Bankruptcy and Restructuring - Where is the Practice Heading?

Ronit Berkovich

Partner

Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP

Ronit J. Berkovich is a partner in Weil’s Restructuring Department. Ronit represents debtors, creditors, lenders, investors, and asset purchasers in all aspects of distressed situations. She has served as debtors’ counsel in several of the largest and most significant chapter 11 cases in history, including General Motors, Lehman Brothers, WorldCom/MCI, and Takata. She also has extensive experience representing large and mid-market companies in out-of-court workouts, international restructurings, and prepackaged chapter 11 cases in a variety of industries and has provided advisory services to Fortune 500 companies and other companies on corporate structuring strategies. She has substantial expertise on restructuring strategies for managing litigation claims, including mass torts and government claims, and has recently developed deep knowledge of insolvency laws as applied to cryptocurrency companies.

Marc J. Tobak CU'05

Counsel

Davis Polk

Marc is Counsel in Davis Polk’s Civil Litigation Group. His practice focuses on bankruptcy litigation and complex civil litigation. He represents investment funds, financial institutions and creditor groups enforcing and defending claims in restructuring litigation and provides litigation advice in restructuring transactions. He also represents clients in a variety of complex civil matters, including securities and shareholder derivative litigation, and represents investment funds and managers in regulatory examinations and investigations.

Daniel Porat

Associate

Milbank LLP

Daniel Porat is an associate in the New York office of Milbank LLP and a member of the firm’s Financial Restructuring Group. His experience at Milbank first began as a Summer Associate in 2017. He received his JD from Fordham School of Law in 2018.

Debra Sinclair

Partner

Willkie Farr & Gallagher

Debra Sinclair is a partner in the Business Reorganization and Restructuring Department. Debra represents debtors, lenders, official committees of unsecured creditors, and ad hoc creditor groups comprised of hedge funds, financial institutions and other sophisticated investors in distressed situations. She advises clients on all aspects of complex chapter 11 cases and has experience with distressed acquisitions, bankruptcy litigation, cross-border matters and out-of-court restructurings. She has represented parties in restructurings in industries such as real estate, aviation, manufacturing, retail, energy, and pharmaceuticals.

Debra was selected in 2023 by leading industry publication Turnarounds & Workouts as one of 12 “Outstanding Young Restructuring Lawyers.” She was also selected by Law360 as one of five attorneys nationwide to be named a 2022 “Rising Star” in Bankruptcy. She has been recognized for her pro bono contributions by The Legal Aid Society, as a recipient of its Pro Bono Publico award, and Immigration Equality, as a recipient of its Safe Haven Award. Debra currently sits on the firm’s Recruiting Committee and served as the Secretary of the Bankruptcy & Corporate Reorganization Committee of the New York City Bar Association from 2020 to 2023.

Tom Kessler '13

Partner

Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton

Tom Kessler represents debtors, creditors, and other parties-in-interest in a broad range of restructuring matters, including bankruptcy proceedings, out-of-court restructurings, and bankruptcy-related transactions.

Tom advises clients in high-profile restructuring matters, finding business-oriented strategies designed to achieve client goals. He has worked with debtors and creditors to navigate complex, multi-billion dollar distressed situations and regularly litigates high-stakes contested matters, adversary proceedings, and other complex civil cases. Tom’s practice spans a variety of industries and geographies, with a particular focus on cross-border matters, including acting as U.S counsel in foreign restructurings and lead counsel in Chapter 15 proceedings.

Clients have highlighted Tom’s pragmatic approach and have praised his ability to craft comprehensive solutions to multi-faceted problems. Tom’s work on the LATAM Airlines and Garuda Indonesia restructurings has also been recognized by the Turnaround Management Association, which awarded both matters 2023 “Transaction of the Year” in their respective categories.

Tom joined the firm in 2013.

Edward Morrison

Charles Evans Gerber Professor of Law

Columbia Law School

Ed Morrison is an expert in corporate finance and restructuring, household finance and consumer bankruptcy, and contract law. He is co-editor of the Journal of Legal Studies.

Morrison’s scholarship has addressed corporate reorganization, consumer bankruptcy, the regulation of systemic market risk, and foreclosure and mortgage modification. His recent work studies patterns in inter-creditor agreements, valuation disputes in corporate bankruptcies, racial disparities in Chapter 13 bankruptcy filings, and the relationship between financial distress and mortality rates. 

Morrison teaches Contracts, Bankruptcy Law, and Corporate Finance. He is co-director of Columbia University’s Richard Paul Richman Center for Business, Law, and Public Policy and is faculty director of the Law School’s Executive LL.M. Program. He is also a member of the National Bankruptcy Conference and recently served as a director of the American Law & Economics Association, member of the Supreme Court’s Advisory Committee on Bankruptcy Rules, and associate editor of the American Law & Economics Review.

Morrison was the Paul H. and Theo Leffmann Professor of Commercial Law at the University of Chicago Law School from 2013 to 2014. He first began teaching at Columbia Law School in 2003 and from 2009 to 2012 was the Harvey R. Miller Professor of Law and Economics. Morrison clerked for Justice Antonin Scalia of the U.S. Supreme Court and for Judge Richard A. Posner of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit.