Robert Gayda

Practice Areas

Corporate Restructuring & Bankruptcy, Energy Finance Restructuring, Maritime and Offshore Restructuring, Digital Assets Group, Bankruptcy Litigation, Commercial Lease and Loan Restructuring Task Force, Financial Institution Risk Management.

Career

Robert J. (Bob) Gayda is a partner in Seward & Kissel’s Corporate Restructuring & Bankruptcy Group. Bob represents creditors’ committees, special committees, directors and officers, debtors, lenders, distressed asset purchasers and investors in restructurings, whether in or out of court. Bob has experience across a number of industries including retail, hospitality, pharma, crypto, financial services, energy, maritime/offshore, real estate, fintech and mass tort.

Professional Memberships

Bob serves on the board of directors of the Gladiator Project, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit corporation which supports brain cancer research and patients, particularly those afflicted with glioblastoma, as well as the board of the Rumson Education Foundation. He is a member of the Turnaround Management Association (NY) Golf Committee, the Maritime Bankruptcy and Insolvency Committee of the Maritime Law Association of the US, and a member of the Insolvency Section of the International Bar Association, the American Bankruptcy Institute, and the New York State Bar Association.

Work Highlights

Bob has been recognized by Chambers USA where clients noted that he is “smart, practical and knows how to keep the ball moving forward”, “a wonderful attorney and a pleasure to work with” and that he “demonstrates patience, skill and judgment”. Bob was also selected to the 2024 Lawdragon 500 Leading Bankruptcy & Restructuring Lawyers and named as a Top Author in JD Supra’s Readers’ Choice Awards. Previously, Bob was selected as a winner of the 7th Annual M&A Advisor Emerging Leaders Awards in the Legal Advisor category (formerly their “40 under 40” awards) and named a Rising Star by Super Lawyers 2017-2019. Bob is active in the restructuring community, writing and speaking frequently. Bob is the editor of Seward’s Back in (the) Black Blog, which posts weekly. Bob has recently been published in the Journal of Corporate Renewal, Reorg Research, Law360, and Turnarounds & Workouts, and appeared in the Financial Times, Bloomberg, the Wall Street Journal, and Forbes discussing restructuring issues.

Some select recent engagements include the representation of debtor Times Square JV LLC (currently DBA the Crowne Plaza Times Square) in its successful bankruptcy case, including in ongoing litigation, the representation of unsecured creditors’ committees in the Coin Cloud, ABC Carpet & Home, Fairmont San Jose, Furniture Factory, Papyrus and Le Pain Quotidien bankruptcies, and the liquidating trustees in both ABC and Furniture Factory, where Bob is prosecuting breach of fiduciary duty claims. Bob is also representing clients in the Bed Bath & Beyond, Purdue Pharma, Endo Pharmaceuticals and Eletson bankruptcy cases in various capacities.