Corporate Restructuring Group, Ranked Best in Pennsylvania, Profiled in Legal Intelligencer Best Law Firm Series

Following its June 2015 announcement that Drinker Biddle’s Corporate Restructuring Practice is the top Bankruptcy/Reorganization practice in Pennsylvania, the Legal Intelligencer stopped by the firm’s Philadelphia office to speak to some of the group’s key players.

In the article, published Sept 1, 2015, Drinker Biddle chairman Andy Kassner explained to The Legal that the group’s broad range of experience makes it particularly effective: "Many firms specialize in only creditor work, but over the years we've done both," he said. "We work very well together," he added. "Everyone knows their roles and has specialties. And at the same time we've added really highly experienced people."

The article discussed the firm’s representation of the indenture trustee in the City of Detroit bankruptcy matter, which involved a bond issue of more than $1.3 billion and was successfully resolved with a global settlement at the end of 2014.

Other key matters mentioned include the Oz Gas bankruptcy, one of the first Pennsylvania energy bankruptcy cases to come out of the mining of the Marcellus Shale deposit in Western Pennsylvania, the St. Joseph's Hospital Chapter 11 case (in which the firm represented the debtors), and the litigation surrounding the bankruptcy of the Philadelphia Inquirer and Daily News.

Mr. Kassner also noted the firm’s “substantial corporate practice,” which enables the firm to represent purchasers in bankruptcy cases. Corporate Practice Group chair Neil Haimm said the group's recipe for success is a simple one: listen and solve.

"What distinguishes us is that it's not about us, it's about the client," said Mr. Haimm. "Practical advice, creative solutions for what the client needs, always being available; we don't want the best legal product because we think it's the best legal product—it's about what the client wants."