Skadden is pleased to announce that Judge Robert D. Drain will join the firm later this month as of counsel in the Corporate Restructuring Group in our New York office. Before retiring from the bench, Judge Drain spent more than 20 years serving on the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York. At Skadden, his practice will focus on advising clients in connection with U.S. and transnational Chapter 11 and Chapter 15 reorganizations, out-of-court restructurings, secured financings, debtor-in-possession loans, distressed acquisitions and sales, and investments in troubled companies, as well as mediations and possible examiner or trustee roles.
Appointed to the bench in 2002 by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, Judge Drain presided over cases ranging from large Chapter 11 corporate restructurings and Chapter 15 international proceedings to consumer bankruptcies, and he served as a mediator for other judges. Before his time on the court, he spent nearly 20 years in private practice, including 10 years as a partner in the bankruptcy group of another global law firm.
“We are very pleased to welcome Judge Drain to the firm. His deep knowledge of bankruptcy law paired with two decades as a preeminent judge in one of the country’s busiest bankruptcy jurisdictions will be of tremendous value to our clients,” said Paul Leake, global head of Skadden’s corporate restructuring practice. Judge Drain commented, “I am excited to join such an excellent firm with Skadden’s strengths, reputation and reach.”
Judge Drain is a fellow of the American College of Bankruptcy, a member and former board member of the American Bankruptcy Institute and a former board member and officer of the National Conference of Bankruptcy Judges. For several years he was chair of the Bankruptcy Judges Advisory Group established by the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts, and he currently serves on the FDIC’s Systemic Resolution Advisory Committee. Judge Drain was a founding member and chair of the Judicial Insolvency Network, which developed, among other things, guidelines adopted by courts in the U.S. and abroad for cooperation and communication in concurrent transnational insolvency cases. He also has presided annually over a mock transnational bankruptcy case for the International Association of Restructuring, Insolvency & Bankruptcy Professional’s (INSOL’s) training program and is a member of the International Insolvency Institute.
As an adjunct professor at both the St. John’s University School of Law LL.M. in Bankruptcy Program and Pace University School of Law, and through his mentorship of judicial clerks, Judge Drain has played an active role in developing the next generation of bankruptcy attorneys. While on the bench, he authored hundreds of published opinions, and he has been a frequent speaker at bar and other professional association meetings, training sessions for U.S. and foreign judges and various law and business school programs.
A cum laude graduate of Yale College, Judge Drain earned his J.D. from Columbia University School of Law, where he was a Harlan Fiske Stone scholar for three years.