George A. Davis

George Davis, Global Chair of Latham & Watkins’ Restructuring & Special Situations Practice, and Jeff Bjork, Managing Partner of Latham’s Los Angeles offices and former Global Vice Chair of the firm’s Restructuring and Special Situations Practice, have been named by The American Lawyer (AmLaw) as 2023 Dealmakers of the Year for representing Mallinckrodt in the multinational pharmaceutical company’s successful Chapter 11 restructuring. The prestigious annual awards program honors lawyers who guided the most complex, groundbreaking, and impactful deals of the past year. In a profile of Davis and Bjork, AmLaw underscored “the dizzying amount of moving elements” involved in the restructuring, including US$5 billion in funded debt and contingent liabilities from opioid-related lawsuits, noting that “in a first for opioid bankruptcies, the claim involved filing with a restructuring support agreement with institutional creditors,” which paved the way for private opioid claimants’ support. The case was also the first opioid bankruptcy where a future claims representative was named to look out for the interests of future claimants. As part of the restructuring, Davis and Bjork were able to get creditors and other stakeholders on board with their plan before filing. “We were able to develop a relationship with the plaintiffs and understand the issues that they cared most about,” Bjork said. “From there it came down to negotiating a deal that worked for all parties before moving forward in the process.” The profile highlighted that the prenegotiated Chapter 11 to address mass tort claims “could potentially provide a guide for future mass tort cases.” “Negotiating the deal up front and having the plaintiffs’ support to implement the deal through a bankruptcy to obtain a comprehensive channeling injunction rather than filing for bankruptcy without any agreement, that’s the element that should be used for future cases,” Davis told AmLaw. This is the fifth consecutive year Latham partners have been named AmLaw Dealmakers of the Year, with Marc Jaffe and Tad Freese named last year for representing Rivian Automotive in its IPO; Freese in 2021 for advising on Airbnb’s IPO; Justin Hamill in 2020 for representing Virgin Galactic in its merger with Social Capital Hedosophia to create the world’s first and only publicly traded commercial human spaceflight company; and Greg Rodgers in 2019 for representing Spotify in its historic direct listing on the NYSE. Read more in AmLaw.~~

Mar 31

2 min

Latham & Watkins has been recognized by Benchmark Litigation for the strength of its Antitrust, Appellate, General Commercial, Intellectual Property, Securities, and White-Collar Litigation Practices. “Latham has always been a litigation powerhouse… with partners deemed as ‘top class’ in practices spanning antitrust, white-collar crime, securities, M&A litigation, intellectual property and even more niche practices like environmental law,” according to Benchmark Litigation. Latham was also named to the list of Top 20 Trial Law Firms; and Complex Commercial Litigation Global Chair Sean Berkowitz, Securities Litigation & Professional Liability Global Chair Andrew Clubok, and former Litigation & Trial Global Chair Jamie Wine were named to the Top 100 Trial Lawyers in America list. In addition, partners Mary Rose Alexander, Tara D. Elliott, Michele Johnson, and Jamie Wine were recognized among the Top 250 Women in Litigation, as noted in September. Regionally, Latham earned top tier recognition for litigation in California, Illinois, New York, and Washington, D.C. In addition, the 45 attorneys listed below were named as National Litigation Practice Area Stars, Local Litigation Stars, and Future Stars: Mary Rose Alexander Joshua Hamilton Bert Reiser William Baker Thomas Heiden Christine Rolph Steven Bauer Julie Holloway David Schindler Sean Berkowitz Michele Johnson Nathan Seltzer Nicholas Boyle Katherine Lauer Joseph Serino Richard Bress Eric Leon Ronald Shulman Leslie Caldwell Douglas Lumish Marguerite Sullivan Andrew Clubok Nicholas McQuaid Margaret Tough George Davis Daniel Meron BJ Trach Elizabeth Deeley Matthew Moore Suzzanne Uhland Tara D. Elliott Michael Morin Perry Viscounty Alice Fisher Claudia O'Brien Peter Wald David Frazier Kenneth Parsigian Daniel Wall Gregory Garre Adam Perlman Joe Wetzel Maximilian Grant Matthew Rawlinson Jamie Wine~~

Oct 15

1 min

MOD Super-Fast Pizza Holdings, LLC (MOD Pizza) announced that Elite Restaurant Group has acquired 100% of the equity in the company pursuant to a merger agreement between the company and an affiliate of Elite. Latham & Watkins LLP represents MOD Pizza in the transaction with a corporate deal team led by Century City partner David Zaheer, with associates Dylan Towns, Mark Goshgarian, Madeleine West, and Grace Garcea. Advice was also provided on restructuring matters by Los Angeles partner Ted Dillman and New York partners George Davis and Anu Yerramalli, with associates Brian Rosen, Nicholas Messana, Madeleine Parish, Rebekah Presley, Jessmine Lee, Meghana Vunnamadala, and Beau Parker; on litigation matters by New York partner Christopher Harris and Boston partner Betsy Marks; on finance matters by Los Angeles partner Mark Morris and Los Angeles counsel Jonathan Shih, with associates Rychelle Andersen and Kendall Ota; on intellectual property matters by Los Angeles partner Ghaith Mahmood and Orange County counsel David Kuiper, with associate Nathan Wages; on employment/employee benefits matters by Bay Area partner Jay Metz and New York counsel Sandra Benjamin, with associate Karis Stephen; and on tax matters by Chicago partner Joe Kronsnoble and Houston partner Jim Cole, with associate Dominick Constantino.~~

Jul 11

1 min

JOANN, the nation’s category leader in sewing and fabrics with one of the largest arts and crafts offerings, has announced it has successfully emerged from its court-supervised financial restructuring process, and has substantially reduced its funded debt by half while further enhancing its liquidity through a US$153 million exit financing facility that replaces the previously announced debtor-in-possession financing. The prepackaged Chapter 11 plan was supported by the company’s lenders, creditors, and industry partners, and became effective April 30, 2024, enabling JOANN to be in its best financial position in recent history. JOANN’s Chapter 11 process was completed in less than 45 days and left landlords, trade vendors, employees, and other unsecured creditors unimpaired. Latham & Watkins LLP represented JOANN in the process, with a restructuring and special situations team led by New York partner George Davis, Los Angeles partner Ted Dillman, and counsel Ebba Gebisa, with associates Nick Messana, Ali Zablocki, Markus von der Marwitz, Isaac Ashworth, Kevin Shang, Nikhil Gulati, Beau Parker, and Davis Klabo. Advice was also provided on corporate matters by New York partner Senet Bischoff, Century City partner Jason Silvera, New York/Los Angeles partner Greg Rodgers, and Orange County partner Drew Capurro, with associates Greg Van Buiten, AJ Hines, Brian Umanoff, and Erik Jensen; on finance matters by Los Angeles partner Mark Morris, New York partner Kendra Kocovsky, and counsel Jonathan Shih, with associates Melissa Doura, Kendall Ota, and Nilam Faqhir; on benefits and compensation matters by New York partner Bradd Williamson and counsel Rifka Singer; on litigation matters by Los Angeles partner Amy Quartarolo, with associate Joseph Teresi; and on tax matters by Chicago partner Joseph Kronsnoble, with associate Lukas Kutilek.~~

May 3

1 min

Global Chair of the Restructuring & Special Situations Practice, George Davis, along with partners Suzzanne Uhland, Adam Goldberg, and Christopher Harris served as consulting editors for the first-ever Lexology Getting The Deal Through Insolvency Litigation guide. The project was published in partnership with Lexology — a comprehensive source of international legal updates, analysis, and insights — and covers 13 global jurisdictions, including chapters on insolvency litigation laws in the US, UK, Spain, France, and Germany authored by Latham lawyers. Lexology Getting The Deal Through provides thought leadership from leading legal experts answering the same key questions in each jurisdiction featured allowing practitioners to compare laws and regulations between jurisdictions. Readers can seamlessly create tailored cross-border reports in targeted topic areas or build a multi-topic report on a single jurisdiction. The reference guide enables quick side-by-side comparisons of local insights, including pre-litigation considerations; avoidance actions; claims against directors, officers and shareholders; creditor actions and strategic considerations; pre-insolvency debtor claims; other claims against creditors and debtors; cross-border considerations; remedies and enforcement; settlement and mediation; and recent trends. “We are pleased to have been invited to share our expertise across practices and jurisdictions for this inaugural guide,” said partner and Consulting Editor Suzzanne Uhland. “The guide synthesizes complex legal nuances into easy-to-digest guidance that helps lawyers around the world more effectively advise on critical insolvency litigation matters.” Latham advises the full array of stakeholders involved with financially-distressed companies providing strategic and comprehensive counsel allowing clients to surmount varied obstacles that arise in troubled situations. By having both a strong debtor practice alongside a renowned creditor practice, we have the breadth of expertise required to represent any major participant in restructuring, insolvency, and special situations matters across our platform and across the globe. For more information or to access the guide content, visit Insolvency Litigation.

Feb 1

1 min