Chadbourne & Parke announced today that two of the nation’s most prominent municipal bankruptcy lawyers, Lawrence A. Larose and Samuel S. Kohn, have joined the firm’s Bankruptcy and Financial Restructuring practice as partners in their New York office. They come from Winston & Strawn, where they represented major creditors in virtually every recent major municipal restructuring, both in and out of court. Larose also served as Chair of Winston & Strawn’s Municipal Bankruptcy and Insolvency group.
“We anticipate municipal bankruptcy to be an area of ongoing and significant growth as municipalities continue to suffer from excessive bond debt, underfunded pension plans and decreasing sources of revenues,” said Howard Seife, global chair of Chadbourne’s Bankruptcy and Financial Restructuring practice. “Larry and Sam are highly experienced and skillful bankruptcy lawyers who, as a team, have developed an impressive practice representing the largest creditors in these situations, and we are excited to add them to our deep bench of bankruptcy and restructuring lawyers.”
Larose and Kohn represent clients in numerous major municipal restructurings, including the currently pending Chapter 9 cases of Detroit, MI and Jefferson County, AL. They also represent major creditors in currently pending out-of-court restructurings of municipal debt in Harrisburg, PA and Scranton, PA.
In addition, both Larose and Kohn advise corporate clients with sophisticated in-court and out-of-court restructurings, including mergers and acquisitions and other financial transactions. Much of their experience involves counseling major financial institutions, including investment banks, commercial banks, financial guarantors, and insurance companies. Their experience also includes other industries such as energy, telecommunications, health care, entertainment, retail, broadcasting and shipping.
The Legal 500 named Larose as one of only seven “Leading Lawyers” in the municipal bankruptcy area. Called “outstanding” by clients, Larose is noted by the legal directory for his work for MBIA Insurance and Assured Guaranty. Larose earned his B.A. degree summa cum laude in 1980 from Tufts University and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. He earned his J.D. magna cum laude in 1983 from Georgetown University Law Center, where he was an editor of the Georgetown Law Journal.
A strong background in finance and accounting gives Kohn unique insight into the cases and transactions in which he is involved. Prior to becoming a lawyer, he was licensed as a certified public accountant in the State of New York and founded and managed his own accounting firm. Kohn earned his B.A. degree in Accounting from Queens College in 1975, and a J.D. cum laude in 1999 from Brooklyn Law School. During law school, he was a member of the Journal of Law and Policy, Moot Court Honor Society, and was a Dean’s Academic Achievement Scholar.
