The U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, at the Martin V.B. Bostetter Jr. Courthouse, 200 S. Washington St. in Alexandria, Virginia. Credit: Beyond My Ken via Wikimedia Commons
This March, Vinson & Elkins came to the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of Virginia to restructure Enviva, a Maryland-based wood pellet manufacturer and longtime client.
The firm arrived, like many Big Law bankruptcy practices do, with a debtor that possessed connections to another client of the firm. In Enviva’s case, the company was 43% owned by Riverstone Investment Group LLC, a private equity firm that Vinson & Elkins billed for $14 million in 2023, according to the law firm’s subsequent disclosures in bankruptcy court, for matters unrelated to Enviva.
