Philip Anker

Philip D. Anker, co-chair of the firm’s Bankruptcy and Financial Restructuring Practice Group, is an experienced bankruptcy litigator and counselor who has practiced for more than 25 years in the field. Among other honors, he has been inducted as a Fellow of the American College of Bankruptcy.

Mr. Anker has been selected as one of the “Best Lawyers” in the areas of Bankruptcy and Creditor Debtor Rights/Insolvency and Reorganization Law in the Best Lawyers in America each year from 2005-2017, with peers stating that he is “a first-class litigator who is tremendous in open court.”

He is also listed in the 2013-2017 editions of the Best Lawyers in America in the area of Litigation – Bankruptcy; the 2012-2017 editions of Chambers USA: America’s Leading Lawyers for Business for his “excellent” Bankruptcy/Restructuring work, where clients describe him as “amazing in court,” “commercial, thoughtful and with a good command of the law” and “tough, tenacious, credible and incredibly effective;” the 2010-2018 editions of Benchmark Litigation, which rates him as a “National Star” and “Top 10 Practitioner” for Bankruptcy Law and cites Mr. Anker’s peers and clients as saying that he is “a superb lawyer, highly professional, and among the elite bankruptcy practitioners;” and in the 2018 edition of Expert Guides’ Best of the Best USA as one of the leading practitioners in the country in Restructuring and Insolvency Law, as selected by his peers.

Mr. Anker is a member of the New York City Bar Association Bankruptcy Committee as well as the American Bankruptcy Institute, is a frequent speaker and panelist at bankruptcy law conferences, and is an author of numerous articles on issues of bankruptcy and related law. He previously served as co-chair of the Debtor Practice Subcommittee of the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Committee of the American Bar Association Section of Litigation.

Experience :

• A Fortune 50 company in the successful defense at trial of a multi-billion-dollar fraudulent transfer action brought by post-confirmation liquidation trust, with the court entering a defense verdict at the conclusion of the trial
• The indenture trustee for, and holders of, $1.1 billion in notes issued by Momentive Performance Materials in successfully appealing the cramdown of their claims with replacement notes bearing a below-market rate of interest
• A major trading firm in the successful defense and appeal of multi-billion-dollar fraudulent transfer litigation arising out of the Tribune leveraged buy-out.
• Various banks, broker-dealers and other institutions in obtaining the dismissal with prejudice of billions of dollars in fraudulent transfer claims arising out of the Lyondell leveraged buy-out and subsequent Chapter 11 case.
• Major international banks in the Adelphia Communications Chapter 11 case and in the successful defense of related, multi-billion-dollar fraudulent transfer and other litigation.
• Investment banks in the successful defense of fraudulent transfer and other claims arising out of the insolvencies of the SPhinX/PlusFunds and Suffolk companies.

EDUCATION :

• JD, George Washington University Law School, 1982
• BA, University of Pennsylvania, 1978

ADMISSIONS :

• District of Columbia
• New York

CLERKSHIPS : The Hon. Paul H. Roney, US Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, 1982 – 1983