Debra M. Sinclair

DEBRA is a Business Reorganization and Restructuring partner with Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP in New York, where her practice focuses on representing a multitude of parties in troubled situations, including debtors, lenders, official committees of unsecured creditors, ad hoc groups and special committees. She advises clients on all aspects of complex chapter 11 cases, and has experience with distressed acquisitions, bankruptcy litigation, cross-border matters and out-of-court restructurings. She has worked on deals in a variety of industries, including real estate, aviation, manufacturing, retail, energy and pharmaceuticals.

In 2023, Debra was named an “Outstanding Young Restructuring Lawyer” by Turnarounds & Workouts, and in 2022, she was one of five attorneys nationwide to be selected as a “Rising Star” in bankruptcy by Law360. She is frequently asked to speak on panels; she spoke at ABI’s 2023 New York City Bankruptcy Conference on ethics and at ABI’s Bankruptcy 2023: Views from the Bench conference, where she participated in a Great Debates segment and serves on the program’s advisory board. In addition, she was appointed as the secretary of the New York City Bar Association’s Committee on Bankruptcy & Corporate Reorganization, having served from 2020-23.

Debra went to law school intending to be a litigator. Before law school, she had dedicated countless nights and weekends in high school and college toward developing her courtroom skills as a mock trial competitor, and she competed in tournaments across the country. During her time at the firm, she has discovered her love of the restructuring field and gained invaluable experience representing both debtors and creditors. At NYU Law School, she served on the Moot Court Board, was selected to compete on the National Moot Court Competition team, and served as president of the NYU Law Mock Trial team. At the firm, she serves as a hiring partner for the New York office, a role in which she dedicates extensive time to interviewing and managing the hiring of the firm’s incoming summer associate class from top law schools across the country. She recently was asked to lead a new Law School Outreach committee, and she sits on the firm’s Retreat and Space Committees. Within the Restructuring department, she serves as the summer associate assigning partner and leads associate training for the practice. In addition, she is an active alumna of the Marymount School of New York, where she attended high school. She periodically assists with evaluating applications and conducting interviews for Marymount’s Butler Scholar program, which provides financial opportunities for academically gifted students with outstanding leadership potential and exemplary personal values to attend Marymount for grades 9 through 12. As a recipient of this scholarship, and it has been important to her to give back, as it was a life-changing award that financially enabled her parents to send her there. Outside of the office, she periodically represents clients on a pro bono basis, including in an asylum case and a criminal appeal.