Barnes & Thornburg has opened an office in Delaware to help clients with finance, insolvency, restructuring, and business bankruptcy issues, the Indianapolis-based firm announced today.

The Wilmington, Del., office opened Aug. 15 and will be staffed by partner David M. Powlen, who is admitted to practice there. He will be assisted by partner Mark Owens, who is also admitted in Delaware. Before he joined Barnes, Owens was based in the Wilmington office of a multi-jurisdictional law firm serving business clients.

The firm opened the office in response to the increase in Chapter 11 cases filed in Delaware by businesses organized under that state's law, said Patrick Mears, chair of Barnes' Finance, Insolvency and Restructuring Department, in a statement. This office will be able to offer the firm's clients and potential clients a more efficient and economical means of representing them in Chapter 11 cases in Delaware courts, he said. In addition to Powlen, Owens, and Mears, other FIR Department attorneys are admitted to practice in the Southern District of New York, which is another leading jurisdiction for Chapter 11 reorganization cases.

This is the fourth market Barnes has expanded into this year. It opened new offices in Atlanta and Columbus, Ohio, in April and acquired The Parsinen Law Firm in Minneapolis in July.