Bankruptcy and Restructuring
The Fishman Haygood Bankruptcy and Restructuring team provides innovative solutions to enhance value and minimize costs and risks for our clients.
Our lawyers have a deep understanding of the business dynamics involved in finance and restructuring. Led by Billy Patrick and Tristan Manthey, the team’s restructuring engagements have received national recognition from various organizations.
Our Bankruptcy and Restructuring team’s substantial experience includes both debtor and creditor side engagements, debtor‑in‑possession and exit financing, asset acquisitions, advising independent directors and boards of directors, advising bondholder and other ad hoc creditor groups, distressed M&A (in court and out of court), municipal restructuring, as well as bankruptcy litigation. We also have experience in Fraudulent Transfer and Specialized Bankruptcy Litigation.
On the distressed financing side, in addition to debtor in possession financing and exit financing, we offer experience in all aspects of balance sheet restructuring, including liability management transactions (exchange and tender offers) and out‑of‑court loan work-out transactions, including recapitalizations and debt‑for‑equity exchanges.
The firm also advises corporate clients on bankruptcy issues in a wide variety of commercial contexts, from navigating their relationships with distressed commercial counterparties to structuring transactions to minimize bankruptcy risks. Our clients benefit not only from our bankruptcy and restructuring knowledge but also from the experience of our Mergers and Acquisitions, Finance, and Commercial Litigation teams.
Chambers and Partners USA ranks Fishman Haygood Band 1 among Bankruptcy and Restructuring law firms in Louisiana in 2025, and Billy, Tristan, Cherie Nobles, and Alicia Bendana are also ranked individually for their bankruptcy work. The firm is also ranked Tier 1 in Bankruptcy and Creditor Debtor Rights/Insolvency and Reorganization Law in New Orleans by Best Law Firms® 2026.
For 2026, Fishman Haygood also received the “Top-Listed” award, which recognizes the practice areas and jurisdictions where the firm has the most recognized lawyers of any firm in The Best Lawyers in America®, at both the state and metro levels. The firm was top-listed in Louisiana in Bankruptcy and Creditor Debtor Rights/Insolvency and Reorganization Law, with six lawyers recognized, and in Litigation – Bankruptcy, with four recognized lawyers. The firm also received the top-listed recognition in these practice areas in New Orleans.
Representative Experience
Recent:
- Retained as special counsel by the Official Committee of Unsecured Creditors in the MLCJR LLC, et al., Chapter 11 bankruptcy case in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas – Houston Division.
- Represents the Official Committee of Unsecured Creditors for Venture, Inc. (Case No. 23-02186) in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Mississippi – Jackson.
- Represents the Official Committee of Unsecured Creditors of S2 Operating in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana.
- Represented the Chapter 11 Trustee appointed by the Bankruptcy Court, Eastern District of Louisiana, in the matter captioned In re Westbank Holdings, et al– Case No. 22-10082.
- Represented the Official Committee of Unsecured Creditors in the Alfred Miller Contracting Company case in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Western District of Louisiana.
Noteworthy:
- Represented Clark, Love, & Hutson, a law firm representing over 15,000 tort claimants in multi-district litigation involving ear plug product liability claims against the Debtors and the 3M Company; firm was successful in protecting the claimants’ rights and opposing the preliminary injunction sought by the Debtors in favor of the 3M Company.
- Represented the Ad Hoc Committee of Equity Holders in the Mallinckrodt plc bankruptcy cases pending in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware; Mallinckrodt plc filed a plan of reorganization that contemplated cancelling, releasing, and extinguishing 84.6 million shares of common stock.
