Lorraine McGowen, a partner in the New York office, is a member of the Executive Committee and a former co-chair of the Restructuring Group. She has practiced in the areas of creditors' rights and bankruptcy for more than 20 years, with a particular focus on the enforcement of creditors' rights and remedies in out-of-court work-outs and bankruptcy proceedings. Ms. McGowen represents formal and ad hoc creditors' committees and secured and unsecured creditors and other significant parties in complex bankruptcy cases, corporate restructurings and other insolvency matters and has extensive experience representing public and private entities in out-of-court work-outs and bankruptcy proceedings. Recently, she has been actively involved in the liquidity crisis affecting financial institutions, advising significant counter-parties with respect to their exposure to troubled financial institutions. She also provides innovative solutions to strategic and financial purchasers of distressed companies. Ms. McGowen advises clients on the bankruptcy and commercial law implications of proposed transactions, including mergers and acquisitions, project and structured financings, leveraged leases, securitizations and other transactions.
A sample of her recent notable engagements includes the following:
- City of Detroit. Ms. McGowen represents the City of Detroit in the restructuring of certain derivative transactions relating to the City of Detroit's 2006 Pension Obligation Certificates, of which US$800 million were variable rate taxable certificates.
- Lehman. Ms. McGowen represents municipal, corporate and financial counter-parties with swap, forward contracts, repurchase agreements and other derivative products in various aspects of the Lehman Brothers proceedings pending in the United States and the United Kingdom. Claims include termination payments, indemnity and guaranty claims, and contractual breaches.
- General Motors National Dealers Council. Ms. McGowen represents the General Motors National Dealers Council in connection with the restructuring and bankruptcy of General Motors Corporation. The council represents approximately 6,000 GM dealers in the United States.
- Suppliers and Customers. Ms. McGowen represents various suppliers and customers regarding their rights in bankruptcy, including rights to enforce, terminate, or obtain payment under supply agreements, forward contracts, licensing agreements, and joint venture agreements.
- Stone & Webster, Inc. Represented the Official Committee of Unsecured Creditors in the Chapter 11 cases of Stone & Webster, an international engineering and construction enterprise with 72 subsidiaries (creditor claims initially totaled in excess of US$6 billion). Ms. McGowen continues to represent the SWE&C Liquidating Trust, which was formed upon the confirmation of the Stone & Webster Inc. joint plan of liquidation, among other matters, to resolve claims against Stone & Webster Engineers & Constructors, Inc. and its direct and indirect subsidiaries totaling in excess of US$1 billion, to liquidate the Trust's remaining assets, and to prosecuted insurance coverage actions against insurers for environmental and professional liability losses.
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