Overview
Ken has over 25 years' experience advising clients on financial and operational restructuring issues across numerous industries. He has successfully guided dozens of businesses through many types of complex challenges and insolvency proceedings, both in and out of court.
Ken specializes in helping corporate clients address current concerns while helping to fortify their businesses against future challenges. He regularly counsels clients on how to improve their financial strength and corporate structuring. By developing tailored restructuring strategies, Ken helps businesses regain stability, preserve value, and position themselves for long-term success.
Ken's experience spans a broad spectrum of restructuring scenarios. He negotiates and implements intricate Chapter 11 reorganization plans, orchestrates out-of-court debt resolutions, and engineers strategic transactions designed to manage long-term liabilities. He has also secured court approval for critical financing facilities and asset sales within and outside Chapter 11 proceedings. Ken also advises boards of directors and special board committees on how successfully to navigate the unique challenges faced by financially-distressed clients.
Beyond his core practice, Ken serves as a trusted adviser on bankruptcy-related real estate, tax, and corporate issues. He regularly speaks to professional organizations and at continuing legal education events, covering topics such as corporate structuring, real estate issues in bankruptcy, corporate governance for insolvency and financially challenged companies, and cross-border insolvency proceedings.
- Illinois
- US District Court, Northern District of Illinois
- US Court of Appeals, Third Circuit
- US Court of Appeals, Fifth Circuit
- J.D., University of Virginia School of Law, 1999
- M.A., Cleveland State University, 1994
- B.A., The George Washington University, 1993
Representative Matters
- Represented a publicly-traded US/UK auto parts manufacturer and 156 affiliates as lead counsel in connection with their US chapter 11 proceedings and English-law administration proceedings, which successfully established claimants’ trusts to address over $9 billion in current and future asbestos-related claims in both the US and UK, as well as funded debt in excess of $4 billion and UK pension liabilities estimated at over $2 billion. These proceedings were among the largest chapter 11 proceedings ever commenced in the US, and the concurrent administration of the UK subsidiaries was one of the largest in UK history.*
- Represented as lead structuring and transaction counsel a publicly-traded manufacturer of respirators and safety gear as lead counsel on the $375 million sale of its mixed-dust (asbestos, silica, coal dust) and other product liability claims to a strategic purchaser, resulting in the permanent removal of all such liabilities from the company’s financial statements.*
- Acted as lead counsel on the product liability-driven chapter 11 case of a valve and flow control products manufacturer, resulting in the establishment of a $300 million trust to address current and future asbestos-related claims.*
- Advised a publicly-traded manufacturer of auto parts as lead counsel on the optimization of its corporate structure to address over $750 million in asbestos-related claims, which culminated in the sale of the claim-affected business to a strategic purchaser.*
- Represented a national print and broadcast media company and 133 of its affiliates in their chapter 11 proceedings as lead bankruptcy counsel, involving the restructuring of over $13 billion in funded debt.*
- Represented a Major League Baseball franchise as lead bankruptcy counsel in its chapter 11 case and the subsequent disposition of a majority interest in the franchise to a new owner through the bankruptcy proceedings.*
- Represented a publicly-traded newspaper publisher and media company and its affiliates as lead counsel in negotiating and securing approval for a prepackaged chapter 11 plan of reorganization, involving the consensual restructuring of over $1 billion in secured debt.*
- Represented a syndicate of pre-bankruptcy lenders in connection with a $90.7 million secured claim relating to a synthetic lease facility in the chapter 11 case of a US-based global auto manufacturer.*
- Represented a purchaser of the Chinese business of a leading US flooring manufacturer in acquiring the business out of the manufacturer’s chapter 11 case.*
*These matters occurred prior to joining Steptoe LLP
Noteworthy
- Best Lawyers in America (2025-2026)
- Who’s Who Legal, Restructuring and Insolvency, (2017)
Professional Affiliations
- Associate Member, University of Virginia School of Law Dean’s Council