Jay M. Goffman, co-head of Skadden’s Global Corporate Restructuring Group, recently was named among “The Decade’s Most Influential Lawyers” by The National Law Journal. He regularly is selected as one of the leading restructuring lawyers in the country and the world by various corporate restructuring and legal organizations, including Turnarounds & Workouts (top 10 U.S. bankruptcy attorneys), Chambers USA, Chambers Global, Euromoney and Legal Media Group’s Expert Guide to the World’s Leading Insolvency and Restructuring Lawyers, PLC Handbook (top New York restructuring lawyers) and The K&A Restructuring Register, among others. Many of his restructurings have been named “deal of the year” by a variety of publications. For instance, the Ion Media restructuring received M&A Advisor’s “2008 Refinancing of the Year Award” and “2008 Media, Telecom & Technology Turnaround Deal of the Year Award.” In addition, the Intrawest restructuring received the “2009 M&A Advisors Award for Out-of-Court Reorganization of the Year” and the “2009 M&A Advisors Real Estate Restructuring of the Year Award,” and the Centro Properties restructuring received the “2009 M&A Advisors Cross Borders Deal of the Year Award” and the “2009 Turnaround Atlas Award for Out of Court Restructuring of the Year.” In addition, Mr. Goffman was profiled in The Wall Street Journal, which highlighted his out-of-court restructuring of Evergreen International Aviation, Inc.
The vast majority of Mr. Goffman’s restructurings are completed through quick, cost-efficient out-of-court or prepackaged restructurings. Mr. Goffman was a pioneer in the use of prepackaged restructurings and widely is regarded as one of the leaders in the field. He has led many of the landmark prepacks, including Memorex Telex I and II, Globix, Grove Worldwide, Harvest Foods, Herbst Gaming, In-Store Advertising, NTL, Mark IV, RCN, Specialty Foods and the “one-day prepack” for Blue Bird Bus Corporation, which rewrote the way prepacks are done and set a new standard for prepackaged restructurings. Mr. Goffman also played a leading role in the Charter Communications’ prearranged restructuring, representing Paul Allen as the owner. The Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York called the Paul Allen settlement the “lynchpin” of “perhaps the largest and most complex prearranged bankruptcies ever attempted, and in all likelihood ranks among the most ambitious and contentious as well.”
Mr. Goffman also has led numerous highly successful out-of-court restructurings, including America West Airlines, Inc., Centro Properties Group, Intrawest Resorts, Ion Media, the Portland Trailblazers, RREEF, Evergreen International Aviation, Offshore Logistics and Westwood One.
In addition, he has advised on numerous traditional Chapter 11 cases for U.S. and international companies, including LyondellBasell, Olympia and York Financial, Chemtura, Eastern Airlines, Texaco and Saxon Industries.
Mr. Goffman also has represented lenders and/or committees in many major restructurings, including Alleginace Telecom, Ameriserve, Atlantic Computer Systems, Bridge Information Systems, Focal, Harry Macklowe, Equity Office Properties, Movie Gallery, Pam Am, Pocket Communications, Sunbeam and XO.
Mr. Goffman frequently lectures and writes on a variety of restructuring topics, including prepacks, mergers and acquisitions in distressed situations, distressed investing, fiduciary duties of board of directors, “zone of insolvency” issues, confirmation issues, mass tort issues and general and basic bankruptcy analysis. He also assisted the National Bankruptcy Review Commission with respect to legislative amendments regarding prepacks and co-chaired a committee of premier restructuring lawyers addressing potential bankruptcy legislation leading to certain congressional amendments to the Bankruptcy Code regarding prepacks.
