Kathryn A. (Katie) Coleman, a partner in Hughes, Hubbard & Reed’s New York office, is a member of the Corporate Reorganization Group, and has over 25 years’ experience representing companies restructuring their financial affairs, both in and out of court. In addition, Ms. Coleman represents equity sponsors and financial and strategic buyers in the restructuring arena. Ms. Coleman has substantial expertise in advising boards of directors on corporate governance and fiduciary duty matters.
Ms. Coleman has advised clients on, and litigated at the trial and appellate levels, the significant legal issues inherent in modern restructuring and financial practice, including contested plan confirmation, prepackaged plans, credit bidding, exclusivity, use of cash, debtor-in-possession financing, valuation, adequate protection of security interests, and cash collateral usage.
The industries with which Ms. Coleman has had significant involvement include newspapers, home products, forest products, retail, restaurants, hotels, metals, distribution, energy (oil and gas as well as wind), regulated utilities, manufacturing, real estate, office products, construction, new media, telecommunications, professional services, technology, agribusiness, and banking.
Ms. Coleman frequently speaks on bankruptcy law and distressed investing, participating in programs sponsored by Practising Law Institute, the American Bankruptcy Institute, California Continuing Education of the Bar, the American Bar Association, the Pacific Bankruptcy Law Institute, the Western Mountains Bankruptcy Law Institute, and the Norton Bankruptcy Litigation Institute.
Ms. Coleman was named one of the 100 Most Influential Women in Business by the San Francisco Business Times, and she is ranked by Chambers USA as a leading restructuring lawyer. Ms. Coleman was also designated a leading lawyer in bankruptcy in The Best Lawyers in America, and her expertise in cross-border insolvency was noted in the ILFR 500 for 2009 and in PLC’s Cross-Border Insolvency Handbook for 2009-2010.
Ms. Coleman graduated magna cum laude from Pomona College. She earned her J.D. from Boalt Hall School of Law (U.C. Berkeley), where she was elected to the Order of the Coif. She served as Senior Articles Editor of the California Law Review and is the author of “Arnel Development Co. v City of Costa Mesa: Rezoning by Initiative and Landowners Due Process Rights,” 70 Calif. Law Rev. 1107 (1982).
Ms. Coleman clerked for the Honorable C. Martin Pence, U.S. District Judge for the District of Hawaii.