Paul Leake is the global head of Skadden’s Corporate Restructuring Group. He has led numerous large and complex U.S. and cross-border corporate workouts and restructurings for debtors, commercial banks and bank groups, distressed investment funds and investors, note-holder committees and official creditors’ committees.
Leake focuses on advising U.S. and transnational businesses on Chapter 11 reorganizations, out-of-court restructurings, secured financings, debtor in possession loans, distressed acquisitions and sales, and investments in troubled companies. He has led high-profile restructurings in most major industries, including retail, health care, oil and gas, shipping, mining, airlines, energy, publishing, telecom, satellite communications and real estate.
Lawdragon Honors
| Honor | Year | Practice |
|---|---|---|
| The 2026 Lawdragon 500 Leading Global Bankruptcy & Restructuring Lawyers | 2026 | Bankruptcy & Corporate Restructuring, esp. Litigation |
| The 2025 Lawdragon 500 Leading Global Bankruptcy & Restructuring Lawyers | 2025 | Bankruptcy & Corporate Restructuring, esp. Litigation |
| The 2024 Lawdragon 500 Leading Global Bankruptcy & Restructuring Lawyers | 2024 | Bankruptcy & Corporate Restructuring, esp. Litigation |
| The 2023 Lawdragon 500 Leading Bankruptcy & Restructuring Lawyers | 2023 | Bankruptcy & Corporate Restructuring, esp. Litigation |
| 2022 Lawdragon 500 Leading U.S. Bankruptcy & Restructuring Lawyers | 2022 | Bankruptcy & Corporate Restructuring, esp. Litigation |
| The 2020 Lawdragon 500 Leading Global Restructuring & Insolvency Lawyers | 2020 | Bankruptcy & Corporate Restructuring, esp. Litigation |
| The 2020 Lawdragon 500 Leading U.S. Bankruptcy & Restructuring Lawyers | 2020 | Bankruptcy & Corporate Restructuring, esp. Litigation |
Leake has represented:
- Endo International PLC, a specialty pharmaceutical company, and its affiliates in their transnational Chapter 11 cases involving $8 billion of debt and mass tort claims
- Concordia International Corp., a specialty pharmaceutical company, in a first-of-its-kind $3.7 billion cross-border recapitalization transaction
- WeWork in an $8 billion transaction in which SoftBank provided financing to the company and acquired a majority of its outstanding shares through a tender offer
- TridentUSA Health Services, a nationwide mobile diagnostics health care provider, in its successful Chapter 11 reorganization that delevered the company’s balance sheet by $600 million
- Toshiba in its capacity as controlling shareholder and critical driver of the multibillion-dollar restructuring of Westinghouse Electric Company in its Chapter 11 case
- Bank of America, as administrative agent, in the high-profile and complex restructurings of Sears, Toys “R” Us, Algeco Scotsman Group and VER Technologies
Leake previously served as head of the corporate restructuring and reorganization practice at another large global law firm. His experience prior to joining Skadden included out-of-court and Chapter 11 company-side representations involving, among others, Molycorp, Fresh & Easy, Georgia Gulf, Globalstar, Independence Air, Interep, Levitz, Proliance, ProQuest, Balanced Care, Drexel Burnham Lambert, Marvel Entertainment, NextWave Telecom, Olympia & York and Sun Healthcare. He also represented ad hoc noteholder and official unsecured creditor committees in the Cone Mills, Energy Partners Limited, Enron, General Maritime, Iridium, Orbital Imaging and Kirker Enterprises restructurings, and senior secured lenders and lender groups in the Southcross Energy, Atlas Mining, Bi-Lo, Calpine, Greenfield Energy Services, Meridian Automotive Systems, Memorex and Trico Marine restructurings. In addition, he represented investment funds and strategic investors in substantial, high-profile distressed M&A transactions.
Leake is vice chairman of the board of directors of Her Justice, a nonprofit organization that supports women living in poverty in New York City by mentoring volunteer lawyers to provide free legal help to address individual and systemic legal barriers. In addition, he is a member of the Executive Committee of the board of directors of the American Bankruptcy Institute (ABI) and the vice president of publications for the ABI Journal. He also is a fellow of the American College of Bankruptcy.