Douglas E. Spelfogel

“Douglas Spelfogel is a truly exceptional attorney. He has the ability to get exceptional results for his clients without being overly adversarial. He provides practical business advice irrespective of whether it may benefit him. Doug is truly a trusted advisor who is beloved by both clients and colleagues alike.”

Douglas Spelfogel is a partner at Mayer Brown and co-leader of its Restructuring practice in New York. Doug concentrates his practice on representation of financial institutions, indenture trustee banks, lenders, private equity and hedge funds, creditors and creditors’ committees, landlords, trustees, officers, directors, and debtors in complex financial restructurings, asset sales, workouts, and business reorganizations, often involving multi-billion dollar transactions, both out-of-court and through Chapter 11 of the Bankruptcy Code. Doug has appeared as counsel of record in over two dozen reported decisions and has served as lead counsel for various parties in national reorganizations and liquidations including JCPenney; Peabody Energy; Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC; FTS International; General Growth Properties, Inc; and American Airlines. He has also represented Fortune 100 companies, financial institutions, and fiduciaries in various roles in bankruptcy proceedings, cross-border cases, and bankruptcy-related litigation, including the Special SIPA trustee for the largest Ponzi scheme in US history; indenture trustees and plan trustees in national bankruptcies involving multi-billion dollars of secured and unsecured debt; and an ad hoc creditor group in connection with a billion dollar fraud litigation. Doug’s cases have earned national recognition including accolades for “Restructuring Deal of the Year” among others.

Prior to joining Mayer Brown, Doug was a partner with another international law firm where he was head of the Restructuring practice in New York and co-leader of the firm’s national Corporate Trust and Bondholders Rights team. Earlier in Doug’s career he was appointed a senior trial attorney with the United States Department of Justice, Office of United States Trustee, where he oversaw many of the largest Chapter 11 cases in New York. This was an appointment with distinction under the prestigious United States Attorney General’s Honors Program, earned following his graduation from law school. While with the Justice Department, Doug supervised hundreds of reorganizations, conducted numerous trials, presided over statutory meetings of creditors, and addressed congressional and public inquiries.

Doug has lectured before bar associations and trade organizations, including the New York State Bar Association on Bankruptcy Law, the American Bankruptcy Institute and the National Business Institute on revised Article 9 secured transactions, commercial lending, and bankruptcy law. Doug also co-authored a chapter for a prominent American Bar Association Business Law Journal, Reorganizing Failing Businesses: A Comprehensive Review and Analysis of Financial Restructuring and Business Reorganization, Third Edition and has taught bankruptcy law courses at Hofstra University and Lehman College, City University of New York, and served as a moot court competition judge at Touro University Law School and St. John’s University Law School.