H. Jeffrey Schwartz |

McKool Smith has hired H. Jeffrey Schwartz, a former leader of Robins Kaplan's restructuring group, in a move that further bulks up McKool Smith's New York office with a veteran bankruptcy lawyer.

Schwartz joins the 185-lawyer McKool Smith as a principal, bringing with him more than 30 years of experience in a range of bankruptcy and restructuring matters. Before his most recent role as co-chair of Robins Kaplan's restructuring and business bankruptcy group, Schwartz previously completed stints at Dechert, DLA Piper, and Brown Rudnick.

In a statement announcing the hire, McKool Smith highlighted that Schwartz marks the latest addition to the firm's New York office—its largest outpost, with some 53 lawyers. McKool Smith has recently expanded the office, having pulled in several lawyers since 2016, when litigator Robin Cohen led a lucrative insurance recovery group to McKool Smith from her prior firm, Kasowitz Benson Torres.

“Jeffrey is a prominent figure in the New York and national bankruptcy bar,” McKool Smith's managing principal, David Sochia, said in a statement. “Our clients will benefit significantly from his many decades of experience in complex restructurings, Chapter 11 cases, and other insolvency proceedings. He also has a wealth of experience representing hedge funds, private equity firms, and other investors in distressed debt-related matters—an area where our clients have increased needs.”

McKool Smith's addition of Schwartz may be well-timed, based on trends in the bankruptcy and restructuring realm. Some bankruptcy lawyers have singled out higher education—including for-profit and nonprofit institutions—as a sector they're watching in anticipation of a potential wave of bankruptcies and restructuring efforts in the near future.

Schwartz has particular experience in the higher education sector. Among his recent cases, Schwartz landed roles in the bankruptcies of for-profit universities ITT Educational Services Inc. and Corinthian Colleges Inc., serving as lead counsel for the Chapter 7 trustee in connection with director and officer-related claims in the ITT matter and as lead counsel for an official unsecured creditors committee in Corinthian's Chapter 11 case.

Beyond that work, Schwartz has also held roles as debtors' counsel, including in the 2006 bankruptcy of Bayou Funds LLC, a hedge fund that was later revealed to be a long-running Ponzi scheme. He's also represented several creditors—in addition to the Corinthian case, he represented official creditor committees in the 2012 bankruptcy of Digital Domain Media Group Inc., a visual effects company started by Hollywood director James Cameron, and in the 2013 bankruptcy of electric car company Coda Automotive Inc.

Schwartz said McKool Smith's roster of trial lawyers and its emphasis on contingency and other alternative fee arrangements made it an attractive destination.

“The firm is highly regarded as one of the nation's pre-eminent trial firms and has long been considered an industry leader in offering innovative fee arrangements, particularly in contingency matters,” Schwartz said. “McKool Smith also has a world-class insurance recovery practice—an area in which my clients have continuous needs. It's a trifecta of very strong value propositions that my clients will all benefit from.”

With Schwartz's hire, McKool Smith also joins a few other large firms that have brought on lateral partners in the bankruptcy and restructuring realm within the past few days. These include Kirkland & Ellis, which on Tuesday announced the arrival of Matthew Czyzyk, a London-based restructuring partner who joined from Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy along with a group of associates from other firms. In addition, Latham & Watkins also made a key bankruptcy hire announced this week, welcoming former O'Melveny & Myers lawyer George Davis to become a co-chair of Latham's bankruptcy, restructuring and workouts practice.