Bankruptcy and Financial Restructuring TRANSACTIONAL

WilmerHale’s Bankruptcy and Financial Restructuring practice regularly handles a broad variety of bankruptcy, insolvency and other restructuring matters, including complex litigation cases. Our attorneys represent and advise debtors, boards of directors, individual creditors and creditor committees in US and international restructuring matters, and provide clients with real-world, practical business solutions to any insolvency situation. We also work closely with clients on out-of-court restructurings in order to minimize risks and maximize returns. We also counsel our clients to take advantage of interesting and potentially profitable distressed assets and debt sales.

Our financial restructuring attorneys are also leaders in our debt finance practice. We handle a broad range of debt transaction types, including secured, senior and junior loans, leveraged financing, securitizations and structured financings, convertible debt, public debt issuances, and venture lending and leasing.

Our clients span a broad range of industries—such as retail, communications, biotech, life sciences, aviation, technology, manufacturing, insurance and energy—and include debtors, creditors, investors, bondholders and financial institutions.

Combining our extensive bankruptcy, insolvency, restructuring, debt finance and litigation knowledge with the experience of WilmerHale lawyers that specialize in areas such as corporate, securities, derivatives, real estate, tax, international trade, intellectual property, venture capital, regulatory and insurance, we help our clients transform their financial problems into business opportunities. We also have attorneys in our offices in Europe and Asia that enable WilmerHale to handle financial restructuring and debt transactions around the globe.

WilmerHale’s Bankruptcy and Financial Restructuring practice regularly handles a broad variety of bankruptcy, insolvency and other restructuring matters, including complex litigation cases. Our attorneys represent and advise debtors, boards of directors, individual creditors and creditor committees in US and international restructuring matters, and provide clients with real-world, practical business solutions to any insolvency situation. We also work closely with clients on out-of-court restructurings in order to minimize risks and maximize returns. We also counsel our clients to take advantage of interesting and potentially profitable distressed assets and debt sales.

Our financial restructuring attorneys are also leaders in our debt finance practice. We handle a broad range of debt transaction types, including secured, senior and junior loans, leveraged financing, securitizations and structured financings, convertible debt, public debt issuances, and venture lending and leasing.

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Leadership

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Sigel, John

John D. Sigel

Chair, Bankruptcy and Financial Restructuring Practice Group

+1 617 526 6728 (t)

john.sigel@wilmerhale.com

Anker_Phil.jpg

Philip D. Anker

Vice Chair, Bankruptcy and Financial Restructuring Practice Group

+1 212 230 8890 (t)

philip.anker@wilmerhale.com

Goldman, Andrew N.

Andrew N. Goldman

Vice Chair, Bankruptcy and Financial Restructuring Practice Group

+1 212 230 8836 (t)

andrew.goldman@wilmerhale.com

Experience

Our attorneys are active and highly experienced in all phases of bankruptcy and commercial work. Over the past 20 years we have represented debtors, creditors, bondholders, committees and other interested parties in numerous Chapter 11 bankruptcy cases, out-of-court debt restructurings and related litigation and transactions. These matters have involved technology companies, real estate developers, manufacturers, retailers, airlines, financial organizations and many other businesses. We also have advised clients on the acquisition of bankruptcy claims and represented buyers, sellers (including both debtors and trustees) and other interested parties in the purchase and sale of distressed businesses and properties. In addition, we have been significantly involved in legislative and counseling work in connection with various matters relating to bankruptcy.

Our commercial practice includes providing strategic advice to clients in the structuring, negotiation and closing of complex debt facilities. In recent years, we have represented borrowers and lenders in asset-based and cash flow secured loan facilities, public debt offerings and other debt transactions for purposes of financing acquisitions, working capital needs or operations in bankruptcy.

In recent cases, we:

  • Served as debtor’s counsel in the KB Toys, Arch Wireless and PSINet bankruptcy cases
  • Served as creditors’ committee counsel in ANC Rental Corporation (owner of National and Alamo care rental business) and represented noteholders in ATA Holdings
  • Represented Kmart in the post-confirmation phase of its Chapter 11 case
  • Represented Hartford in numerous asbestos-related bankruptcies
  • Advised an informal committee of senior secured noteholders in connection with the restructuring of Satélites Mexicanos, a leading provider of fixed satellite services in Mexico
  • Represented Verizon in disputes involving NextWave, including the acquisition of certain licenses and as a major creditor in numerous Chapter 11 telecom cases
  • Represented issuers in 144A offerings raising over $2 billion, including placements for Akamai Technologies, DoubleClick, Keane, LIN Television, PerkinElmer, Red Hat and Sepracor
  • Represented clients in connection with many acquisition, cash-flow and debtor-in-possession debt financings

To learn more about our experience, please see Practice Areas on the Bankruptcy and Financial Restructuring practice overview page.

Publications & News

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April 5, 2013

WilmerHale Helps Rhode Island Transform Bankrupt Amusement Park into State Park

February 19, 2013

Six WilmerHale Attorneys Named by Best Lawyers as “Lawyer of the Year” in 2013

February 15, 2013

Jurisdictional Mix-and-Match: Vitro, Elpida and Fairfield Demonstrate the Uncertainties of Cross-Border Bankruptcy for US Bondholders and Buyers

February 13, 2013

Should Strategic Considerations Really Lead to a Finding of Bad Faith under § 1126(e)?: The Newly Accepted Analysis in Light of DISH Network v. DBSD

An article by James H. Millar, published by the Financial Advisors and Investment Banking Committee and appearing in ABI Committee News, Volume 10, Number 1.

December 13, 2012

Inside the Minds: Chapter 11 Bankruptcy and Restructuring Strategies

December 10, 2012

Bankruptcy and Financial Restructuring Group: 2012 Recap

WilmerHale’s Bankruptcy and Financial Restructuring Group is pleased to report another successful year. Led by nine partners out of the firm’s New York, Boston, and Washington DC offices, the group presents a unique combination of litigation and transactional practices spanning the bankruptcy and financial restructuring landscape.

August 31, 2012

The 2013 Best Lawyers in America® List Includes 101 WilmerHale Lawyers

July 12, 2012

Who Needs Section 365(n)? New Seventh Circuit Decision Provides Licensees of Bankrupt Trademark Licensors Alternate Grounds for Protecting Their Rights

July 1, 2012

Fixing the Qualitech Problem by Revising § 365(h)

An article by James H. Millar, featured in the July edition of the American Bankruptcy Institute Journal.

June 7, 2012

Chambers USA 2012 Final Results Announced

Recognition

The excellence of WilmerHale’s Bankruptcy and Financial Restructuring practice consistently receives wide recognition in the professional press and throughout the business sector.

  • In the inaugural 2010 Best Law Firm rankings by U.S. News Media Group and Best Lawyers, our bankruptcy practice is ranked in the first tier nationally and in Boston and Washington DC; our New York practice was ranked in the second tier.
  • The Best Lawyers in America 2010 ranked WilmerHale number one for Bankruptcy and Creditor-Debtor Rights Law in Boston and Massachusetts.
  • Chambers USA 2010 and 2011 acknowledged our "increasingly prominent" bankruptcy/restructuring practices with first tier rankings, quoting sources as saying our team is "a top notch group of lawyers with great depth and breadth.” Mitch Appelbaum, Paul Daley, Craig Goldblatt, Bill Perlstein, George Shuster and John Sigel were individually honored as leaders in the field. The department has received top rankings in Chambers USA every year since 2004.
  • The Legal 500 United States 2009 edition recognized WilmerHale for Bankruptcy in the Northeast and also identified John Sigel as a leader in this practice area.
  • In 2008, WilmerHale partner, Craig Goldblatt was named a "Top Lawyer" by Washington Business Journal for his outstanding expertise in the area of Bankruptcy.
  • Business Week recently named our firm one of the nation’s "top bankruptcy shops.”
  • Four of our partners are fellows of the American College of Bankruptcy (Paul Daley, William Perlstein, John Sigel and Hall Swaim).