A highly respected "dean" of the bankruptcy bar and one of the most accomplished restructuring attorneys of our time, Albert Togut has for the past 45 years specialized in bankruptcy law to the exclusion of all other areas of practice.  His deal list speaks for itself;  Mr. Togut has had a central role in the most famous reorganization cases in history.

Since Mr. Togut formed the firm of Togut, Segal & Segal LLP in 1980, he has served as counsel to the debtor, official committee, or principal owner in some of the largest and highest profile chapter 11 cases, including LATAM Airlines, McClatchy Newspapers, Pacific Drilling, Westinghouse, American Airlines, Kodak, Lehman Brothers Aurora, General Motors, Chrysler Automotive, Enron, Toisa Shipping, Dewey & LeBeouf, Relativity Media, Avaya, Nautilus, Ambac Financial, SunEdison, Aeropostale, A&P, Delphi Automotive, Collins & Aikman, St. Vincent's Hospitals, Charter Communications, Loehman's, Frontier Airlines, Tower Automotive, Winn-Dixie, Ames Department Stores, Loew's Cineplex, 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), Allegiance Telecom, OnSite Access, Joan and David Helpern Inc., and ContiFinancial Corporation.

Mr. Togut was lead counsel to Toshiba Nuclear Energy (UK) Holdings, the parent of the international operations of Westinghouse;  Aurora, a mortgage origination company and subsidiary of Lehman Brothers;  Rockefeller Center Properties;  and Olympia & York Tower B Company, better known as the World Financial Center, which involved a $1 billion restructuring of a 43-story commercial office building located at Two World Financial Center at Battery Park in Manhattan. Each of these cases had debtors with more than $1 billion of assets.  Mr. Togut also served as lead counsel to Pacific Drilling and Toisa Shipping in their chapter 11 cases, both of which confirmed consensual plans in 2018 following contentious in-court proceedings.  

Since 1981, Mr. Togut has been an active member of the trustee panel maintained by the Department of Justice in the Southern District of New York and has served as trustee in several thousand bankruptcy cases under chapter 11 and chapter 7 of the Bankruptcy Code, including Refco, LLC (registered commodities broker), which at $4 billion, is the largest chapter 7 case in the history of bankruptcy;  Anthracite Capital, Inc., a specialty real estate finance company that invested in commercial real estate assets;  Kingston Square, which owned apartment complexes subject to secured claims of approximately $400 million;  and Axona International Credit & Commerce Limited, in the liquidation of a Hong Kong banking institution.

Mr. Togut is registered as a mediator in the Southern District of New York.  He was appointed mediator for a dispute with the noteholders of Solutia that was settled for $220.5 million.  In Calpine, he represented a court-appointed valuation expert in assisting the Bankruptcy Court in evaluating the $10 billion spread between competing estate values, which Mr. Togut resolved by agreement of the parties, allowing for a fully consensual and uncontested confirmation hearing.  Mr. Togut mediated close to 100 adversary proceedings commenced in the Conseco cases in Chicago, all of which were settled.

Mr. Togut is a Fellow of the American College of Bankruptcy, a Fellow of the International Insolvency institute, co-Chair of the Commission of the American Bankruptcy Institute ("ABI") that studied the reform of chapter 11, and past Officer and ABI Director and Chair of its New York City program;  he also served on the ABI's fee-study commission that studied professional fees in chapter 11 business bankruptcy cases.  The ABI's fee commission's report provides the most comprehensive, independent look at professional fees in chapter 11 cases to date. During a recent panel discussion hosted by ABI, the Honorable Shelley Chapman described Mr. Togut as “beloved among bankruptcy professionals here in New York and across the Country” and “one of the deans of the bankruptcy bar.”  Judge Chapman continued, “I know that all of the Judges that I have the pleasure to serve with in the Southern District of New York are always happy when Team Togut appears in our cases . . . .” Mr. Togut was 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 a past President of the Bankruptcy Lawyers Bar Association of New York.

For six years, Mr. Togut chaired a Task Force of the Business Bankruptcy Committee of the American Bar Association Section of Business Law that 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.

Mr. Togut recently received the prestigious Who's Who Albert Nelson Marquis Lifetime Achievement Award for his prominence in bankruptcy law. He has been profiled in Who's Who Legal (WWL) - Thought Leaders, Restructuring and Insolvency (2020 - 2023), in 2020 was named Global 100's - Restructuring Lawyer of the Year and has been included in every list of Lawdragon's 500 Leading U.S. Bankruptcy & Restructuring Lawyers (2020-2023).  In 2019, he was honored by the Lincoln Center Corporate Council for his leadership in corporate reorganizations. He has received the New York Institute of Credit Leadership Award and was also the recipient of the Prof. Lawrence P. King award.  He has been named as a New York Super Lawyer every year since 2007, has been named in the Top 100 lawyers in New York, and has been repeatedly chosen as a "Leading Lawyer by Chambers USA.  He has been profiled by The Wall Street Journal and New York Times.