Bankruptcy, Restructuring & Commercial Law

If you face restructuring issues for your own company, your borrowers, or people you do business with, we can help. We have a strong reputation for representing large, sophisticated debtors in matters that require significant resources and specialized knowledge. We are able to draw upon the legal resources within the firm to handle the nonbankruptcy issues that often become a source of disputes during Chapter 11 reorganization cases. 

Our practice is considered to be one of the premier bankruptcy and workout practices for tax-exempt bondholders. We have represented tax-exempt and taxable bondholders and their indenture trustees doing business throughout the country and internationally, and we have appeared in bankruptcy courts in almost every state in the nation.

We know the intricacies of deal documents as well as how to attack or defend them. Throughout the bankruptcy process, we are always attentive to the cost that must be shouldered by the client and the fact that, in the end, the client’s needs and desires are paramount.

Quick Facts


  • Nationally recognized bankruptcy practice
  • Supported by a full-service firm of approximately 450 attorneys in virtually all areas of law
  • Comprehensive, creative, and cost-effective representation in the most complex insolvency and reorganization proceedings
  • Experience representing all parties and interests involved in the debtor / creditor relationship
  • Deep knowledge of creditors’ remedies allows for effective, efficient representation for our debtor clients
  • Past and present leaders and board members at American College of Bankruptcy, American College of Bankruptcy Foundation, American Bankruptcy Institute, Turnaround Management Association, and Massachusetts Continuing Legal Education

Areas of Focus

  • Acquisitions or dispositions of financially distressed entities or their assets
  • Bondholder, indenture trustees, and bond issuers in debt restructurings, workouts, reorganizations including Chapter 9 filings
  • Debtors in Chapter 11 cases and out-of-court restructurings
  • Distressed debt and claims trading
  • Landlords with respect to financially distressed tenants
  • Litigation of insurance coverage disputes arising from bankruptcies
  • Representation of boards, individual directors, and management of financially stressed companies
  • Structured financings and asset based lending
  • Secured and unsecured creditors, including parties providing debtor-in-possession financing
  • Uniform Commercial Code issues and litigation

Rankings & Recognitions

  • U.S. News & World Report and Best Lawyers: “America Best Law Firms”
    • Bankruptcy and Creditor Debtor Rights/Insolvency Law:
      - Nationally ranked (2010 – 2012 )
      - Boston (2010 – 2012)
      - New York (2011 – 2012)
      - San Diego (2011 – 2012)
    • Bankruptcy - Litigation
      - Nationally ranked (2011 – 2012)
  • Best Lawyers in America
    • Practice leader included for 25+ consecutive years and named Lawyer of the Year in 2010 and 2013
    • 9 bankruptcy attorneys listed
  • American College of Bankruptcy
    • 4 attorneys are members, and one attorney serves as vice president and chairs its National Education Committee
  • Chambers USA: America’s Leading Lawyers for Business
    • Practice ranked in Massachusetts
    • 6 bankruptcy attorneys listed
    • Practice leader named a Star Individual
  • Massachusetts Super Lawyers
    • More bankruptcy lawyers listed than any other firm in New England
    • 2 bankruptcy lawyers listed in the top 100 lawyers in any field
  • San Diego Super Lawyers
    • Senior bankruptcy attorney ranked (2007 – 2011)
  • New York Super Lawyers
    • Senior bankruptcy attorney ranked (2006 – 2011)
Sort by: Name  Title  Office

Charles W. Azano

Charles W. Azano

Associate

617.348.1843

617.348.4498

Eric R. Blythe

Eric R. Blythe

Associate

617.348.4913

Joseph R. Dunn

Joseph R. Dunn

Associate

858.314.1516

617.348.1642

Ian A. Hammel

Ian A. Hammel

Of Counsel

617.348.1724

Stuart Hirshfield

Stuart Hirshfield

Senior Counsel

212.692.6771

617.348.4939

617.348.1665

617.348.3032

617.348.1691

617.348.1836

Abigail O'Brient

Abigail O'Brient

Associate

310.226.7886

Ella Shenhav

Ella Shenhav

Associate

617.348.1839

617.348.1612

617.348.1622

Debtor & Trustee Representation

  • Assisted a national discount retail chain with Chapter 11 issues including the divestiture of surplus real estate and the assignment and assumption of real estate leases.
  • Represented a manufacturing company in Chapter 11 proceedings.
  • Represented retail companies in Chapter 11 proceedings.

Creditor Representation

  • Assisted several government entities in the Lehman Brothers bankruptcy and helped clients respond to subpoenas, document requests, and general litigation.
  • Represented a national commercial real estate operator in one of the largest bankruptcy proceedings ever brought in the District of Massachusetts involving claims owed on the premier office tower in Boston — at the close of Mintz Levin’s presentation of evidence in the trial, the debtor agreed to pay $679 million to our client.
  • Represented a REIT in the foreclosure of a large residential condominium conversion project in Brookline, Massachusetts.

Creditors Committee Representation

  • Represented a creditors committee and liquidating trustee in the Oscient Pharmaceuticals Corporation Chapter 11 bankruptcy case, including the investigation, litigation, and asset recovery issues.

Out-of-Court Restructurings

  • Represented a real estate fund with $1 billion of assets in an out-of-court restructuring of loans.

Bankruptcy Acquisitions

  • Represented an acquirer of telecommunications companies from Chapter 11 proceedings.

Bondholder & Trustee Representation

  • Represented bond trustees and bondholders in numerous hospital bankruptcies and workouts throughout the country as well as numerous sales of hospitals throughout the United States.
  • Represented bondholders in connection with appointment of a receiver, foreclosure, and disposition of a golf course–based residential development project in Louisiana.
  • Represented bondholders in connection with marketing a disposition of a hotel condominium unit that served as collateral for defaulted tax-exempt financing.
  • Represented numerous bond trustees and bondholders in workouts and bankruptcies of numerous Continuing Care Retirement Communities, including the sale and/or restructure of facilities in Pennsylvania, Illinois, and Massachusetts.
  • Represented numerous bond trustees as bondholders in Chapter 9 bankruptcies and municipal workouts.

Who We Serve

  • Acquirers of assets
  • Bondholders and their trustees
  • Committees
  • Companies
  • Debtors
  • Directors
  • Equipment lessors
  • Examiners
  • Executives
  • Investors and equity holders
  • Landlords
  • Private equity
  • Receivers
  • Secured and unsecured creditors
  • Trustees

Past