News

Partner John Willard to Lead Newly Renamed Debt Finance Practice

January 31, 2022 Firm News

Armstrong Teasdale Partner John G. Willard has been named leader of the firm’s Debt Finance practice (formerly Financial Services). In this role, Willard will lead a team of dozens of finance lawyers and professionals in the U.S. and U.K. who regularly advise clients in complex domestic and cross-border debt financing matters across a full spectrum of markets, industries and sectors. 

Willard has in-depth experience advising clients in a wide range of financial transactions and corporate restructurings. This elevated role is reflective of his extensive experience advancing the interests of lenders, borrowers and financial advisors on sophisticated debt financing transactions, and serving as debtors’ counsel in some of the nation’s largest Chapter 11 restructurings, including those of 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; the Gold Fields Liquidating Trust, a spinoff from Peabody Energy Corporation’s Chapter 11 reorganization; and Noranda Aluminum, a leading U.S. aluminum producer.

Willard’s dynamic professional background in finance, entertainment, business and international transactions has also made him a versatile counselor for numerous other clients and organizations, including Academy Award-winning artists, the world’s largest neurosurgical society and the historical trust of a former United States President. In addition, Willard has been recognized among The Best Lawyers in America®, Ones to Watch in multiple practice areas.

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