Our Creditors’ Rights lawyers are proficient in litigation, distressed businesses and finance. Our clients include a broad spectrum of leading lending institutions, companies, and investors in need of specialized debtor-creditor relations counsel.

Our lawyers keenly understand how to pursue your claims, whether they arise from the default of contractual payment obligations, declining collateral value, or other external factors. We are equipped to provide advice on a multitude of sophisticated transactional and litigation matters.

Our team of attorneys assists clients throughout the life cycle of credit relationships. We promote informed decision-making, help our clients avoid unanticipated consequences, and enhance our clients’ ability to make corrections and adjustments early in the enforcement process. We provide out-of-court restructuring to help clients obtain recoveries without the risk, delay, and expense associated with litigation. When formal collection actions are required, we leverage our lawyers’ experience of foreclosure, secured party sales, litigation, bankruptcy, and receivership to maximize creditors’ recoveries.

We routinely represent secured creditors and unsecured creditors, enforcing and protecting their rights, options, and obligations.

Notable successes include:

• Represented financiers who provided venture capital to a marketing company, in successfully moving to convert the marketing company’s bankruptcy case from a Chapter 11 reorganization to a Chapter 7 liquidation and in foreclosing on collateral, including the debtor's intellectual property. Representation included extensive discovery and briefing, culminating in a successful trial in the Bankruptcy Court in the Southern District of New York.
• Represented a Fortune 500 company as major investor in and lender to a professional sports league. Implemented debtor in possession financing to facilitate orderly liquidation and negotiated a consensual plan that preserved tax benefits for estate and maximized likely return to creditors, dependent upon outcome of antitrust litigation.
• Obtained full recovery, including fees and interest, for a lender whose collateral proceeds had been fraudulently transferred by borrower into a real estate holding company. Obtained prejudgment attachment and injunctive relief against the holding company to prevent further development until our client’s claim was satisfied.
• On behalf of a secured creditor, successfully negotiated proposed plan of reorganization in cooperation with Chapter 11 debtor, which provided full recovery of the client’s multimillion dollar claim, including interest and fees, plus an equity stake in the post-confirmation student housing business.

Our Services

Preliminary Analysis

Our team collaborates with clients to understand the full extent of rights and remedies in the event of a default, analyzing the details of credit documents. We also analyze the nature and extent of any collateral securing the underlying obligation and the client's rights with respect to the collateral.

Out-of-Court Restructuring + Workouts

Whenever possible, we seek to negotiate consensual modifications or settlements before pursuing our clients’ collection remedies. We successfully negotiate with debtors to identify a clear exit strategy and set realistic goals.

Foreclosure

Foreclosure may be necessary when consensual arrangements are not possible. We are proficient in judicial and non-judicial foreclosures, including commercial, industrial, and volume commercial multifamily housing foreclosures. Our lawyers are prepared to pursue your interests in state and federal insolvency proceedings, at the intersection of foreclosure and bankruptcy.

Bankruptcy + Receivership Litigation

We represent virtually all constituencies with a stake in bankruptcy and state receivership cases, including critical vendors, creditors’ committees, debtor-in-possession (DIP) lenders, equity security holders, landlords, secured and unsecured creditors, and trustees and receivers. We litigate issues including:

• Administrative and other priority claim issues
• Cash collateral and DIP financing issues
• Critical vendor payments
• Dismissal and conversion of bankruptcy proceedings
• Lease assumption and rejection
• Proposed asset sales
• Relief from stay

Debtor-Creditor Litigation

We represent our clients in state and federal court during the often-contentious restructuring and liquidation processes. With diverse constituencies competing for limited assets, our representation includes:

• Claim and cure objections
• Guarantee enforcement actions
• Lender liability litigation
• Preference and fraudulent transfer litigation
• Preliminary injunctions
• Subordination actions

Creative Collection Strategies

Maximizing creditor recovery involves securing assets to pay our clients’ claims. Our lawyers develop creative and effective strategies to collect from guarantors and those potentially liable to our clients. We employ a range of strategies to ensure our client’s claims are not rendered uncollectable through the dissipation of assets.

From out-of-court restructuring to formal collection actions, our top-tier Creditors’ Rights team implements creative and effective strategies, providing you with unwavering support.