Chadbourne & Parke announced that two prominent municipal bankruptcy lawyers, Lawrence A. Larose and Samuel S. Kohn, joined the firm’s Bankruptcy and Financial Restructuring practice as partners in their New York office. They come from Winston & Strawn, where they represented major creditors in major municipal restructurings, both in and out of court. Larose also served as chair of Winston & Strawn’s Municipal Bankruptcy and Insolvency group.

“We anticipate municipal bankruptcy to be an area of ongoing and significant growth as municipalities continue to suffer from excessive bond debt, underfunded pension plans and decreasing sources of revenues,” said Howard Seife, global chair of Chadbourne’s Bankruptcy and Financial Restructuring practice. “Larry and Sam are highly experienced and skillful bankruptcy lawyers who, as a team, have developed an impressive practice representing the largest creditors in these situations, and we are excited to add them to our deep bench of bankruptcy and restructuring lawyers.”

Larose and Kohn represent clients in numerous major municipal restructurings, including the currently pending Chapter 9 cases of Detroit and Jefferson County, AL. They also represent major creditors in currently pending out-of-court restructurings of municipal debt in Harrisburg, PA and Scranton, PA.

In addition, both Larose and Kohn advise corporate clients with in-court and out-of-court restructurings, including mergers and acquisitions and other financial transactions. Much of their experience involves counseling major financial institutions, including investment banks, commercial banks, financial guarantors, and insurance companies. Their experience also includes other industries such as energy, telecommunications, health care, entertainment, retail, broadcasting and shipping.