When a business, a fund, or a balance sheet comes under stress, the value that can still be saved is decided in weeks. We restructure, we refinance, and when it comes to it we recover, across borders and on either side of the table.
A corporate and private-capital boutique with international reach: a principal office in Chicago, a second office in Oakbrook Terrace, offices in London and Dubai through partner firms, meeting locations by appointment in seven further US cities, and a partner network across ~51 jurisdictions on five continents. Founded 2013.
A Chapter 11 debtor has 120 days in which only it may file a plan. Most of what that plan can achieve is settled earlier, while the board still holds the timetable. So the work begins quietly: the capital structure mapped against the group chart, the covenants already tripped, the weeks of liquidity left.
Forbearance and standstill terms buy that timetable back, and every waiver has a price in fees, security, or control. Then the instrument: a scheme or plan if the dissenting classes can be bound, a sale out of the entity if the business is worth more than the company around it, a consensual amendment if the creditors allow.
Most distressed groups sit in more than one legal system. We sequence the steps so that a compromise sanctioned in one court holds in the next, with locally admitted counsel in the Cayman Islands, the British Virgin Islands, and Bermuda. Hart David Carson LLP acts for debtors and for creditors, one role per matter, and has represented clients in matters before the SEC, the CFTC, and the IRS. We do not act for the agencies.
Coordinated restructuring of groups with assets, entities, and creditors in more than one country. We sequence the steps and pursue recognition so the outcome holds in each jurisdiction it touches.
Speak to this team →Court-sanctioned compromises between a company and its creditors or members, from class composition and the requisite majorities to the sanction hearing that binds dissenting classes and keeps the business intact.
Speak to this team →Sales of distressed businesses, divisions, and assets where the enterprise is worth more than the entity around it, structured for speed, certainty, and clean title through the stress.
Speak to this team →Representation on either side of a distressed situation, for companies and boards pursuing a restructuring and for lenders, bondholders, funds, and other creditors protecting their position and their recovery.
Speak to this team →Court-supervised appointments that protect a company's assets and, in their restructuring form, give it breathing space to pursue a solution short of winding up. In offshore matters it is a common stabilizing step.
Speak to this team →Advice to boards as their duties begin to shift toward creditors: whether to trade on or restructure, the records that justify the decision, and the personal exposure that comes with it.
Speak to this team →Tracing, freezing, and recovering value across jurisdictions through security enforcement, judgment recognition, and the contentious work that follows when consensual routes run out.
Speak to this team →Consensual amendments, standstills, refinancings, and balance-sheet restructurings negotiated outside formal process, so the situation is resolved quietly while the company still holds the timetable.
Speak to this team →Debtor-in-possession financing, plans of reorganization, and the automatic stay, used to restructure a viable business under court protection while it keeps trading.
Enter the practice: Chapter 11 Reorganizations →Court-supervised and out-of-court sales of distressed businesses and assets, run on a short timetable with certainty of closing and clean title at the end.
Enter the practice: Distressed M&A & 363 Sales →Lenders, bondholders, funds, and official committees protecting their position and their recovery, with a clear read on valuation, bargaining power, and the other side's next move.
Enter the practice: Creditor & Committee Representation →Consensual amendments, standstills, refinancings, and balance-sheet repairs that settle the distress quietly, before any creditor has to force the pace.
Enter the practice: Out-of-Court Workouts →The widest set of outcomes is available while the company still controls the timetable. Once liquidity is gone or a creditor forces the pace, the menu shrinks, which is why the earliest call is usually the most valuable one.
A scheme, a distressed sale, a provisional liquidation, and an enforcement strategy each fit a different situation. The capital structure and the viability of the business decide which one to use.
Most distressed groups span jurisdictions. A plan that works in one court can unravel in the next without recognition and sequencing across each legal system the group touches.
As insolvency nears, the focus of the board's duties begins to move, and decisions in that window can be scrutinized later. A contemporaneous record of the deliberation and the advice taken matters.
Where value breaks in the capital structure shapes who controls the process and who absorbs the loss. Settle the valuation question early and the negotiation starts to turn your way.
The work spans the corporate, the financial, and the contentious. When a matter reaches into financing, tax, or litigation, the bench is already in the room.
Before a restructuring goes to creditors, or before you take a position as one, we run it through adversarial diligence. We read the structure, the valuation, and the security the way the other party's lawyers and the court will, so nothing they raise comes as a surprise to you. A partner runs that review from start to finish.
High-stakes disputes, officeholder and creditor litigation, and the enforcement and asset-recovery work that follows when consensual routes run out.
Litigation →The corporate machinery behind a restructuring: entity structure, governance, and the distressed-deal mechanics that carry a business through the stress.
Corporate →The tax consequences of a restructuring, debt compromise, or distressed sale, worked into the plan so the structure is efficient and the relief survives review.
Tax →An established venue for offshore restructuring, offering restructuring-officer regimes, schemes of arrangement, and provisional liquidation for fund and corporate groups.
Cayman Islands →A core holding-company jurisdiction where enforcement, liquidation, and asset-recovery proceedings frequently begin in cross-border distress.
British Virgin Islands →A recognized center for schemes of arrangement and provisional liquidation, particularly for insurance, holding, and listed groups in restructuring.
Bermuda →Before any creditor knows, we map the capital structure against the group chart: which covenants are tripped, which debt sits where, which entities hold the assets, and how many weeks of liquidity remain in which to decide.
Forbearance and standstill terms buy the timetable back from the lenders. Every waiver is priced; we negotiate what it costs in fees, security, and control while the company still has something to trade.
The choice among a scheme, a plan, a consensual amendment, and a distressed sale of the business out of the entity turns on class composition, requisite majorities, and whether dissenting creditors can be bound or must be bought.
The court sanctions the compromise; then it must travel. We sequence recognition across each jurisdiction the group touches, so the deal cut in one courtroom cannot be unpicked in another.
Delay destroys more value than distress does.
Earlier than most boards expect. The options available in the zone of insolvency narrow quickly as liquidity tightens; a consensual workout, a refinancing, or a solvent scheme is far easier to run while the company still controls the timetable than after a creditor forces the pace. Engaging counsel while there is still runway preserves the widest set of outcomes for the company and its directors.
A scheme or plan of arrangement is a court-sanctioned compromise between a company and its creditors or members that can bind dissenting classes once the requisite majorities and the court approve it, often allowing the business to continue. A formal insolvency or liquidation typically involves an officeholder taking control to realize assets and distribute proceeds. The right path depends on the company's viability, its capital structure, and the jurisdictions involved.
Most distressed groups have assets, creditors, and entities in more than one country, so a restructuring has to be coordinated across the relevant legal systems and recognition regimes. We work to one standard across Chicago, London, and Dubai and alongside local counsel in offshore restructuring centers to align the steps, manage parallel proceedings, and pursue recognition so the outcome holds across borders rather than unraveling at the first foreign court.
As a company nears insolvency, the focus of directors' duties begins to shift toward the interests of creditors, and decisions taken in that period can later be scrutinized. Careful records of the board's deliberations, advice taken, and the rationale for continuing to trade or to restructure are important. We advise directors on managing that exposure while the company pursues a solution.
Yes. We act on both sides of distressed situations, for companies and their boards pursuing a restructuring and for lenders, bondholders, funds, and other creditors protecting their position. We take a single role in any given matter, and having sat on both sides informs how we read bargaining power, valuation, and the other party's likely next move.
Provisional liquidation is a court-supervised process, available in a number of offshore jurisdictions, in which provisional liquidators are appointed to protect a company's assets and, in some forms, to hold off a winding up and give it breathing space to pursue a restructuring. It is often used in cross-border situations to stabilize a group and support a scheme or sale. Whether it fits depends on the company's facts and the governing law.
Reviewed by Jonathan D. Herpy, Sr., Senior Partner · Last updated October 2026 · Educational overview · Not legal advice
One partner is accountable for the whole matter, and you have that partner's direct line. Chicago, London, and Dubai work to the same standard.