Mr. Antonoff is an Insolvency and Restructuring partner in the New York office.  Mr. Antonoff represents secured and unsecured creditors, creditors committees, indenture trustees, buyers, investors, landlords, technology licensors and other parties in chapter 11 bankruptcy cases, out-of-court restructuring, financial transactions and commercial litigation. He also represents foreign companies and creditors in cross-border and international insolvency cases. He has developed a focused practice counseling financial institutions on insolvency aspects  of structured finance, derivatives, netting agreements and other financial contracts. He also has substantial experience representing parties buying distressed businesses in bankruptcy cases and in private transactions.

Mr. Antonoff has published numerous articles on bankruptcy and litigation issues and is frequently invited to speak at bankruptcy conferences and legal education seminars and provide broadcast and print media commentary.

Recent Engagements

• Representing insured credit swap counterparty in restructuring and potential insolvency of several monoline financial guaranty insurance companies
• Representing warehouse lenders, underwriters and buyers in mortgage lender bankruptcy cases including American Home Mortgage, People's Choice and Ownit
• Represented buyer of mortgage loan origination and servicing platform in the People's Choice Home Loan, Inc. chapter 11 case
• Represented buyer in bankruptcy acquisition of Strauss Discount Auto
• Represented indenture trustee in declaratory judgment action in connection with proposed $3.4 billion sale transaction
• Counsel to foreign bank securities customer in prosecution of $65 million claim against Refco Capital Markets
• Counsel to power plant joint venture partners in Calpine Corp. chapter 11 case
• U.S. bankruptcy counsel to Brazilian airline in a cross-border insolvency case
• Creditors committee counsel in the Napster bankruptcy case
• Counsel to equipment lessors in In re Collins & Aikman, Inc.
• Successfully defended $6 million preference claim in In re Wherehouse Entertainment, Inc.
• Counsel to buyer in Commerce One bankruptcy
• Counsel to landlord and member of creditors committee in Cable & Wireless chapter 11 case
• Represented lender and clearing bank in hedge fund bankruptcy cases, including litigation of claims arising from liquidation of brokerage accounts
• Represented software licensors in blocking assignment of license agreement and litigating preference claims to avoid pre-bankruptcy royalty payments

Education

J.D., Benjamin Cardozo Law School, Yeshiva University, 1989
cum laude, Senior Editor of Law Review

B.A., State University of New York, Binghamton, 1981

Admissions

State of New York

U.S. Supreme Court

U.S. District Court for the Southern and Eastern Districts of New York

Affiliations

American Bankruptcy Institute

Association of the Bar of the City of New York, Structured Finance Committee

Speaking Engagements

Credit Crisis Litigation Conference (London), June 2008

Subprime Lending, Litigation and Enforcement (American Conference Institute), March 2008 (Conference Co-Chair)

Responsible Mortgage Lending (American Conference Institute), November 2007

International Corporate Recovery Forum (Brazil), 2006 and 2007

New York City Bankruptcy Conference (American Bankruptcy Institute), 2000, 2001 and 2005

Aircraft Financing Forum, October 2005

Transportation Financing Conference, October 2005

Corporate Restructuring & Distressed Investing in Latin America,  February 2006

Firm Publications

Lawsuit Challenges Termination of Insured Credit Default Swaps, 26-Mar-2008

Pillsbury on Real Estate, Fall 2007

Proposed Legislation Would Allow Modification of Residential Mortgages in Bankruptcy, 09-Oct-2007

Bankruptcy Reform Legislation Includes Changes Affecting Business Reorganization, International Insolvency and Financial Transactions, 22-Apr-2005

External Publications

Spillover Effect from Subprime Collapse, Real Estate Board of New York: A New York Law Journal Special Section, 14-Jan-2008

Bancredit and the Application of Bankruptcy Code §108 in Chapter 15 Cases, American Bankruptcy Institute Journal, December/January 2008

Varig Airlines: Flying the Friendly Skies of Brazil’s New Bankruptcy Law, American Bankruptcy Institute Journal, Co-Authored by Otto Eduardo Fonseca Lobo and Paulo Penalva Santos, July/August 2007

High Court Rebukes FCC in Next Wave, American Bankruptcy Institute Journal, May 2003

Bankruptcy Code Amendments Affecting Securitization and Other Transactions, New York Law Journal, 25-Jun-1998