Casey Servais is a senior associate in the Financial Restructuring Group. His practice is concentrated in the areas of bankruptcy litigation, distressed municipal finance, and financial restructuring.
In recent years, Casey has represented the single largest creditor of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico and its public corporations in restructuring proceedings under the Puerto Rico Oversight, Management, and Economic Stability Act (“PROMESA”). Casey was involved in the drafting of PROMESA and in the negotiations leading up to the filing of formal insolvency proceedings. Casey has since been involved in the PROMESA proceedings of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico itself, the Puerto Rico Sales Tax Financing Corporation (“COFINA”), the Puerto Rico Highways and Transportation Authority (“HTA”), and the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority (“PREPA”), among other entities. In the course of these cases, Casey has taken a lead role in numerous adversary proceedings and appeals involving novel bankruptcy and constitutional issues, including drafting appellate briefs filed in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit. Most recently, Casey helped to negotiate and draft a Plan Support Agreement and Plan of Adjustment for COFINA, leading to the first successful restructuring of a Puerto Rico government entity under PROMESA.
Casey has also represented creditors in many of the major Chapter 11 cases of recent years, including serving as the principal associate during Cadwalader’s representation of the largest single creditor in the reorganization of Residential Capital, which was described by Judge Martin Glenn as “[t]he most legally and factually complex” case he ever presided over. Cadwalader was shortlisted for the 2013 IFLR Americas “Restructuring Deal of the Year” award for ResCap. Casey has also represented a major monoline insurer in the voluntary and involuntary Chapter 11 cases of the Zohar entities as well as major trade creditors in the bankruptcies of Radioshack Corporation and Transmar Commodity Group Ltd. Casey is also experienced at representing counterparties to swaps and other derivatives contracts, including in the bankruptcies of Peabody Energy, Alpha Natural Resources, Longview Power, and Cengage Learning. Major debtor representations include the restructuring of Amsterdam House Continuing Care Retirement Community, Inc.
Casey frequently provides bankruptcy-related advice and opinions to banks and other institutional clients, particularly with respect to close-out and netting of derivatives contracts and Bankruptcy Code safe harbors. Casey has a particular expertise in the analysis of close-out netting with respect to municipal counterparties.
Casey has authored or contributed to articles and chapters that have appeared in Law360 and the American Bankruptcy Institute volume Debtor-in-Possession Financing: Funding a Chapter 11 Case. He is a member of the American Bankruptcy Institute.
Casey graduated with honors from the University of Chicago and holds a Ph.D. from Cornell University. He received his J.D. from Yeshiva University’s Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law, where he was the Floersheimer Law and Humanities Institute Fellow, a member of the Cardozo Law Review, and the Senior Editor of the Law & Literature journal. He is admitted to practice in the State of New York.
More Legal and Business Bylines From Casey John Servais
- United States Supreme Court Holds that Bankruptcy Code Section 363(m) Does Not Preclude Appellate Jurisdiction on Asset Sale Orders - (Posted On Thursday, April 20, 2023)
- Of Standing and Stonewalling: Chester, Pennsylvania Bankruptcy Sheds New Light on Chapter 9 Eligibility Requirements - (Posted On Thursday, April 13, 2023)
- Third Circuit Dismisses J&J Affiliate LTL’s Talc Liability Chapter 11 Filing; “Good Faith” Under 1112(b) Requires Financial Distress - (Posted On Thursday, February 09, 2023)
- Illinois Supreme Court Holds Challenge To GO Bonds Is Barred By Laches, But Avoids Underlying Constitutional Issues - (Posted On Thursday, May 27, 2021)
- Stand Pat, Don’t Act: Supreme Court Holds That Mere Retention of Debtor Property Does Not Violate Section 362(a)(3) of the Bankruptcy Code’s Automatic Stay Provision - (Posted On Friday, January 22, 2021)
- Second Circuit’s Lehman Flip Clause Decision Continues the Expansion of the Bankruptcy Code Safe Harbors - (Posted On Thursday, September 03, 2020)
- Illinois Appeals Court Reignites GO Bond Challenge - (Posted On Tuesday, August 11, 2020)
- Illinois Judge Holds That Courts Cannot Rule Retroactively on Validity of State Debt - (Posted On Thursday, September 05, 2019)
- Trademark Licensees’ Rights Survive Bankruptcy Rejection - (Posted On Friday, May 31, 2019)