The 2025 Lawdragon 500 Leading Global Bankruptcy & Restructuring Lawyers

Louis Chiappetta of Mayer Brown, Kristina Stanger of Nyemaster and Lauren Bilzin of Paul, Weiss are among this year's honorees.

We are honored to introduce The 2025 Lawdragon 500 Leading Global Bankruptcy & Restructuring Lawyers.

These stellar advisors get the Mayday call when companies and other major entities face crises that imperil their existence. Whether massive fraud, market changes, mismanagement, or competition, it’s survival of the fittest and these are the lawyers who help organizations move forward.

They dazzle with the breadth of experience in law and life they bring to the practice of tuning out the noise and finding the path forward through tough negotiation, litigation or complex financial arrangements.

Louis Chiappetta leads Mayer Brown’s Global Restructuring Debtor Practice and counsels the importance of listening. He taught Math and coached wrestling in Carol Stream, Ill., for nearly 10 years while founding a home construction company, and earning his law degree from Loyola University Chicago School of Law. He joined Skadden as a restructuring attorney and moved to Mayer Brown, where he’s ascended to the top of the practice. He represents debtor and creditor clients in court, and out, helping restructure balance sheet, multi-national, environmental, labor and mass tort litigation issues in a variety of industries. He’s worked through billions in debt for Wolverine Fuels, Macy’s Inc., Siemens Financial Services and so many more. Chiappetta remains involved in education through the Golden Apple Foundation.

Kristina M. Stanger of Nyemaster also brought real life to her practice helping clients through their challenges. The first college graduate from her DeWitt, Iowa, family, law had become a goal by the second grade. By the fifth she was washing dishes at the local Maid-Rite to earn money to participate in mock trial. She attended Central College in Pella, Iowa, and on a choir trip to Wales, had a fortuitous meeting with a National Guardsman. She joined the National Guard eight days later and served for 25 years before retiring from the Iowa Army National Guard in 2022 as a Lieutenant Colonel. She also earned her law degree, from Drake in 2005, and joined Nyemaster where she represents creditors in Iowa state and federal court. Like many of those recognized here, she is a fellow in the American College of Bankruptcy – and continues to support the military with pro bono services.

Lauren Bilzin is a partner in Paul, Weiss’ acclaimed Restructuring Department and a member of the Hybrid Capital & Special Situations practice. After earning her law degree from Yale, she joined Wachtell, from which she went in-house at Serengeti Asset Management and then served as head of U.S. Restructuring for Davidson Kempner Capital Management. She joined Paul, Weiss as a partner in 2024 and has worked on matters including DigitalBridge in its financing of a HoldCo loan to ALLO Communications; Mitel Networks Corporation in its prepackaged plan of reorganization and voluntary Chapter 11 cases in Texas; and Apollo Global Management in financing deals for Bally’s Corporation and Wolfspeed.

We selected this guide through our time-honed process combining terrific nominations, independent research and vetting with peers. Those included are traditional bankruptcy lawyers, specialists in leveraged finance and restructuring, and litigators well-versed in financial litigation and distress. We were particularly struck this year at the emergence of Liability Management as a new focus for many in this group. Those designated with an asterisk are members of the Lawdragon Hall of Fame.