2023 Turnarounds & Workouts Outstanding Young Restructuring Lawyers
Each year Beard Group selects 12 restructuring lawyers below the age of 40 who are making a significant impact in the industry. The lawyers' names are published in the April edition of Turnarounds & Workouts, and each one is honored during the dinner banquet at the Distressed Investing Conference.
Below are this year's Outstanding Young Restructuring Lawyers listed with their firms and accomplishments.
Below are this year's Outstanding Young Restructuring Lawyers listed with their firms and accomplishments.
Benjamin S. Beller
Sullivan & Cromwell LLP
Sullivan & Cromwell LLP
outstanding achievements
Counsel to FTX in Chapter 11 and in litigation on behalf of FTX Debtors against other cryptocurrency bankrupt companies, including most notably Voyager Digital, where the FTX Debtors have brought an action to recover over $450M of preferential transfers to Voyager. Represented Deerfield Management Company, as investor and creditor of Pipeline Health Systems LLC, and as the largest holder of second-lien notes of Mallinckrodt plc. Co-led representation of ad hoc group of noteholders of Avaya Inc., advising the group since August 2022 following disclosure by Avaya of certain financial irregularities. Represented Lion Capital in the Chapter 11 cases of John Varvatos Enterprises, a men’s fashion brand and a Lion portfolio company; Minera Los Pelambres in its dispute with Alto Maipo arising under a power purchase agreement and in connection with Alto Maipo’s Chapter 11 case; and Constellation Energy Generation on bankruptcy matters in a complex transaction establishing a $1B contingent liquidity facility through the issuance by a Delaware statutory trust of $1B of Pre-Capitalized Trust Securities (P-Caps) in a private offering.
Brian Bolin
Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP
Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP
OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENTS
Counsel to Revlon Inc., guiding the iconic global beauty company successfully through case milestones, including development of a plan of reorganization, dismissal of adversary litigation, approval of a disclosure statement, and confirmation of the plan in early April; KKR, as sponsor, in connection with Envision Healthcare’s entry into $7.3B in debt transactions; Centerbridge Partners and Oaktree Capital Management in a $1.25B first lien senior secured credit facility for OTG Management, an operator of airport concessions and hospitality; Charlesbank Capital Partners, LLC as arranger and lender under a $350M first lien term loan facility with the parent company of FullBeauty Brands, refinancing and replacing certain term loans incurred by FullBeauty upon exit from its 2019 pre- arranged bankruptcy; ad hoc investor group of first lien lenders in Avaya Holdings’ prepackaged Chapter 11 restructuring; Second lien lenders in Ligado Networks’ out-of-court restructuring of $14B in liabilities and extension of upcoming debt maturities; ad hoc group of creditors in Digicel’s ongoing restructuring; and Alex and Ani in its $17.5M asset-based lending financing following the Company’s emergence from Chapter 11.
Benjamin Butterfield
Morrison Foerster LLP
Morrison Foerster LLP
OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENTS
Counsel to CalPlant I Holdco, LLC, which entered Chapter 11 with ~$380M of secured debt; UCC in Clovis Oncology, which filed for Chapter 11 with ~$670M of secured and unsecured debt; a major stakeholder in connection with the restructuring of its secured loan to Fair Financial, an app-based car subscription platform and Vision Fund 1 portfolio company; and the U.S. International Development Finance Corp. in Mexico and an involuntary chapter 11 petition in the United States. Represented Revolution Foods, PBC in connection with its $54M acquisition of substantially all assets of Better 4 You Breakfast, Inc.; and VMware, Inc. in connection with its $14M acquisition of substantially all assets of 8e14 Networks, Inc.
Andrew Carty
Brown Rudnick LLP
Brown Rudnick LLP
OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENTS
Represented statutory committees in some of the most complex, high-stakes bankruptcy cases in recent years, including UCC in Ruby Pipeline, which confirmed a Chapter 11 plan that provided for payment in full of all unsecured claims, plus post-petition interest at the contract rate (and fees and expenses); Talc Claimants’ Committee (as co-lead counsel) in LTL Management, a special-purpose entity created by Johnson & Johnson; UCC in Basic Energy Services, which confirmed a liquidation plan that provided cash recovery for far-out-of-the-money unsecured creditors, plus potential upside through post-settlement litigation against the equity sponsor; Performance Sports Group Liquidation Trust (as outside counsel), leading efforts in negotiating a settlement of certain retained causes of action, resolving claims, and winding down of the trust and the estate; Exide Technologies Tort Claims Trust (as outside counsel), leading efforts in working with the claim administrator to finalize claim allocations for trust beneficiaries, and administration of the trust; and 8Minute Solar Energy, a clean energy company, in connection with an independent review of accounting concerns and integrity concerns relating to senior executives, including the founder and CEO.
David J. Cohen
Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP
Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP
OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENTS
Represented ad hoc creditor groups in two of the largest Chapter 11 cases in recent years, Seadrill Limited and Nordic Aviation Capital; some of the largest legal cannabis operators in the country, including MedMen Enterprises and Greenrose Holding Company, as well as SAF Group, the largest secured creditor to cannabis company, Parallel, in its ongoing including Blackstone, PSP Investments, Brookfield, Carlyle, Softbank and General Atlantic in various portfolio company restructurings and investment opportunities, including the Chapter 11 cases of FORMA Brands and Katerra, and the out-of-court restructuring of Service King; number of companies in their out-of-court workout and restructuring efforts, including Redbox Entertainment in connection with its company-saving rescue financing and merger with Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment in the midst of becoming a “meme stock”; and a number of S&P 500 companies in connection with their investments in, or contractual relationships with, companies facing financial distress and potential Chapter 11 filings.
AnnElyse S. Gains
Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP
Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP
OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENTS
Assisted an ad hoc group of term loan B lenders to Loyalty Ventures, Inc., a provider of tech-enabled, data-driven consumer loyalty solutions and reward programs, in a complex and comprehensive deal to restructure two business segments: AIR MILES and the BrandLoyalty; a controlling ad hoc group of term loan lenders to Akorn, Inc., which — after months of negotiations, including M&A and government negotiations, following a bankruptcy in 2020 — commenced Chapter 7 cases; Voyager Digital Holdings, Inc., in one of the first restructurings of a major cryptocurrency company; Navient Solutions LLC in securing dismissal of an involuntary Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceeding; and Knighthead Capital Management, LLC and Certares Opportunities LLC in their successful $5.916B purchase of Hertz out of its Chapter 11 cases, following a multi-month competitive auction, resulting in a recovery to existing equity holders of more than $8.00 per share, payment in full to all creditors, and an implied plan enterprise value of $6.929B.
Emily E. Geier
Kirkland & Ellis LLP
Kirkland & Ellis LLP
OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENTS
Advised Bed Bath & Beyond and Buy Buy Baby on a series of complex out- of-court transactions to prevent a chapter 11 filing, including a public equity derivatives offering for up to $1B, an upsized FILO facility by $100M, and the deceleration, amendment, and waiver of certain defaults under BBBY’s credit agreement to better position BBBY for success as a going concern; Nordic Aviation Capital in its prearranged chapter 11 cases, which had over $7.7B of liabilities and restructured an unprecedented 80+ debt instruments; and Aearo Technologies LLC, a 3M subsidiary, in its Chapter 11 case as both debtor and its non-debtor parent are defendants in the largest multi-district litigation in history, with over 230,000 personal injury claims filed related to certain historical Aearo products.
Jason Gott
Latham & Watkins LLP
Latham & Watkins LLP
OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENTS
Led a multi-disciplinary team advising Mallinckrodt for more than three years in what is one of the most challenging and complex Chapter 11 proceedings in history, which deleveraged the company’s balance sheet by ~$1.3B and resolved thousands of opioid-related lawsuits. Represented RingCentral, a provider of global enterprise cloud communications tools and services, in efforts to restructure its operating partnership with Avaya, ahead of and in the shadow of Avaya filing Chapter 11. Co-lead partner advising Starry, a fixed residential wireless broadband provider, in its restructuring efforts and recently filed Chapter 11 cases, successfully negotiating a pre-arranged filing with 100% of Starry’s senior lenders supporting a speedy, dual-track plan and sale process.
Michael Handler
King & Spalding LLP
King & Spalding LLP
OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENTS
Represented the Archegos Fund and its investment advisor Archegos Capital Management in connection with the Fund’s out-of-court wind-down and restructuring efforts, including reaching a global out-of-court settlement with financial institution counterparties and providing more than $700M of distributions to creditors; ad hoc group of noteholders to Coinstar, which is structured as a “whole business” securitization, in connection with Coinstar’s rapid amortization waiver request ahead of an April 2023 “anticipated repayment date” of more than $900M of structured senior secured notes; Pareteum Corp in connection with its Chapter 11 case, which culminated in a going concern 363 sale; DCL Corporation, which commenced Chapter 11 in December 2022 with $331.6M in consolidated assets and $301M in consolidated debts; and ad hoc group of term lenders in its ongoing lawsuit challenging Boardriders’ priming roll up financing transaction in New York state court.
Thomas S. Kessler
Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP
Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP
OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENTS
Advised on three major restructurings, including LATAM Airlines Group, Latin America’s largest air carrier, which successfully exited a first-of-its-kind cross- border debt restructuring involving over $16B in liabilities in November; PT Garuda Indonesia (Persero) Tbk, Indonesia’s flag carrier, in its restructuring of ~$9.58B of bank, bond, lease, and other indebtedness, with its reorganization plan going effective Dec. 29; and funds managed by affiliates of Apollo Global Management in the voluntary restructuring of the debt and equity of Grupo Aeroméxico, becoming the largest shareholder of the reorganized company following the debtor’s Chapter 11 emergence.
Adam L. Shpeen
Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP
Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP
OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENTS
Represented ad hoc group of secured creditors of Diebold Nixdorf in connection with a comprehensive out-of-court recapitalization transaction; ad hoc group of secured creditors of Mitel Networks in connection with an innovative recapitalization transaction involving the investment of new first lien capital and an exchange of existing debt into new debt; ad hoc group of creditors to Party City in connection with its pre-negotiated chapter 11 case; the bank agent under Bed Bath & Beyond’s asset-based lending facility in connection with a novel amendment and equity investment transaction that avoided a near-term chapter 11 filing; ad hoc group of lenders to Cineworld Group plc in connection with $855M prepetition priming term loan in Cineworld’s chapter 11 proceedings; Delta Air Lines in connection with the chapter 11 cases of LATAM Airlines Group.
Debra M. Sinclair
Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP
Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP
OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENTS
Represented the independent directors of Regal Entertainment Group on all aspects of the Chapter 11 cases of parent Cineworld Group plc; SL Green, New York City’s largest commercial landlord and joint owner of the commercial office tower located at 245 Park Avenue, in the chapter 11 cases of PWM Property Management, LLC; UCC in SAS AB, working closely with SAS since the Committee’s appointment to guide the company towards a value-maximizing transaction, including negotiating the terms of DIP financing and equity solicitation and considering foreign law issues; and UCC in Grupo Aeroméxico, S.A.B. de C.V., ultimately reaching a settlement that provided for an additional $40M to unsecured creditors. Advised two large distressed companies: a retailer that may require incremental financing or a financial restructuring in the near term, and a utility-related company that may require a Chapter 11 restructuring. Led an extensive engagement for a pharmaceutical company that ultimately did not seek Chapter 11 protection.