In the past 10 years, our Bankruptcy & Creditors' Rights Group has evolved from an adjunct to our lending practice to a nationally recognized and respected team of high-impact lawyers, including one of the deans of the national bankruptcy bar, a highly regarded former bankruptcy court judge, and three elected Fellows in the American College of Bankruptcy. Our attorneys are frequent lecturers and authors on cutting-edge issues. Best known for our representation of secured and unsecured creditors, we also represent official creditors' and equity committees and indenture trustees, including principal claimants in some of the largest bankruptcies in U.S. history.
Our bankruptcy lawyers are intimately familiar with the nuances of loan documentation, credit policies and the politics of syndicated loans and inter-class creditor issues. We are equally comfortable in out-of-court workouts, in bankruptcy court and in ancillary litigation. Our reputation is for finding pragmatic and efficient solutions, by agreement when we can and by court order when we can't.
The scope of our practice encompasses debtor-in-possession financings, asset purchases in and out of bankruptcy, contested cash collateral and adequate protection disputes, post-petition financing contests, preference and fraudulent conveyance litigation, and debtor and trustee strong-arm powers cases. Our principals have experience representing every class of claimant, as well as trustees and debtors. We also represent some of the largest traders in distressed debt, including transactions involving secured claims in multi-bank facilities. For more information on our Bankruptcy & Creditors' Rights Group, please contact Alan Solow at 312.201.3909 or via e-mail at alan.solow@goldbergkohn.com.
Our Experience
- We represent secured creditors in the full range of workout and bankruptcy services, including the representation of agents and individual financial institutions in multi-bank credits. Services include the negotiation and documentation of out-of-court restructuring and forbearance agreements, negotiation and closing of debtor-in-possession financing, and the execution of liquidation plans when appropriate. We work with our Litigation Group in defending preference, fraudulent conveyance and equitable subordination claims, and in prosecuting matters such as lift stay, cash collateral fights.
- We represent official committees in bankruptcy proceedings, including official committees of unsecured creditors and equity security holders. Two of our recent high-profile matters have been the representation of the equity holders in the Kmart and Mercury Finance cases.
- We represent indenture trustees in bankruptcy cases, most recently as counsel to the indenture trustee on approximately $9 billion of debt in the UAL Inc. case. We have also represented indenture trustees in restructuring and workouts, and have a thorough understanding of the Trust Indenture Act and common indenture provisions.
- We represent trustees, including trustees of liquidating trusts, assisting them in converting assets into cash and distributing proceeds to eligible creditors.
- We represent general creditors in the prosecution of their claims and defenses against various strong-arm actions, such as preference claims.