandemic. She has been an active participant in numerous community and civic organizations. She was elected in November 2005 to the Hillsborough City School District’s Board of Trustees, became President of that Board in 2009, and served on the Hillsborough City Council from 2012-2020, during which time she was both Vice Mayor and Mayor.
Ms. Christianson was recognized as 2024 Lawdragon 500 leading U.S. Bankruptcy & Restructuring Lawyers, an honor she has received since 2020. Additionally, Ms. Christianson, who is AV Preeminent rated, has been selected as uper Lawyers Top Rated Lawyer in Northern California since 2005 and as one of Super Lawyers Top Women Attorneys Northern California, an honor she has received since 2016, and to Martindale-Hubbell’s Bar Register of Preeminent Women Lawyers. She has been recognized as a Best Lawyer in America in the areas of Bankruptcy and Creditor Debtor Rights and Insolvency and Reorganization Law, an honor she has received since 2016. Additionally, in 2016, Ms. Christianson was selected by the Cal Alumni Association Board of Directors and the UC Berkeley Foundation Board of Trustees to receive the Spirit of 1868 Volunteer Award, which acknowledges alumni and friends who have demonstrated outstanding volunteer leadership and accomplishments in support of the university’s philanthropic and outreach efforts.
Community
• Guest Lecturer UC Berkeley Rhetoric class- Language and the Law
• Mayor of the Town of Hillsborough, California, 2018-2020
• Elected in November 2005 to the Hillsborough City School District’s Board of Trustees, serving as President of that Board in 2009, serving on the Hillsborough City Council commencing in 2012, and acting as Hillsborough’s Vice Mayor from 2016-2018.
• Founding member, Barrister Club's Speakers Bureau
• Chair and Vice- Chair, Bar Association of San Francisco's Commercial Law and Bankruptcy Section
• Served on several boards and committees, including the California Receiver’s Forum, the Bay Area Chapter of the California Receiver’s Forum, where she also served as Vice President, the Board of Directors of the Bay Area Bankruptcy Forum (“BABF”), BABF’s Program and Finance Committees and the organizing committee of the California Bankruptcy Forum’s Fifth Annual Conference.
Presentations & Publications
• Shawn Christianson, Guest Lecturer at UC Law SF (fka Hastings College of the Law) (Presentation)
• Panelist, Shawn Christianson, Speaker at the Barristers Club of San Francisco Bar Association (Presentation)
• Speaker, Bankruptcy Bypass: Recent Use of State Court Healthcare Provider Receiverships in lieu of Bankruptcy (Presentation)
• Speaker, IWIRC Strategic Planning (Presentation)
• Presenter, The Bay Area Chapter of the California Receivers Forum (Presentation)
• Co-Speaker, Women in Politics - Why Not? (Presentation)
• What Every Technology Company Needs to Know About Assumption, Assumption and Assignment, Or Rejection Of Its Contracts In Bankruptcy (Publication)
• Speaker, Who Will Be There To Shut Out The Lights (Presentation)
• Insolvency: What Every Technology Company Needs to Know About Claims Against Bankrupt Customers And Business Partners (Publication)
• Speaker, Language and the Law (Presentation)
• Female Powerbrokers Q&A: Buchalter’s Shawn Christianson (Publication)
• Speaker, Language and the Law (Presentation)
• Speaker, Thunderclouds on the Horizon: What Happens if your Cloud Provider is Insolvent (Presentation)
• Panelist, Receivership Sales (Presentation)
• Speaker, Receivers and Turnarounds: Emphasis on and Comparison with, California (Presentation)
• Speaker, Preferences and Reclamation Rights in Bankruptcy or Variations on the Theme of “Give It Back, Now!" (Presentation)
• Introduction to California Receivership Law (Publication)
Speaker, Nuts and Bolts of Receiverships (Presentation)
• Speaker, Alternatives to Chapter 11 (Presentation)
• Speaker, Combining Successful Law Careers with Kids (Presentation)
• Speaker, Funding the Estate (Presentation)
• Speaker, Beginning The Journey: Leadership Skills and Career Advice (Presentation)
• Speaker, Receivership Law & Practice (Presentation)
• Speaker, Navigating the Potentially Treacherous Cross-Currents of Executory Contract/Lease Treatment in Chapter 11 (Presentation)
• Speaker, After the Default: Litigation Under UCC Article 9 (Presentation)
• Speaker, Receiverships in the New Millennium: Part II (Presentation)
• Speaker, IP Financing (Presentation)
• Speaker, Federal Civil Litigation (Presentation)
• Speaker, Outsourcing in the Consumer Lending Industry: Preparing for the Worst: Salvaging At-Risk Relationships…and What to Do When You Can’t-Part III (Presentation)
Education
Ms. Christianson earned her J.D. at The University of California College of the Law, San Francisco, where she was on the editorial board of the UC Law SF (fkaHastings) Journal of Communications and Entertainment Law. She earned her B.S. magna cum laude at Boston College.