Insolvency and Restructuring

Davis Polk is recognized worldwide for its expertise in insolvency and restructuring. We represent a wide range of clients, including companies in need of financial restructuring, financial institutions, hedge funds, creditors’ committees, acquirers, business partners, trustees and receivers in connection with the largest and most complex insolvencies and restructurings, as well as in connection with acquisitions of distressed companies, debtor-in-possession financings and exit financings. Independent surveys of clients and competitors consistently rank our insolvency and restructuring practice among the best in the world, and our insolvency lawyers are regularly recognized as leaders in the profession.

Davis Polk has played a prominent role in the following bankruptcy cases, representing either the debtor, agent to the lenders, or another significant party-in-interest:

Debtors	DIP Agent
DIP Agent	DIP Agent
Pre-Petition Agent	Pre-Petition Agent
DIP Agent	Pre-Petition Agent
Pre-Petition Agent	Board of Directors
DIP Agent	Pre-Petition Agent
Commerical Creditors’ Committee	Creditors’ Committee
Debtors	Debtors
Creditors’ Committee	Pre-Petition Agent and DIP Agent

Davis Polk has also played a prominent role in a wide variety of pre-packaged bankruptcy cases and out-of-court restructurings. Those that are public include:

Bank Agent	Pre-Petition Agent and DIP Agent
Parent Company	Pre-Petition Agent and DIP Agent
Bank Agent	Debtors
Company	Bank Agent

We are the firm of choice for clients who understand the convergence in recent years of corporate insolvency with M&A and the capital and debt trading markets, as well as the complex backdrop of multi-party litigation against which these disciplines must operate in the insolvency arena. Our insolvency lawyers are adept in navigating this increasingly complex environment and finding sophisticated consensual solutions to seemingly intractable problems. They bring together in a single integrated product the firm’s deep resources in insolvency, credit transactions and litigation, as well as its recognized leadership in capital markets, M&A, tax, labor, employee benefits, products liability, derivatives, asset management and environmental law.

In addition to our insolvency lawyers, numerous lawyers in other parts of Davis Polk’s Corporate and Litigation Departments regularly are called upon to become involved in the firm’s insolvency matters. In order to resolve an insolvency case, it is often necessary to adopt a “litigate by day and negotiate by night” strategy. Led by our insolvency lawyers, our litigators and corporate lawyers are involved from the outset of all of our insolvency matters, and participate in the development of overall case strategy, as well as the actual litigation and negotiations as these matters progress. It is this integrated approach to the complex corporate problems raised in our insolvency matters that permits the firm to achieve the consistently outstanding results our clients have come to expect from us.

Davis Polk’s insolvency and restructuring lawyers are recognized as leaders in the field, including:

“Dealmaker of the Year" by The American Lawyer (2007).
"Outstanding Young Restructuring Lawyer" by Turnarounds & Workouts (2005, 2007).
Leading lawyers in insolvency and restructuring in Legal Media Group’s The Best of the Best (2006), Law Business Research’s Who’s Who Legal—The International Who’s Who of Insolvency and Restructuring Lawyers (2006), Euromoney’s Guide to the World’s Leading Insolvency and Restructuring Lawyers (2005) and PLC’s Cross-Border Restructuring & Insolvency Handbook (2005).
Leading lawyers in bankruptcy/restructuring by Chambers USA and Chambers Global for the last several years.

Individual Davis Polk lawyers maintain or held the following leadership positions in the field of insolvency and restructuring:

Chairman and member of the National Bankruptcy Conference, an organization consisting of 60 of the leading lawyers, law professors and judges in the field of bankruptcy law. The Conference has been an adviser to Congress on every major piece of bankruptcy legislation since the 1930s.
Chair of the Courts Subcommittee of the Committee on Bankruptcy and Corporate Reorganization of the New York City Bar Association, charged with preparing proposed guidelines governing multiple facets of Chapter 11 cases in the District.
Chair of the Committee on Bankruptcy and Corporate Reorganization of the New York City Bar Association.
Co-chair of the TriBar Opinion Committee. Co-reporter for the TriBar Opinion Committee's Special Report, "Opinions in the Bankruptcy Context."
Founding director of the International Insolvency Institute.
Member of INSOL International; co-chair of the G-36 Committee.
Member and director of the American College of Bankruptcy.
Member of the Official U.S. Delegation to the Insolvency Working Group of the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL).
Member of the board of editors of and a contributor to Collier on Bankruptcy.
Contributing editor for the Collier Bankruptcy Practice Guide.

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Davis Polk ranked among the top law firms in U.S. bankruptcy matters, according to Chambers Global (2008): “Clients turn to the team with big-ticket and cross-border debtor work because of the ‘high calibre of the bankruptcy partners and excellent support’ provided by colleagues across the firm’s M&A, litigation and tax departments.”

We served as lead bankruptcy and restructuring counsel to Delta, advising the company on its Chapter 11 proceedings and numerous complex financing and restructuring measures. With $28 billion of listed assets, Delta's was the 10th largest bankruptcy filing in U.S. history. Among other things, Delta secured over $2.5 billion in financing since its Chapter 11 filing, successfully defended against a $10 billion hostile takeover attempt by USAirways and has restructured hundreds of contracts and other relationships yielding billions of dollars in savings. Delta successfully emerged from bankruptcy as a stand-alone corporation on April 30, 2007.
Davis Polk has represented either the debtor or the agent(s) in connection with many of the largest and most complex debtor-in-possession financing facilities in history, including Delphi ($4.5 billion), Delta Air Lines ($2.2 billion), Enron ($1.5 billion), Adelphia Communications ($1.5 billion) and Federal-Mogul ($1.1 billion).
We represented Bank of America in connection with the Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings of Refco, a New York-based provider of trade execution, clearing and foreign exchange brokerage services, as agent for the secured lender group that owed approximately $700 million. The lenders ultimately were repaid in full with interest.
We acted as U.S. counsel to Telecom Argentina, an Argentine telecom company, and its subsidiaries in connection with its innovative and extremely successful cross-border restructuring of approximately $3.4 billion principal amount of indebtedness, including a proceeding in New York to address claims of non-consenting holders of Telecom Argentina's old debt.
We represented Comcast Corporation in connection with its $17.6 billion acquisition, together with Time-Warner Communications, of the cable television assets of Adelphia Corporation, which were sold in connection with Adelphia’s Chapter 11 proceedings in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York.
We are representing Bank of America Capital Corporation in connection with the complaint of a post-confirmation trustee alleging that certain payments for stock in connection with the leveraged transaction of a private entity, Plassein Corporation, are avoidable. The firm has obtained a decision dismissing the complaint on the grounds that the payments are protected under Bankruptcy Code Section 546(e) and for failure to state a claim.
We are representing Credit Suisse and related entities and individuals in connection with the bankruptcy of Insilco Corporation. The firm has successfully obtained the dismissal of objections to the claims of certain entities as lenders; the dismissal on subject matter jurisdiction grounds of another complaint making a number of allegations against predecessor entities and individuals in connection with the failure of Insilco; and a resolution of the claims of former directors for indemnification.