McDermott Will & Schulte, a global law firm

Brad Giordano is a partner in the Business Restructuring group. Brad focuses his practice on representing debtors, creditors, direct lenders, ad hoc groups, sponsors and strategic investors in all aspects of complex in-court and out-of-court corporate restructurings.

Brad is frequently consulted by leading private equity investors, hedge funds, and private credit lenders on domestic and international insolvency and restructuring issues, as well as on strategic acquisitions or dispositions of distressed assets. Brad has played a key role in some of the most significant corporate reorganization cases across a variety of industries, including among others, healthcare, retail, energy, technology, hospitality, media, airlines, aircraft manufacturing, telecom and heavy machinery.

Recognized as a leading restructuring lawyer by Chambers USA, among other publications, Brad has earned praise from clients for being “thoughtful, responsive, and aggressive,” “commercial in every sense,” and delivering “much better than expected outcomes.” Additionally, Brad was listed by the American Bankruptcy Institute as a recipient of their 40 Under 40 Award.

Charles (Chuck) R. Gibbs focuses his practice on the insolvency and restructuring space. He represents debtors, secured creditors, official and ad hoc creditors’ committees, equity committees, and asset buyers in multijurisdictional and cross-border matters. His cross-border experience includes representing joint liquidators in Caribbean insolvency proceedings, including the largest individual fraud case in history. He often partners with non-money center secured lenders, particularly in the real estate space, leveraging his deep experience in handling real estate loan workouts on behalf of lenders both in and out of court. He has also led public and private companies through complex financial restructurings.

Over a career spanning more than 40 years, Chuck has been recognized as one of the United States’ leading restructuring lawyers. He has been ranked by Chambers and Partners for more than 20 years, including as a Band 1 ranking for more than a decade. He has also been named one of the Best Lawyers in America since 2006 and won “Lawyer of the Year” in 2019. He has been recognized as a “Leading Individual” by both The International Who’s Who of Insolvency and Restructuring Lawyers (since 2008) and Legal 500.

Throughout his career, Chuck has been on the cutting edge of novel restructuring issues ranging from Caribbean resorts to centralized cryptocurrency exchanges.

Joseph (Joe) B. Evans is the head of McDermott's FinTech & Blockchain Practice and head of Crypto Litigation and Regulatory. Widely recognized throughout the crypto industry, Joe is one of the top crypto litigators in the world. The American Lawyer has recognized him as a “Trailblazer” for his progressive work in crypto and he is one of the few individuals that is Chambers ranked Band 1 in Crypto-Asset Disputes.

Joe leads the industry’s only crypto-exclusive team whose members spend 100% of their time working on crypto industry matters. One of the few groups in the world ranked by Chambers in Crypto-Asset Disputes, the team has led more significant crypto litigation, both generally and bankruptcy-focused than any other firm. The team also advises on anti-money laundering, sanctions, and other ongoing compliance issues. Frequently called upon to find solutions for the most complex crypto products, Joe’s team prides itself on finding regulatory solutions when others can’t or won’t.

Since 2013, Joe has been representing companies and individuals in all aspects of crypto and blockchain-related legal matters, including defending government investigations, pursuing cutting-edge crypto litigation, obtaining money transmitter and other state licenses, and advising on initial coin offerings. With a focus on crypto regulatory matters, Joe advises the industry’s biggest players on their most important regulatory and licensing matters. His work includes issuing stablecoins, obtaining money transmitter licenses nationwide, obtaining trust charters, and launching new cryptocurrencies and products.

Pioneering first-of-its-kind crypto litigation, Joe has successfully handled matters involving crypto tracing, decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) litigation, and actions against fictitious entities and anonymous founders. His in-court successes include a series of wins in connection with the crypto industry’s largest bankruptcy cases in the United States and defending some of the industry’s largest participants. Joe has qualified crypto tracing experts in federal court and obtained immediate recovery of stolen crypto.

Joe has led the most impactful litigation and investigations for crypto creditor committees and post-bankruptcy confirmation entities in the industry. These representations include Cred, Inc., Voyager Digital, Prime Trust, Genesis Global Capital LLC, Terraform Labs, and Rhodium. Joe defends and brings affirmative litigation in connection with crypto bankruptcy cases, including regularly filing and defending cases worth hundreds of millions of dollars of fiat and crypto.

Additionally, Joe has defended crypto exchanges and other market participants in federal and state investigations. He regularly and successfully defends against these crypto regulatory investigations without penalties, fines, enforcement actions, or media attention of any kind.

Joe has also worked with state and federal regulatory bodies across the United States to advise and provide input on crypto regulation. In 2024, the Wyoming Select Committee on Blockchain, Financial Technology, and Digital Innovation Technology tapped Joe and his team to draft new legislation to protect crypto customers in the event of a bankruptcy filing.  The legislation crafted by Joe and his team specifically protects crypto customers in bankruptcy, even those whose assets are staked, held in stablecoin, or with sub-custodians.

Mark Fennessy is the co-head of the London Transactions Group, and the London Finance, Restructuring and Special Situations Group. He focuses his practice on contentious and non-contentious restructuring and insolvency matters. He has particular experience in multifaceted group collapses and global insolvency issues. He has been involved in a number of high-profile assignments for banks, funds and various strategic parties. Mark leads a team with unrivalled expertise in special situations, including in relation to assets facing significant and complex governance and financial challenges.

Mark has advised on a number of complex cross border matters for creditors (including direct lenders and distressed debt funds) and sponsors and is highly skilled in the restructuring of complex structures. He has also actively led a number of complex litigation matters and has significant experience in the investigation of complex fraud cases, multijurisdictional disputes, anti-avoidance/antecedent transaction advice, corporate investigation and analysis, asset tracing, international enforcement and the development of litigation strategies.

Additionally, Mark is a Licensed Insolvency Practitioner and an Authorised Fixed Charge Receiver (Non-appointment taking).