Benjamin Schak

Primary Focus & Experience

Mr. Schak has represented debtors, secured and unsecured creditors, official committees and other stakeholders in connection with chapter 11 cases, international insolvencies, and out-of-court restructurings, including:

• in the aviation industry: Avianca Airlines (debtors); Incora (issuer); LATAM Airlines (multiple secured creditors and aircraft lessors); and Bouchard Transportation (DIP lender)
• in the energy and power industries: Sanchez Energy (official committee of unsecured creditors); Southcross Energy Partners (debtors), Jones Energy (unsecured bondholder group), Mongolian Mining Corp. (debtor), Harvey Gulf (agent for secured loans), GenOn Energy and REMA (GEI bondholder group), Midstates Petroleum (second lien bondholder group), Pacific Exploration & Production (agent for unsecured loans), and Getty Petroleum Marketing (liquidating trustee); and
• Internap (debtors), Skillsoft (second lien lenders), OmniMax International (acquirer), Takata (a leading automotive OEM), and TLO LLC (successful bidder).

Recognition & Accomplishments

Mr. Schak has co-authored several articles, including:

• "A SPAC and a Pre-Pack: The Case of Skillsoft Corporation”, Global Restructuring Review’s The Art of the Pre-Pack, March 4, 2022
• Insight: Directors and Officers Insurance Policies—Are You Covered?, Bloomberg Law, Sept. 20, 2018.
• D&O Insurance & Insolvency: Navigating the Intersection, Corporate Governance Advisor, May/June 2017.
• Pushing the Borders of Chapter 15: When a Foreign Representative “Flouts” the Purposes of Cross-Border Insolvency in the United States, Pratt’s Journal of Bankruptcy Law, July/Aug. 2014.

Mr. Schak received his J.D., magna cum laude and with the Order of the Coif, from the New York University School of Law. He also received B.A.’s in Mathematics (with highest honors) and Computer Science from Swarthmore College. Mr. Schak was a law clerk for the Honorable Naomi Reice Buchwald of the US District Court for the Southern District of New York.