Michael L. Cook is a partner in the New York office where he devotes his practice to corporate restructuring, workouts and creditors' rights litigation, including mediation and arbitration. His clients include lenders, acquirers, reorganization trustees, creditors' committees, troubled companies, professional firms, businesses seeking mediation and arbitration, and other parties, e.g., Leucadia Nat'l Corp., Cerberus Capital Management, General Electric Capital Corp., CIT Group, Hilco Capital, UniCredito Italiano, Credit Suisse First Boston, Japan Leasing (USA), Ames Department Stores, Carter Hawley Hale Stores, A. H. Robins Company Inc., Quigley Company Inc., PriceWaterhouse Coopers, KPMG, Chanin Capital Partners, Duff & Phelps Securities LLC, Deloitte & Touche, Goldin Associates, and Panasonic Corporation.
Chambers USA listed Michael as a "leading individual" in bankruptcy/restructuring and interviewees praise him for his "tremendous experience and vision in bankruptcy matters." Recognized by The Best Lawyers in America, The Legal 500 United States, The K&A Restructuring Register, PLC Cross-border Restructuring and Insolvency Handbook, New York Super Lawyers and Who's Who in American Law, IFLR Guide to the World's Leading Insolvency and Restructuring Lawyers, he is president of the American College of Bankruptcy, is a member of the Practising Law Institute Bankruptcy Law Advisory Committee, a member of the International Insolvency Institute, a former chair of the American Bar Association's Creditors' Rights Litigation Committee, and a former chair of the Bankruptcy Litigation Institute. A frequent contributor to major publications, Michael serves as lead editor and contributing author of Bankruptcy Litigation Manual (rev. ed., Aspen Law & Business, 2012- 2013), is on the ed itorial boards of Pratt's Journal of Bankruptcy Law and The Bankruptcy Strategist, is a contributing author to Collier Bankruptcy Guide (rev. ed., Matthew Bender, 201 0) and Collier on Bankruptcy (15th rev. ed., 2003), and coauthored Creditors' Rights, Debtors' Protection and Bankruptcy (3rd ed., Matthew Bender, 1997) (with NYU School of Law Professor Lawrence P. King) and A Practical Guide to the Bankruptcy Reform Act (rev. ed., Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1984). Michael received his A.B. from Columbia University and his J.D. from New York University School of Law.
SELECTED EPRESENTATIONS
Reorganizations (Debtor Representations)
Quigley Company Inc., American Banknote Corp., Lenox Health Care Inc., United Merchants & Manufacturers, Victoria Creations Inc., Wang Laboratories Inc., Doe-Spun Inc., Ames Department Stores, Carter Hawley Hale Stores, A. H. Robins Company Inc.
lnvestors/Acquirors
Leucadia National Corp., Cerberus Capital Management LLP, Soo Line Railroad Co., Cyclops Industries Inc. Reorganization Trustees Cardinal Industries Inc.
Secured Creditors and Lessors
Alcentra Limited, Babson Capital Europe Limited, Elliott Associates, L.P., European Credit Management Limited, Goldman Sachs Capital Markets, Intermediate Capital Management Limited; N.M. Rothschild & Sons Ltd., Permira Debt Managers Ltd., Dai lchi Kangyo Bank, Blackacre Bridge Capital LLC, Cerberus Partners, Ableco Finance, Foothill Capital, CIT Group, Hilco Consumer Capital, Credit Suisse First Boston, Tishman Speyer Properties, Unicredito Italiano, Midlantic National Bank, General Electric Capital Corporation, Polaris Aircraft Income Funds, Continental Illinois Bank, Bank of Boston, Bankers Federal Savings Bank FSB, Extebank, Banco Santander, Citibank NA, The Chase Manhattan Bank, Morgan Guaranty, Fuji Bank, Japan Leasing (USA) Inc., Atari Inc., Bear Stearns Asset Management, Northwestern Mutual Capital Limited; Pramerica, Wachovia Bank.
Creditors' Committees
Union Pacific Resources Company, counsel to committee chair in Columbia Gas reorganization; McCall Pattern Company, counsel to committee; New York Life Insurance Company, counsel to committee chair in Kaiser Steel reorganization.
Professional Firms
Duff & Phelps Securities LLC, Oppenheimer & Co. Inc., Price Waterhouse Coopers, Deloitte & Touche LLP, KPMG LLP, Ernst & Young LLP, Arthur Andersen LLP, Blank Rome Tenzer Greenblatt LLP, Boies, Schiller & Flexner LLP, McDermott Will & Emery LLP, Chanin Capital LLC, Goldin Associates LLC.
Mediation and Arbitration
Mediator and arbitrator in bankruptcy cases for Combustion Engineering, Bethlehem Steel Corp., Greate Bay Casino, 20 Bayard Views LLC, Actrade Capital, Inc., Allou Distributors, Inc.