Insolvency & Restructuring

Pillsbury's Insolvency & Restructuring practice is a well-integrated team of attorneys practicing throughout the United States and around the world. Our experience and legal acumen, coupled with the depth of our firm resources, enable us to provide highly sophisticated, yet practical and timely legal advice in all areas of bankruptcy, problem loan workouts and commercial litigation.

The Insolvency & Restructuring team represents a broadly diverse range of clients in dealing with complex, sophisticated, distressed financial situations, from debtors to those who deal with them. Our clients include banks and other financial institutions, secured and unsecured creditors, debtors and borrowers, agents and participants in syndicated loan transactions, indenture trustees and bondholders, landlords, official and unofficial creditors' committees, equity committees, equipment lessors, investment funds, venture capital funds, shareholders, partners, purchasers, vendors, and other interested parties. We keep our clients' economic interests foremost in mind and use our experience and familiarity with sophisticated matters to provide efficient, result-oriented advice.

We also draw on the knowledge and experience of attorneys throughout our firm to meet our clients' business objectives, including lawyers from practice areas as diverse as corporate and securities, commercial litigation, intellectual property, financial institutions, project finance, real estate, environmental, aviation, and outsourcing.

Third-Party Recognition

• Chambers USA recognized our California Insolvency & Restructuring practice and ranked four lawyers individually in our California and New York offices.

• PLC Which Lawyer? recognized our Insolvency & Restructuring practice nationwide and recommended individual attorneys in New York and Northern California.

• American Lawyer Scorecard ranked Pillsbury third by value in the U.S. in equity committee representation in bankruptcy emergences ($3.3 billion).

Bankruptcy Cases
In bankruptcy cases, we act on behalf of creditors, debtors, official and unofficial committees, trustees and fiduciaries, lessors, and other interested parties. Our practice includes such areas as:

• Sales of stock and other assets
• Negotiating, formulating and confirming plans of reorganization
• Prepackaged and pre-negotiated bankruptcies
• Committee representation (creditor committees, bondholder committees and equity committees)
• Representation of indenture trustees
• Cash collateral stipulations and adequate protection
• Objections to disclosure statements and plans
• Cram-down litigation
• All aspects of unexpired leases and executory contracts and intellectual property licenses
• Prosecution and defense of avoidance actions (fraudulent transfers, preferences, etc.)
• Turnover actions
• Abstention and removal issues
• Involuntary petitions
• Governmental/municipal bankruptcies
• Bankruptcy discharge and non-dischargeability actions
• Resolution of lien priority, intercreditor and subordination issues
• Claims assertion and allowance
• Debtor-in-possession (DIP) financing
• Relief from stay litigation
  

Workouts & Litigation Experience
The scope of our practice is not limited to bankruptcy court. Our attorneys are experienced in all areas of problem loan workouts and creditors' rights litigation as well. Our non-bankruptcy experience includes the following:

Workouts

• Buy- and sell-side distressed company mergers and acquisitions

• Complex loan workouts and restructurings for a single lender or a syndicate of lenders from start (strategic development) to finish (negotiation and documentation)

• Capital structure and general business restructuring advice for debtors and borrowers

• Legal and strategic counseling to corporate trustees and indenture trustees before a problem credit enters the bankruptcy arena

• Alternatives to bankruptcy

Litigation

• Non-bankruptcy fraudulent conveyance and other avoidance actions

• Constructive trusts

• Receiverships

• Writs of attachment, writs of possession (also known as replevin or claim and delivery) and other pre-judgment remedies

• Judicial and non-judicial foreclosures

• Defense of lender liability claims

• Execution, garnishment, judgment debtor examinations and other methods of enforcement of judgments