Togut Segal & Segal LLP

Firm Overview:
Established in 1980, Togut, Segal & Segal LLPis a highly specialized boutique law firm that has provided value-added service at a below-market cost to high-profile large companies, multi-national companies, and midmarket companies that have needed to restructure outside of court or through a Chapter 11 proceeding. The team at the Togut Firm also has extensive experience representing creditors’ committees, secured and unsecured creditors, retiree committees, and bankruptcy trustees.

Their clients work with specialists who possess a deep understanding of not only bankruptcy law but also the practical business, financial and human considerations that guide the challenging decisions that come up at every turn in a corporate bankruptcy case. The work they do is of the highest level and sophistication.

The Togut Firm is experienced in every aspect of a Chapter 11 case, including case commencement, asset sales and disposition, the plan promulgation process, claims resolution, and any necessary litigation, as well as identifying, investigating and prosecuting asset recovery actions. The firm maximize value for the debtor’s estate while minimizing the administrative costs of the case.

The firm understand the value of efficient client service at a lower cost. The firm keep their billing rates below market to help reduce the costs of bankruptcy restructurings. They use lean teams and do not “over-lawyer” any project. They have a well-deserved reputation for their highly efficient teamwork.

The Firm also maintains a balance between the size of the task involved and the effort required to perform the task using cost-effective project management. The Togut Firm understands that the recovery of assets must be measured against what it costs to achieve the result. Put differently: The firm keep costs proportionate to the size of the problem to be solved.

The firm's clients have their undivided loyalty. The firm have chosen to refuse to represent regular retainer clients and do not have any institutional client affiliations so that they maintain strict independence in their advice and advocacy. Their independence allows the firm to be adverse to banks, investment funds, and other large financial institutions with which other law firms may have established relationships. All their work is transactional. The firm do their work, and when they are done, they have no interest in keeping the client after the restructuring is completed.

Their founding partner, Albert Togut, has more than 45 years of bankruptcy experience and is often referred to as one of the “deans” of the bankruptcy bar as well as one of the best restructuring attorneys of their time. He is AV Preeminent peer-review rated, the highest rating, through Martindale-Hubbell, as are all three of his partners, Frank Oswald, Neil Berger, and Kyle Ortiz. All four have been included in New York Super Lawyers for multiple years, and Mr. Togut is one of only six bankruptcy attorneys named to Super Lawyers magazine’s Top 100 list. He is also a fellow of the American College of Bankruptcy and International Insolvency Institute, both invitation-only honorary groups. He and attorney Oswald are recognized by Chambers. Mr. Togut also co-chaired a blue-ribbon commission of the American Bankruptcy Institute that has made recommendations for Chapter 11 reform, including Congress’ recently enacted small business provisions. This level of recognition reflects the reputation for effective client service and integrity that their firm has established and maintained for decades.

When the firm was formed 40 years ago, it was designed to join with large elite firms in representing companies in Chapter 11. The firm have been called into cases by firms such as Skadden Arps, Weil Gotshal, Kirkland & Ellis, Milbank, Cleary Gottlieb, Wachtell Lipton, Cravath, Jones Day, Kramer Levin, Shearman & Sterling, and Davis Polk, among others, to work on some of the largest and highest-profile Chapter 11 cases. These have included LATAM Airlines; McClatchy Newspapers; Trident Health; Pacific Drilling; Aéropostale; Westinghouse; Enron; American Airlines; Kodak; Lehman Brothers’ Aurora Commercial Corp.; General Motors; Chrysler Automotive; Delphi Automotive; Rockefeller Center; Olympia & York Tower B Company, better known as the World Financial Center; city of Detroit; Toisa Shipping; Dewey & LeBoeuf; Rubie’s Costume Company; Relativity Media; Avaya; Nautilus; Ambac Financial; SunEdison, Inc.; A&P; Collins & Aikman, St. Vincent’s Hospital; Charter Communications; Frontier Airlines; Midwest Airlines; Loehmann’s; Tower Automotive; Winn-Dixie; Ames Department Stores; Loew’s Cineplex; SK Global; Daewoo International (America) Corp. (which, together with its Korean parent, underwent the largest non-sovereign debt restructuring in history at the time with aggregate liabilities exceeding $70 billion); Allegiance Telecom; OnSite Access; Joan & David Helpern Inc.; ContiFinancial Corporation; and others.

Over time, the firm have been increasingly called to represent companies of all sizes as the sole bankruptcy counsel. During 2018 and 2019, they simultaneously represented three billion-dollar-plus companies: Westinghouse (UK parent), Pacific Drilling, and Toisa Shipping. When the Lehman Brothers bankruptcy trust needed counsel to represent its residential mortgage servicing and origination businesses, it called Togut Segal & Segal LLP. Lehman also asked the firm to restructure its Canyon Ranch hotel in Miami. The firm have also represented smaller and midmarket companies, such as Rubie’s Costume Company, Joan & David Helpern, Grubb & Ellis, and the official creditors’ committee in New York Crane.

To maintain the highest quality of work, the firm employ attorneys who have been trained by the top firms in the restructuring community. Since the firm regularly work with the best firms, the firm employ the same quality people to do the same high-quality work. What that means is that, when you retain the firm, you get the same superior work but at a lower cost. And if you are a smaller company, you get their senior partners working on your case rather than a lower-level associate. That matters when you are looking for seasoned advice and the best result.

The Togut Firm has received many honors, including Boutique Bankruptcy and Creditor’s Rights Law Firm of the Year in New York in 2020 and Global Restructuring Review Top 100 in 2020. The firm's senior partner has received many honors over many decades, most recently by Who’s Who Legal as one of its Thought Leaders – Restructuring & Insolvency 2020.