Businesses confronting the possibility of insolvency face a unique mix of legal, business, financial, and human relations challenges. Robinson+Cole works extensively on insolvency-related matters for debtors, committees and creditors, including banks and other financial institutions, individual lenders, syndicated lending groups, institutional investors, vendors and landlords. Our clients include hedge funds,  private equity funds, acquirers of assets from financially distressed companies, real estate and equipment lessors, special servicers, equity holders, and franchisees.

Our restructuring and bankruptcy practice is recognized nationally for our work on behalf of personal injury claimants in complex mass tort bankruptcy cases, where we are recognized as a leader, with deep knowledge in this area that is on the cutting edge of the modern bankruptcy practice. We have extensive, in-depth experience innovating and implementing strategies in theses cases, particularly as counsel to official committees of victims and their constituents, whose rights are imperiled by debtors and their affiliates attempting to use the Bankruptcy Code for abusive ends. Our group was named “Law Firm of the Year” at The M&A Advisor’s 19th Annual Turnaround Awards presented as part of the 2025 Distressed Investing Summit.

As lead counsel to the official committee of Talc Claimants in Imerys Talc America, Inc., we developed a deep understanding of the science and scope of injuries caused by asbestos in talc in connection with the first talc bankruptcy case, filed in February 2019. As Committee counsel in four of the five major “Texas Two-Step” cases – Bestwall (Georgia Pacific), DBMP (CertainTeed), Aldrich Pump (Trane) and Murray Boiler (Trane/Ingersoll-Rand), we have been fighting on multiple fronts to challenge each of their rights to utilize the bankruptcy system.

Among our other successes, we represented the appellants in the ground-breaking decision by the Third Circuit Court of Appeals on interpretation of section 524(g) in Combustion Engineering.

In the matter of In re Specialty Products Holding Specialty Products Holding Corp. (Bondex), we represented the Official Committee of Tort Claimants in a chapter 11 joint compound asbestos case involving the establishing of a section 524(g) trust after the asbestos personal injury committee successfully litigated an estimation trial resulting in the Court finding liability in an amount in excess of $1.1 billion.

In addition to our work for committees of personal injury claimants in mass tort cases, we also have extensive experience representing official committees of trade and other creditors. We recently completed representation of the Committee in the large, complex Chapter 11 Mallinckrodt bankruptcy, primarily composed of litigation claimants, including asbestos claimants; we are lead counsel to the post-bankruptcy general unsecured creditors trust. The Committee included financial, tort, trade, and other litigation claimants, with the case culminating in a consensual settlement among the debtors’ primary creditor constituencies.

In In re Nutraquest Systems, Inc., we represented a mixed claimant committee of false advertising class actions and various personal injury claims arising out of the use of ephedra, a dietary supplement, which successfully resolved by settlement, resulting in excess of 95% of the agreed value of all claims being paid.

Our litigation experience in bankruptcy cases is commensurate with our committee representations, and we have successfully tried (and resolved by favorable settlement that received overwhelming creditor support) cases across the country. We have obtained bankruptcy court authority to bring and prosecute fraud and fraudulent conveyance, breach of fiduciary duty, and related claims, including under the Cybergenics standard in the Third Circuit in Nutraquest and Bondex.

Our Services

In addition to our extensive committee work, we provide legal services for all manner of other bankruptcy and creditors’ rights matters, including:

• Lead lender, secured creditor, and major vendor representations
• Insolvent asset acquisition advice and representation
• Defense against bankruptcy preferences, fraudulent transfers, subordinations, and other avoidance claims
• Development and negotiation of out-of-court and Chapter 11 workouts and reorganization plans
• Lender liability litigation

We also represent clients on matters arising out of loan participations, intercreditor agreements, lender conduct, executory contracts, license and franchise agreements, distributorship agreements, and commitment letters.

Our Team

Our team members have extensive experience with guiding businesses through pre-bankruptcy planning and bankruptcy filings, to help safeguard their financial interests. We regularly represent clients of all sizes across a range of industries, including retail, travel, healthcare, manufacturing, and energy.

We are invested in employing our legal skills to help you skillfully navigate the complex, interconnected legal issues relating to insolvency and reorganizations. Whatever challenges you are facing, our cross-disciplinary team is here to advise and support you.

Our restructuring and committee credentials, coupled with a familiarity and understanding of the case and the industry, allow us to hit the ground running and to provide the Committee with counsel possessing the necessary skills and experience tailored to the unique aspects of a case.

We have represented clients in notable bankruptcy cases, including Lehman Brothers, Westinghouse, SunEdison, NewPage, Bernie Madoff, Chrysler, Toys “R” Us, RadioShack, Bob’s Stores, Goody’s and Filenes.

We collaborate with lawyers throughout Robinson+Cole’s practice areas when handling complex insolvency matters. To ensure the high-quality advice our clients need, we draw on our firm’s vast experience in many areas of law:

• Finance and financial services
• Mergers and acquisitions
• Private equity
• Hedge funds
• Litigation
• Real estate finance
• Financial regulation
• Tax law

Through our lawyers’ relationships with crisis managers, financial advisors, and other insolvency professionals, we apply our team’s collective skills and diverse legal backgrounds to provide seamless cross-disciplinary representation.

Robinson+Cole can offer the right legal team for your case, featuring experienced professionals including, bankruptcy partners who have represented committees and various committee constituents to successful results in numerous cases, as well as highly qualified litigators and corporate transactions attorneys.

Whichever bankruptcy, restructuring or reorganization issues your business is facing, Robinson+Cole’s top-tier Bankruptcy + Reorganizations practice group attorneys provide you with unwavering legal support – in or out of court.