News Archive
Leibman Forum Presents First-Hand Account of How the DIA Survived City's Bankruptcy
10/28/2016
Indianapolis native Matthew Wilkins was one of the attorneys who represented retirees owed tens of billions of dollars in pension payments by the city of Detroit. Many lobbied for the sale of the artworks owned by the Detroit Institute of Arts (DIA) in order to meet the city’s obligations to its retirees. How the DIA was spared was the subject of the Annual Leibman Forum on the Legal and Business Environment of Art on October 27 at IU McKinney.
Wilkins is a bankruptcy attorney with the law firm Brooks Wilkins Sharkey & Turco in Birmingham, Michigan. He served as co-counsel to the Official Committee of Retirees in Detroit’s bankruptcy proceedings. It was the largest municipal bankruptcy in United States history. Wilkins provided a unique, behind-the-scenes look at how the historic compromise was reached to save the museum’s collection from liquidation.
This event is co-sponsored by the Indiana University Robert H. McKinney School of Law, Kelley School of Business, and Herron School of Art and Design on the IUPUI campus. In the photo from left are IU McKinney Dean Andrew R. Klein, Matthew Wilkins, and Joan Leibman.
