The Bankruptcy and Restructuring Practice Group at Proskauer Rose LLP advises clients on the full spectrum of insolvency-related issues. For more information about this practice area, contact:
In recent years, in order to address a variety of business and legal concerns, there has been a significant increase in the filing by major corporations of large restructuring cases pursuant to applicable provisions of the United States Bankruptcy Code. Virtually all institutions and businesses have been faced with the need to understand and respond to the challenges of restructuring and bankruptcy issues.
Proskauer Rose LLP has a nationally recognized Bankruptcy and Restructuring Practice Group that advises clients on the full spectrum of insolvency-related matters. The Group currently consists of six partners, numerous associates and paralegals, all of whom are involved in representing a wide variety of debtors, creditors' committees, individual creditors and entities interested in acquiring or investing in troubled companies. The Group is augmented by a team of attorneys who have extensive experience in bankruptcy litigation and transactional matters.
Our bankruptcy practice has a particularly large amount of experience in dealing with the numerous problems faced by large corporate debtors. We have represented a number of debtors-in-possession in connection with major complex Chapter 11 restructuring cases.
Cases we have handled (as debtor's counsel) include: Superior Telecom, a publicly traded cable and wire manufacturer; LJ Hooker and subsidiaries, which included retailers B. Altman and Bonwit Teller; Al Copeland Enterprises, which operated the approximately 2,000 Church's and Popeye's fried chicken stores located throughout the United States; Lone Star Industries, Inc., a New York Stock Exchange-listed international cement company; Todd Shipyards Corporation, one of the nation's largest shipbuilding and repair concerns; Price Communications Corporation, a large diversified media company whose holdings included The New York Law Journal; Russ Togs, Inc., a major New York Stock Exchange-listed clothing manufacturer; Golden Books Publishing Co., the well-known children's book publisher; TRISM Inc., a nationwide transportation company; Metal Forming Technologies Inc., The Museum Company, Inc.; Provell, Inc.; Advanced Glassfiber Yarns, LLC; Lechters N.Y.C., Inc.; Savin, Inc.; Rose's Stores, Inc.; Bower & Gardner; Maryland Cable Corp.; Buster Brown Apparel, Inc.; Ithaca Industries; Reeves Industries; Packaging Industries Group, Inc.; Trader Horn Inc.; United Press International; Morris Material Handling, Inc.; Paul Harris Stores; Tandycrafts Inc.; 680 Fifth Avenue Associates; and 1515 Broadway Associates.
We also represented the Chapter 11 Trustee of Allegheny Health Education and Research Foundation, a several billion-dollar health care insolvency. In that role, we negotiated the sale of a chain of Western Pennsylvania hospitals, and pursued several complex preference, fraudulent transfer, and director and officer liability litigations in an effort to maximize recoveries to creditors. We represented the Court-appointed examiner in the Polaroid Corporation Chapter 11 case in connection with his investigation into alleged accounting improprieties, producing a detailed analysis of the debtor's pre-petition accounting practices.
On the creditor side, we have broad experience in cross-border insolvencies, complex tele-communication restructuring cases, out-of-court workouts, investigations by boards of directors and bankruptcy court-appointed examiners, pre-packed and pre-arranged bankruptcies, and law firm dissolutions, and generally advise a diverse group of clients on insolvency, creditors’ rights, acquisition, and structured financing and securitization matters. We have represented creditors' committees in many Chapter 11 cases, including LogoAthletic, Inc.; Apex One, Inc; Scoreboard, Inc.; Parklane Hosiery Company; Cibro Petroleum Products Inc.; Consolidated Stainless Inc.; Wilton Foods, Inc.; Berks Jewelers; Island Helicopter; and Neptune World Wide Movers. We have also represented major licensors in bankruptcy cases involving the sports industry, including SLM International; Fleer/Skybox; Pinnacle Brands Inc.; Starter Corporation; Genesis Direct and Fruit of the Loom/Pro Player. We regularly advise sports-related clients on insolvency matters and acted as counsel to the National Hockey League in connection with the Pittsburgh Penguins restructuring.
We recently represented ML Media Partners LP, a public limited partnership, in various adversary proceedings seeking to enforce its rights under an agreement where an affiliate of Adelphia Communications Corp. agreed to redeem our client's interest in a joint venture. We also recently represented certain major bondholders of an Argentine cable company in a Section 304 proceeding and related litigation.
Other creditor representations include: Alcatel, SA, in connection with its U.S. restructuring matters; the Chapter 11 cases of Global Crossing, FLAG Telecom and 360 Networks; Qwest Communications Corp., in the Touch America Chapter 11 case (where Qwest was both DIP lender and pre-petition creditor under 20 executory contracts); Kaupthing Bank, hf (the largest commercial bank in Iceland), in the Bonus Stores Chapter 11 case; MBIA Insurance Corporation and Wells Fargo Bank, in the Student Finance Corp. Chapter 11 case; Sun Capital Healthcare, as DIP lender or factor in connection with a number of Chapter 11 bankruptcies of health care service providers that were former borrowers of National Century Financial Enterprises; DLJ Real Estate Capital Partners, mortgagee (and plan proponent) of the San Juan Ritz-Carlton hotel, in the Chapter 11 case of its former equity owner; Reckson Operating Partnership, L.P., in the Frontline Capital Chapter 11 case; and, Pennsylvania Power & Light, in the Cashpoint Network case.
We represented one of the co-proponents of the Olympia & York Chapter 11 Plan, one of the largest real estate bankruptcy matters to date. We also have represented numerous other entities in connection with acquisition of assets from, or funding restructuring plans for, various Chapter 11 debtors, including the Chapter 11 cases of St. Vincents Hospital, Russell Stanely Corp; American Tissue; Tender Loving Care Health Services, Inc.; Ellenville Community Hospital; Stations Holdings Corp.; and American Classic Voyages.
We also represent many commercial landlords in the restructuring of many prominent retailers. We regularly represent institutional lenders (both banks and bondholders) which are secured and unsecured creditors in Chapter 11 proceedings, and are counsel to various pension and welfare funds holding substantial claims in various ongoing Chapter 11 cases. Similarly, we represent unsecured creditors with substantial claims in a variety of pending bankruptcy cases and litigations, and represent several major employee benefit funds in numerous Chapter 11 cases.
Our bankruptcy practice is nationwide, and encompasses not only strictly bankruptcy law matters, but also corporate law (restructuring of equity and debt, as well as securities, mergers and acquisitions, and corporate governance issues attendant to reorganizations), real estate law (acquisitions, sales and leases relating to developed and undeveloped real property, and senior and subordinate mortgage and mezzanine financings and debt restructurings), litigation (commercial and financial disputes including those relating to validity of claims, preferences and fraudulent conveyances, structured finance and insurance coverage), labor law (labor contract renegotiation and rejection of union contracts), employee benefits (modification of post-employment health and death benefits), environmental law (impact of bankruptcy on CERCLA liability), and tax law (including questions of survival of net operating loss carry forwards).
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