A New Paradigm: Liability Management and Bankruptcy Practice in a Post-Serta and Mitel World

Ian Feng graduated from University of Texas in Austin in 2006 and the New York University School of Law cum laude in 2009. Prior to joining Covenant Review, Ian practiced law at Latham & Watkins LLP and Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP, focusing primarily on corporate and sponsor-backed finance transactions representing both arrangers and financial institutions and sponsors and corporate borrowers. Ian has extensive experience representing agent banks, arrangers, and other financial institutions, as well as sponsor and corporate borrowers in a variety of acquisition / LBO financings and project finance transactions. Ian joined Covenant Review in 2015.

Mark joined CreditSights in 2023 as Head of Special Situations Legal Research. Prior to joining CreditSights, Mark was a restructuring attorney at Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP and Morrison & Foerster LLP, where his practice focused on managing restructuring engagements and advising senior management, generals counsel, and boards of directors on all aspects of debt restructuring. Mark clerked for two judges, including a bankruptcy judge in the Southern District of New York, and he has also served as an adjunct law professor where he has taught semester-long courses on bankruptcy, debtor/creditor law, and municipal debt restructuring. Mark earned a JD magna cum laude and BS summa cum laude in finance from Arizona State University in 2007 and 2003, respectively, and he previously held FINRA Series 7 and 66 licenses.

The Honorable James M. Peck retired from Morrison Foerster upon his appointment as an International Judge of the Singapore International Commercial Court in January 2024. While at Morrison Foerster, Judge Peck chaired Morrison Foerster’s Cross-Border Restructuring practice and also headed the firm’s Mediation practice. Before joining Morrison Foerster, Judge Peck served as a U.S. Bankruptcy Judge for the Southern District of New York from 2006 to 2014, where he presided over the chapter 11 and SIPA cases of Lehman Brothers and its affiliates and a number of other major chapter 11 and chapter 15 cases and wrote multiple legal decisions that have helped define the impact of safe harbors on qualified financial contracts. By invitation, Judge Peck is a fellow of the American College of Bankruptcy and a member of the Panel of Recognized International Market Experts in Finance. He is a past president of the International Insolvency Institute, served on the board of governors of the National Conference of Bankruptcy Judges, and was judicial chair of the American Bankruptcy Institute’s annual New York City Bankruptcy Conference. Former Judge Peck currently chairs the Business Bankruptcy Advisory Committee for the Southern District of New York. Judge Peck co-chaired the ABI’s Advisory Committee on the Safe Harbors. He is a member of the Advisory Committee of the Asian Business Law Institute, is listed as a qualified member of mediation panels maintained by INSOL. International, the Singapore Mediation Center, and the Singapore International Mediation Center, and has been included on the Panel of Arbitrators for Financial Services Disputes of the Hong Kong International Arbitration Center and the Panel of Arbitrators of the Singapore International Arbitration Center. Judge Peck has been retained on a number of occasions to furnish expert witness statements for submission to the High Court in London regarding issues of New York law, comity, and the recognition of main and non-main insolvency proceedings. He is also a frequent speaker worldwide on insolvency issues and has participated as a keynote speaker and a panel chair around the globe in conferences presented by numerous international organizations and law schools. These include INSOL International, the International Bar Association, INSOL Europe, and the National Conference of Bankruptcy Judges. He has authored articles published in the American Bankruptcy Institute Journal and International Insolvency & Restructuring Report, and is an editor of a recently published book titled The Art of the Ad Hoc. Before his judicial appointment in the Southern District of New York, Judge Peck was in private practice for over 35 years, concentrating much of that time on bankruptcy law, business reorganization, and creditors’ rights.

Sean A. O’Neal’s practice focuses on corporate governance, capital solutions and special situations, restructuring, bankruptcy, and related litigation matters. He assists corporate debtors, creditors, investors, financial counterparties, and other interested parties in bankruptcy-related transactions, out-of-court workouts, and liability management transactions. Sean also works with investors in purchasing assets from, or making investments in, distressed companies. He advises clients on creditors’ rights, debt instruments, prepackaged bankruptcies, loan-to-own strategies, debtor-in-possession financing, exit financing, Chapter 11 rights offerings, forbearance arrangements, and other matters.
In addition, Sean represents tenants and tenant associations on a pro bono basis in landlord bankruptcy cases and serves on the board of directors of Brooklyn Community and Housing Services and the Brooklyn Children’s Museum. Sean joined the firm in 2000 and became a partner in 2009.

Pat Holohan is a bankruptcy veteran and comes to LFI with 13 years of experience on the beat. Previously, he was Courts Editor at Debtwire, where he spent 10 years covering bankruptcy, the courts, and high-profile litigation.