Gregory Pesce

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Gregory Pesce

White & Case LLP, Chicago

GREG is a partner in White & Case LLP’s Financial Restructuring and Insolvency Practice. He focuses his practice on protecting and advancing the financial interests of corporate debtors and secured and unsecured creditors in the various transactional and litigation-related aspects of the debtor/creditor relationship. He has played a principal role representing sophisticated corporate debtors, investors and other key parties in some of the most complex restructuring cases and transactions. In addition to his company-side representations, he regularly counsels a number of private-equity and investment-fund clients, both in and out of court, with respect to acquisitions of distressed assets and investments and corporate-governance matters related to such clients’ portfolio companies. He is presently leading the White & Case team representing the official committee of unsecured creditors in the Celsius Network bankruptcy cases, where the committee is seeking to maximize recoveries for account-holders owed more than $6 billion. He also recently advised the debtors in the PWM Property Management LLC bankruptcy case, which involved the restructuring of more than $2 billion of debt associated with high-end commercial properties in New York City and Chicago. In addition to those engagements, he has significant experience advising companies, creditors, equityholders and other stakeholders in cross-border restructuring transactions, including situations in Hong Kong, Singapore, Peru, Canada, Australia and the U.K., and has worked on the complex restructurings of power plants, energy companies, coal companies and mortgage-servicers. He also represents investors and buyers in distressed transactions.

After law school, Greg joined Kirkland & Ellis’s restructuring group and worked on complex restructurings, including the Indiana Toll Road, where he developed a toggle structure that let lenders receive equity or cash from a sale. He has been recognized in both the 2021 edition of IFLR1000 and in the Global Restructuring Review’s 40 Under 40 list. In addition, Bankruptcy Judges Marvin Isgur and David Jones named him to the Complex Chapter 11 Case Committee that prepares local rules for Houston bankruptcies.

Greg became interested in restructuring issues as a consultant post-college when he worked with bankrupt companies, and his interest deepened in law school during the Great Recession. He held leadership roles in his law school’s housing clinic “Corporate Laboratory,” a student program where law students worked with in-house legal teams to develop solutions to innovative problems. At work, he has helped to lead firm efforts to expand in Texas, recruit associates and engage with potential business leads on new opportunities. Outside of work, he has represented “U-Visa” applicants on a pro bono basis, where he helps unauthorized immigrants that have provided critical assistance to criminal investigations apply for temporary work authorizations as a path to receiving a green card. He also has held leadership roles with activities at the University of Chicago.

Education

  • J.D., HONORS, UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO LAW SCHOOL
  • B.A., DEAN’S LIST, POLITICAL SCIENCE, UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO

“[Greg] represents the best of what the legal profession should always stand for — the highest level of competence, uncompromised ethics, unequaled preparedness and an unyielding dedication to the integrity of the bankruptcy process.”