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Partner / Team Leader, Bankruptcy & Financial Restructuring
Rick Pedone is a member of Nixon Peabody’s Business & Finance Department and the leader of the Bankruptcy & Financial Restructuring practice.
Rick represents distressed companies, strategic buyers of financially troubled businesses, purchasers of distressed debt, creditors and other parties in the financial restructuring and bankruptcy processes. Many of the matters that Rick handles involve litigated disputes, allegations of fraud and insolvency proceedings pending in multiple jurisdictions.
Much of my work is focused on developing and implementing strategies for the purchase and sale of businesses and/or assets that are financially distressed or encumbered by disputes or litigation that could precipitate financial distress.
Over the past ten years I have represented corporate trust fiduciaries in dozens of matters involving litigation and/or bankruptcy. Examples include: representing an indenture trustee in connection with $1.8 billion in debt in the Energy Future Holdings Bankruptcy, the world’s largest failed LBO; the resolution through Chapter 15 of a difficult cross-border default; first chair trial of bondholders’ rights to $230 million in prepayment premiums and valuation of fourteen power plants; and numerous securitization and swap-related bankruptcy matters and plan litigation related to corporate governance. Many of these disputes have involved insolvency proceedings pending in multiple jurisdictions.
Many of the most difficult financial disputes today, whether in or out of bankruptcy court, involve allegations of fraud. Litigation concerning such disputes frequently triggers financial distress. Matters that I have handled include the representation of a franchisor whose lender/investor accused it of fraudulent conduct, the representation of a hedge fund that was the victim of a Ponzi scheme in litigation and then the commencement of an involuntary bankruptcy case and the representation of franchisors such as Planet Fitness and Dunkin’ Donuts in disputes with their franchisees.
I also provide corporate governance and liability avoidance advice to private equity firms, and directors and officers dealing with special situations. In addition, I serve as outside general counsel to several growing businesses and as a member of the board of advisors for a specialty financial services firm.
Increasingly, financial disputes will involve proceedings pending in multiple countries. Businesses that invested in China and other developing “capitalist” systems will find unprecedented opportunities and legal/political challenges as these systems face financial stress.
Massachusetts
U.S. District Court, District of Massachusetts
Bates College, B.A., honors in Political Science
Boston College Law School, J.D., cum laude
Rick is a past president and member of the board of directors of the Courageous Sailing Center in Charlestown, MA, a nonprofit that provides the children of Boston with the opportunity to sail on the ocean free of charge. He currently serves as the center’s pro bono general counsel. In addition, he is the president of the board of directors, Hingham Maritime Center, Hingham, MA.
Rick is also a member of the American Bankruptcy Institute, Boston Bar Association (Bankruptcy Section), INSOL International, International Franchise Association and American Bar Association Forum on Franchising.
Rick resides in Hingham, Massachusetts, with his wife, Cheryl, and two daughters. He can also often be found sailing along the coast of New England.
In 2008 Rick was named a Fellow of INSOL International, a worldwide federation of national associations for accountants and lawyers who specialize in turnaround and insolvency. This award is in recognition of Rick’s experience and skill in cross-border insolvency matters. A Fellow must have successfully completed INSOL International’s Global Insolvency Practice Course, an LL.M.-level program that teaches participants the underlying principles, statutes, regulatory frameworks and insolvency restructuring regimes in countries around the globe. Graduates are skilled in the tools needed for recognition of insolvency proceedings in multiple jurisdictions, including the UNCITRAL Model Law on Cross-Border Insolvency, the European Community Regulation on Insolvency Proceedings and Chapter 15 of the United States Bankruptcy Code.
Rick was selected, through a peer-review survey, for inclusion in The Best Lawyers in America® 2024 in the field of Bankruptcy and Creditor Debtor Rights/Insolvency and Reorganization Law and in the field of Litigation—Bankruptcy. Rick has been listed in Best Lawyers since 2016.
Rick has been designated a “Recognized Practitioner” in the legal community in Chambers USA: America’s Leading Lawyers for Business 2019 for Bankruptcy/Restructuring (Massachusetts).
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