Corporate Lawyers Jump to Restructuring as COVID-19 Mandates Mount
Ashurst and DLA Piper lawyers with restructuring and insolvency experience have volunteered to assist with mounting workloads.
April 15, 2020 at 06:25 AM
3 minute read
Lawyers are moving to different practice areas.
Corporate lawyers at Ashurst and DLA Piper are volunteering to work on restructuring and insolvency mandates in a bid to help tackle the mounting work resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic.
Partners at both firms say corporate lawyers with relevant experience are jumping across to take on R&I work as M&A volumes fall and increasing numbers of companies fight for survival.
Neither firm has a formal programme in place to move lawyers across or pool resources between service practices, however the shift is happening on a more ad hoc and flexible basis.
Ashurst global restructuring head Giles Boothman said that the restructuring practice was "exceptionally busy".
"I've almost never known such a demand for restructuring and insolvency advice from all sorts of quarters … it's a complete cessation of global economic activity with all of the ramifications of that."
According to Boothman, the firm has been able to assemble a large team of experienced practitioners, with assistance from lawyers volunteering their expertise. In part the firm's position has been helped by the recent high-profile mandate advising the Official Receiver on the administration of Thomas Cook and many are alumni of this project.
For the Thomas Cook administration, the firm drew together a team of 130 practitioners, many of whom have now developed six months' experience in the practice.
The firm has also taken on a former partner as a consultant in order to provide "extra firepower" Boothman added.
Meanwhile at DLA Piper, a partner with knowledge of the situation said that corporate lawyers with the relevant experience were providing additional support for the R&I practice.
Other firms have also taken measures to support their R&I practices. In March, CMS confirmed that the firm was looking to pool lawyers with R&I experience across other teams in the firm to assist the dedicated R&I team in managing the increasing COVID-19-related workload.
Elsewhere, Hogan Lovells is considering offering secondments to its restructuring practice for lawyers in London and New York, according to its head of restructuring, Tom Astle.
Several restructurings and administrations have emerged in Europe in recent weeks, with casualties including retailers Debenhams and Cath Kidston as well as Laura Ashley.
Meanwhile, the volume of European M&A in March fell to its lowest level in a decade.
Read more
Hogan Lovells Considering Lawyer Restructuring Secondments To Cover 'Urgent' Work Boom
CMS To Shift Lawyers To Restructuring Practice To Deal With Virus Work
Coronavirus 'to Boost Litigation and Restructuring Work', Lawyers Say
NOT FOR REPRINT
© 2024 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.
You Might Like
View All
New Frontiers: Gaillard Banifatemi Shelbaya Launches in Cairo and Abu Dhabi
4 minute read
Travers Gives Holiday Bonus, Ropes & Gray Reduces Time Off Allowance
1 minute read
Japan’s Mori Hamada Joins Funder LCM for $150M Credit Suisse Bonds Claim
Law Firms Mentioned
Trending Stories
- 1Gibson Dunn Sued By Crypto Client After Lateral Hire Causes Conflict of Interest
- 2Trump's Solicitor General Expected to 'Flip' Prelogar's Positions at Supreme Court
- 3Pharmacy Lawyers See Promise in NY Regulator's Curbs on PBM Industry
- 4Outgoing USPTO Director Kathi Vidal: ‘We All Want the Country to Be in a Better Place’
- 5Supreme Court Will Review Constitutionality Of FCC's Universal Service Fund
Who Got The Work
Michael G. Bongiorno, Andrew Scott Dulberg and Elizabeth E. Driscoll from Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr have stepped in to represent Symbotic Inc., an A.I.-enabled technology platform that focuses on increasing supply chain efficiency, and other defendants in a pending shareholder derivative lawsuit. The case, filed Oct. 2 in Massachusetts District Court by the Brown Law Firm on behalf of Stephen Austen, accuses certain officers and directors of misleading investors in regard to Symbotic's potential for margin growth by failing to disclose that the company was not equipped to timely deploy its systems or manage expenses through project delays. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Nathaniel M. Gorton, is 1:24-cv-12522, Austen v. Cohen et al.
Who Got The Work
Edmund Polubinski and Marie Killmond of Davis Polk & Wardwell have entered appearances for data platform software development company MongoDB and other defendants in a pending shareholder derivative lawsuit. The action, filed Oct. 7 in New York Southern District Court by the Brown Law Firm, accuses the company's directors and/or officers of falsely expressing confidence in the company’s restructuring of its sales incentive plan and downplaying the severity of decreases in its upfront commitments. The case is 1:24-cv-07594, Roy v. Ittycheria et al.
Who Got The Work
Amy O. Bruchs and Kurt F. Ellison of Michael Best & Friedrich have entered appearances for Epic Systems Corp. in a pending employment discrimination lawsuit. The suit was filed Sept. 7 in Wisconsin Western District Court by Levine Eisberner LLC and Siri & Glimstad on behalf of a project manager who claims that he was wrongfully terminated after applying for a religious exemption to the defendant's COVID-19 vaccine mandate. The case, assigned to U.S. Magistrate Judge Anita Marie Boor, is 3:24-cv-00630, Secker, Nathan v. Epic Systems Corporation.
Who Got The Work
David X. Sullivan, Thomas J. Finn and Gregory A. Hall from McCarter & English have entered appearances for Sunrun Installation Services in a pending civil rights lawsuit. The complaint was filed Sept. 4 in Connecticut District Court by attorney Robert M. Berke on behalf of former employee George Edward Steins, who was arrested and charged with employing an unregistered home improvement salesperson. The complaint alleges that had Sunrun informed the Connecticut Department of Consumer Protection that the plaintiff's employment had ended in 2017 and that he no longer held Sunrun's home improvement contractor license, he would not have been hit with charges, which were dismissed in May 2024. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Jeffrey A. Meyer, is 3:24-cv-01423, Steins v. Sunrun, Inc. et al.
Who Got The Work
Greenberg Traurig shareholder Joshua L. Raskin has entered an appearance for boohoo.com UK Ltd. in a pending patent infringement lawsuit. The suit, filed Sept. 3 in Texas Eastern District Court by Rozier Hardt McDonough on behalf of Alto Dynamics, asserts five patents related to an online shopping platform. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Rodney Gilstrap, is 2:24-cv-00719, Alto Dynamics, LLC v. boohoo.com UK Limited.
Featured Firms
Law Offices of Gary Martin Hays & Associates, P.C.
(470) 294-1674
Law Offices of Mark E. Salomone
(857) 444-6468
Smith & Hassler
(713) 739-1250
