Larry Engel

Partner

San Francisco, (415) 268-6927

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Education

Northwestern University (B.A., 1969)
;
Northwestern University School of Law (J.D., 1972)

Practices

Business Restructuring + Insolvency

Clean Technology + Alternative Energy

Environment + Energy

Bar Admissions

California

G. Larry Engel has a national and international bankruptcy and restructuring practice with various specialties beyond his usual representation of secured and unsecured creditors, committees, and selected debtors and foreign representatives in chapter 15 cases. Among those specialties are distressed M&A, DIP and exit financing, the intersection of technology / IP and bankruptcy, cross-border insolvency, failing hedge funds, financial institution insolvency, insurance insolvency, municipal and sovereign insolvency, complex structured finance and derivatives, as well as failed LBOs and energy, utility, and real estate situations. He is a pioneer in bankruptcy proofing insolvency sensitive transactions in many industries.

Mr. Engel’s U.S. and global clients include banks and other financial institutions, private equity, venture capital and hedge funds, strategic or financial buyers of distressed assets, IP licensors, licensees or other collaborators, joint venturers or strategic allies with failing partners, etc., parties to derivatives and other situations involving extraordinary counterparty risk, ad hoc and official committees and other creditors and parties in interest, including foreign representatives in chapter 15 cases.

Mr. Engel has been recognized by the American College of Bankruptcy, the International Insolvency Institute, the American Bankruptcy Institute, and the American College of Commercial Finance Lawyers, and is a requested lecturer and author for many organizations. He has been listed in Corporate Counsel’s “The Best Lawyers in America” and “Top Lawyers,” San Francisco’s Best Lawyers, in the Euromoney Guide World’s Leading Insolvency and Restructuring Lawyers, and by ranked in Chambers, The Deal’s Top Bankruptcy Lawyers, and others.

While attending Northwestern University School of Law, Mr. Engel was elected to Order of the Coif and served as the Executive Editor of the Northwestern University Law Review. While an undergraduate at Northwestern University, he was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. He graduated magna cum laude.

In re Eastman Kodak Company, et al.

Represented numerous intellectual property licensees, licensors, and infringement defendants in the Kodak bankruptcy case, where we fought to preserve and protect our clients’ intellectual property rights and lead an ad hoc group of similar parties. Also represented the runner-up bidder for the patent portfolio sold by Kodak in its chapter 11 case.

In re AmericanWest Bancorp

Represented the bank holding company in an award-winning sale of the distressed bank’s stock that won regulatory approval as an alternative to an FDIC takeover and thereby avoided trust preferred securities’ blocking maneuvers.

In re South Edge LLC

Represented JPMorgan as agent for a lending syndicate financing the joint venture of eight national builders developing the multi-billion-dollar Inspirada project near Las Vegas. We recovered principal plus interest through a novel strategy that included an involuntary bankruptcy and a chapter 11 trustee to restart the shut-down project and overcome the builders’ hostage strategy without paying their ransom demand.

In re Think3 Inc.

Represented the Trilogy affiliated owners, DIP lenders, IP licensees and buyers of a U.S.-based global software company, whose attempted rescue was thwarted by the trustee in an involuntary Italian bankruptcy. We launched a defensive U.S. chapter 11 and defeated the Italian trustee in a U.S. chapter 15 and in the Japanese equivalent (and on appeal to the Japanese Supreme Court) and in other global litigation, preventing the Italian trustee from competing wrongfully throughout the world against the U.S. debtor using the debtor’s software and other IP.

SEC v. Private Equity Management Group, LLC

Represented Bank SinoPac and other creditors in an SEC receivership in Los Angeles and in provisional liquidation proceedings in the BVI, regarding billions of dollars in frauds by Danny Pang and his affiliates in cross-border transactions.

Pro Bono Case Study: Saving Independent Bookstores

Represented the buyer/rescuer of failing independent bookstores in a creative strategy for rescuing distressed bookstores. The initial public demonstration project (Kepler’s Books in Menlo Park, California) was a successful blueprint now being replicated.