Last year was the year everybody wanted to be a restructuring lawyer. Some 42 corporate giants with assets of $1 billion or more sought creditor protection in 2009, according to the Beard Group, which tracks distressed businesses. For the billion-plus category, that represents a 40 percent jump over 2008 and a dozen more than the previous four years combined. For companies worth $100 million or more, filings rose 20 percent, to 169 from 134.
Four–General Motors Corporation, Chrysler LLC, CIT Group Inc., and Thornburg Mortgage, Inc.—were among the ten largest public company filings ever. “The size of the filings dwarfed any prior year in my 30 years in the business,” says Kirkland & Ellis’s Richard Cieri, cohead of the practice. Kirkland, always a contender for debtor work, had its busiest year ever, leading 21 major public filings last year, according to the firm.
