John Willard is a banking and restructuring attorney in the firm’s Financial and Real Estate Services practice group and leader of the Debt Finance practice. He has extensive experience advising a wide range of clients in complex financial transactions and corporate restructurings.

In his banking practice, John focuses on representing domestic and international financial institutions, as well as corporate borrowers, in financings across a variety of industries, including media and entertainment, real estate, manufacturing, technology and retail. He has represented financiers and borrowers in numerous complex syndicated loan transactions, mergers and acquisitions, real estate developments, recapitalizations, working capital loans, spinoffs and debt restructurings.

In his restructuring practice, John advises corporate and financial institutions on bankruptcy and creditor rights issues. His bankruptcy experience includes representing numerous debtor companies in Chapter 11 reorganizations, including domestic and international retailers and energy companies, highly regulated institutions, bank holding companies and liquidating trusts. Representative Chapter 11 clients include Foresight Energy LP (a leading producer of thermal coal), Payless ShoeSource (the largest specialty family footwear retailer in the Western Hemisphere), Peabody Energy Corporation (the largest private-sector coal company in the world), Armstrong Energy, Inc. (one of the largest producers of thermal coal in the Illinois basin), and the Gold Fields Liquidating Trust (a spinoff from Peabody Energy Corporation’s chapter 11 reorganization).

John’s dynamic professional background in entertainment, finance, business, and international transactions has made him a versatile counselor for a wide array of clients and organizations, including Academy Award-winning artists, the world’s largest neurosurgical society, and the historical trust of a former United States President.