Kathlene M. Burke

Kathlene Burke is a corporate restructuring lawyer with a broad range of both law firm and in-house advisory experience. Ms. Burke has represented debtors, creditors and equity holders in large complex restructurings, with an emphasis on sovereign debt and cross-border cases. She is a delegate to the U.N.’s UNCITRAL Working Group V (insolvency) meetings, where she represents the International Women’s Insolvency and Restructuring Confederation in drafting international model laws on insolvency.

Ms. Burke also is lead associate on Skadden’s Public International Law London Impact Project, where she has been involved in various projects related to human rights and promoting gender balance. Most recently, she co-authored a report for Women@TheTable that provided recommendations for U.N. treaty bodies to incorporate into their nomination and election procedures in order to improve diversity and, in particular, achieve gender balance among treaty body members, as well as a report for a not-for-profit on gender-sensitive due diligence under EU and U.K. law and the OECD Multinational Guidelines for companies to respect human rights.

Prior to her work at Skadden, Ms. Burke served as in-house counsel for a sovereign Native American nation and clerked for Judge James M. Peck of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York. Ms. Burke also is a decorated military veteran, having served overseas with the U.S. Army.

Her recent representations at Skadden include:

• EMAS Chiyoda Subsea Limited and its affiliates on a Chapter 11 reorganization in the Southern District of Texas;
• a financial market infrastructure company in regulatory and resolution planning to comply with Bank of England regulatory requirements;
• Stephen Akers and Mark McDonald of Eliza Limited and Oscatello Investments Limited in the case of Isis Investments Limited v. Oscatello Investments Limited, Kaupthing hf, Elfar Adalsteinsson and Eliza Limited (Claim No: HC09C00599); and
• Roust Corporation in its prepackaged restructuring.

Her recent pro bono matters at Skadden include:

• Thomson Reuters Foundation: contributed to drafting of the international law section of “Held Hostage? A Legal Report on Hostage-Taking By States in Peacetime and the Victim Protection Gap”; and
• Norwegian Refugee Council: assisted in a review of the legal framework relating to the proposed closure of the Dadaab refugee camp in Kenya and the repatriation of Somali refugees.

Her notable representations prior to joining Skadden include:

• AMR Corp., et al. (as debtors’ counsel) (S.D.N.Y.);
• Blockbuster Inc., et al. (as debtors’ counsel) (S.D.N.Y.);
• HSH Delaware GP LLC (as debtors’ counsel) (D. Del.); and
• Lehman Brothers Inc., et al. (as law clerk) (S.D.N.Y.).