Schulte Roth & Zabel acted as lead counsel and advised Gramercy Funds Management as lender in one of the largest-ever loans in the litigation funding sector – and the largest ever to a United Kingdom law firm – with a $552.5 million secured loan to Pogust Goodhead.

The Schulte team was led by partners Boris Ziser and Polly O’Brien and special counsel David Gerst.

“We are thrilled to have been a part of this highly successful and record-breaking transaction that illustrates the significant growth within the litigation funding market,” said Boris.

Schulte is very proud to have been involved in this historic transaction and congratulates all of the parties on a successful closing.

Schulte Roth & Zabel partners Adam Harris and Doug Mintz spoke with The American Lawyer on the formation of the firm’s Special Situations Group for the article, “Schulte Creates Special Situations Group as Clients Look for More Flex in Distressed Transactions.” The co-chairs described how the multidisciplinary team will focus on helping clients achieve their legal and financial objectives across the spectrum of stressed and distressed transactions.  

“If you look at the practice 20 years ago versus today, you can see a wide gulf in the approach in terms of ever-expanding creativity and needs. It has been an ongoing evolution in the practice,” said Doug.  

Adam described the firm’s long-term movement towards customized solutions for clients that has culminated in the creation of the Special Situations Group, stating, “Our clients that we work with day to day, they know who we are and what our capabilities are and that historically, we have operated as being whatever was needed for the situation.”  

Read the article here. 

Schulte Roth & Zabel partner Michael Swartz has commenced his term as​​​​ Co-Chair of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law. Among the country’s foremost civil rights organizations, the Lawyers’ Committee was formed after President John F. Kennedy convened more than 200 lawyers from across America to “mobilize the nation’s leading lawyers as agents of change in the Civil Rights Movement.”

The Lawyers’ Committee has evolved from volunteers representing individuals to full-time lawyers leading high-impact litigation, fighting injustice and protecting voting rights, equal opportunity in employment, education, housing, and so much more. As President Joe Biden recently noted at the Lawyer’s Committee 60^th Anniversary Reception at the White House, “civil rights is the unfinished fight of America, and [the Lawyers’ Committee is] leading the fight for them after having led the fight for the past 60 years.”

As Co-Chair of the Lawyer’s Committee Board, Michael will be uniquely positioned to use his extensive experience as a litigator to help lead the organization’s mission to use the training and influence of lawyers to move the struggle for the protection of civil rights from the streets to the courts.

“At this critical juncture, particularly as our country’s tragic failure to redress past wrongs increasingly comes to light, there is an urgent need for our nation’s bar to fight for those who have been discriminated against and underrepresented within our judicial system and in society,” stated Michael. “I am proud to take on this pivotal role and will work to focus national attention on the ongoing fight for civil rights and to protect our democracy.” 

Michael has a long career of pro bono litigation advocating for justice and equality, inside and outside the courtroom. Michael is also Co-Chair of the firm’s Litigation Group and Chair of its Pro-Bono Committee, and served as Co-Chair of the firm’s Task Force for Racial Justice Initiatives, which was formed in the aftermath of George Floyd’s murder.

“Michael exemplifies the best of the private bar. From his skillful stewardship of critical nonprofit governance functions to his visionary work as lead counsel in cutting-edge pro bono civil rights litigation, he is well-primed to take up the mantle of leadership and continue the rich history of prior Co-Chairs of the Lawyers’ Committee,” said Damon Hewitt, president and executive director of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law.

Michael leads the Schulte pro bono litigation team that represents the last three living survivors of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre. The lawsuit seeks justice for the survivors and Greenwood, the once prosperous Black community in Tulsa, OK that was attacked by a white mob, including members of the Tulsa Police Department and the Oklahoma National Guard, who killed hundreds of Black residents, injured thousands more and destroyed more than a thousand homes and businesses. The lawsuit seeks to restore the Greenwood neighborhood and otherwise abate the nuisance caused by the Defendants. The case represents one of the most innovative attempts to use existing laws to hold governments accountable for persistent racial inequalities, has garnered significant national attention, and is currently being taught at Harvard Law School.

Most recently, Michael has joined the legal team advocating for justice on behalf of the Palm Springs Section 14 survivors, who had been relegated to a small neighborhood known as “Section 14” because of racist restrictive covenants, only to have the City of Palm Springs and its agents burn and bulldoze their homes in the 1960’s, demolishing the neighborhood to make way for commercial development. A 1968 report from the California attorney general’s office characterized it as a “city-engineered holocaust.”

Michael is head of the firm’s Shareholder Activism Litigation Group and is a member of the Executive Committee. His litigation practice includes shareholder activist litigation, securities litigation, private investment fund disputes, M&A litigation and other corporate control disputes. 

Schulte Roth & Zabel is pleased to announce the formation of the firm’s dedicated Special Situations Group. Co-chaired by partners Adam Harris and Doug Mintz, the Special Situations Group is a multidisciplinary team focused on helping clients achieve their legal and financial objectives across the spectrum of stressed and distressed transactions. It is comprised of lawyers from practice groups across the firm, including Business Reorganization, Finance, Litigation, Mergers & Acquisitions, Securities, Distressed Trading and Tax.

As many restructurings are now being implemented out-of-court, companies are making use of a wide range of solutions and workouts to manage their financial difficulties, avoid insolvency and successfully navigate what can often be contentious matters involving different classes of creditors.  

“The Special Situations Group is responsive to our private capital clients’ needs as the breadth and process for restructuring transactions expands beyond straight-forward bankruptcy and into an array of potential transactions, including loan modifications, creative financing transactions, coercive exchanges and pre-negotiated bankruptcies,” said Doug. “This is a team that leverages the full range of our firm’s deep experience in providing counsel on complex out-of-court financial restructurings, Chapter 11 reorganizations and insolvency proceedings across a wide range of industries.”

“As more restructuring takes place outside of court, the ability of advisers to provide the full suite of restructuring advice that private funds expect has become mission-critical,” said Adam. “For Schulte, and our clients, this is not new. Our focus on private capital has for many years afforded us a comprehensive view into the unique issues our clients face in restructuring situations, incuding those relating to client-specific structuring issues, tax structuring and regulatory and compliance requirements.”

“Special situations require a high level of interaction and cooperation across multiple practice areas to ensure that clients receive the best possible counsel on complex operational and financial restructurings,” said Marc Elovitz, co-managing partner of Schulte. “Collaboration is in Schulte’s DNA, and we regularly advise our clients with the coordinated approach. The creation of this group represents a natural evolution of our collaborative structure to meet evolving client needs.”

The formation of Schulte’s Special Situations Group comes as the firm continues to receive recognition for its business advisory work with leading private funds. The Deal’s Q2 Restructuring and Bankruptcy League Tables ranked Schulte #2 for Counsel to Creditors and tied for #7 for Counsel to Distressed Companies. The firm has ranked in the top 10 for the former category for eight consecutive quarters and the latter for six consecutive quarters. In The Deal’s Q2 Bankruptcy League Tables, Schulte was ranked fifth overall for Law Firms based on dollar volume. The firm has ranked in the top ten for this category for five consecutive quarters.

In addition, Turnarounds & Workouts has recognized Schulte as one of the top Bankruptcy Tax Specialists in the US. The firm has also been recognized by Chambers and The Deal for its extensive advisory capabilities in complex restructurings and related proceedings.

In an 8-0 decision last week, the Mississippi Supreme Court declared unconstitutional a provision of HB 1020 that, in part, strips Hinds County residents of their constitutionally protected right to elect their judges.

In June 2023, Schulte Roth & Zabel, along with the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) and Mississippi Votes, filed an amicus brief in the case arguing that a provision of the law violated the state constitution by allowing the appointment, rather than the election, of “temporary special circuit judges” in the Seventh Circuit Court District for nearly the full term of duly elected judges. The court adopted this argument in the opinion.

Read the SPLC press release here.