For the past 36 years, Albert Togut has specialized in bankruptcy law to the exclusion of all other areas of practice. His law firm, established in 1980, has extensive experience in hundreds of cases representing Chapter 11 debtors, creditors committees, trustees and secured creditors. The firm is debtor’s counsel in some of the largest and highest profile Chapter 11 cases, including General Motors, Chrysler Automotive, Ambac Financial, Loehman’s, DBSD North America, Delphi, Enron, Collins & Aikman, St. Vincent’s Hospitals, Charter Communications, Frontier Airlines, Loew's Cineplex, AbitibiBowater Inc. (for the BCFC Debtor); SK Global, Daewoo International (America) Corp. (which together with its Korean parent underwent the largest non-sovereign debt restructuring in history with aggregate liabilities exceeding $70 billion); Rockefeller Center; Olympia & York (World Financial Center), Allegiance Telecom, OnSite Access, joan and david helpern inc; ContiFinancial Corporation, et al.; and Olympia & York World Financial Center.
Mr. Togut is registered as a mediator in the Southern District of New York in accordance with the Amended Gereral Order dated January 17, 2006. On January 10, 2008, he was appointed Mediator for the dispute with the 2009 Noteholders of Solutia Inc, et al (Case Nos. 03-17949 PCB) that was settled for $220.5 million, approved February 26, 2008. In 2006, Mr. Togut was asked to mediate close to 100 adversary proceedings which were commenced in the Conseco cases in Chicago, nearly all of which he settled.
Since 1981, he has served as Trustee in bankruptcy in several thousand bankruptcy cases, under Chapter 11 and Chapter 7 of the Bankruptcy Code, including the $4 billion Refco, LLC (registered commodities broker) estate; Anthracite Capital, Inc., a specialty finance company that invests in commercial real estate assets having an estimated current value of $120 million; 313 West 77th Street Corp (cooperative apartment building between West End and Riverside Drive in Manhattan); Kingston Square (which owned several apartment complexes subject to secured claims of approximately $400 million.), Axona International Credit & Commerce Limited (the liquida¬tion of a Hong Kong banking institution), Finley Kumble, Shea & Gould, Bower & Gardner (large law firms), and for several large manufacturing companies (including Arrow¬head Jewelry, Inc. and Art Steel Company, Inc.). For 31 years, Mr. Togut has been an active member of the trustee panel maintained by the Southern District of New York.
Mr. Togut is a Fellow of the American College of Bankruptcy, a Fellow of the International Insolvency institute, a Director of the American Bankruptcy Institute (“ABI”) and immediate past Chair of its New York City program, twice a member of the Committee on Bankruptcy and Reorganization of the Association of the Bar of the City of New York, a member of the International Bar Association and INSOL, and is an Advisory Board member of the LLM in Bankruptcy program at St. John’s University School of Law, a past President of the Bankruptcy Lawyers Bar Association of New York, and for six years, Chaired a Task Force of the Business Bankruptcy Committee of the American Bar Association Section of Business Law which analyzed disclosure statement requirements and confirmation practices in Chapter 11 cases. He has written and lectured on many topics under the former Bankruptcy Act and current Bankruptcy Code and has particular expertise in conflicts of interest and ethics. He served on the ABI’s fee-study commission that studied professional fees in chapter 11 business bankruptcy cases. The national commission’s report provides the most comprehensive, independent look at professional fees in chapter 11 cases to date. He was also the recipient of the 2008 Prof. Lawrence P. King award and was chosen as a "Leading Lawyer" in 2011 by Chambers USA. Mr. Togut was named as a New York Super Lawyer for 2007, 2008, 2009 and 2010, and named in the Top 100 lawyers in New York. In addition, he has been profiled by St. John's University School of Law as a "success story."
