Brian Schartz is a Partner in the Firm’s Capital Structure Solutions Practice. Brian’s diverse practice focuses on guiding public and private companies, sponsors and distressed investors in complex liability management exercises, distressed acquisitions and sophisticated chapter 11 and out-of-court restructurings. His extensive experience provides deep insight into crafting and implementing strategic financing strategies, creditor negotiations and restructuring solutions, in addition to advising boards of directors and senior management of companies regarding fiduciary duties and corporate governance.
Brian has advised a number of public and private companies regarding complex liability management, restructuring and other financing transactions in recent years, including Sunnova Energy International Inc., Global Clean Energy Holdings, Inc., Better Health Group, Vertex Energy, Inc., Sonder Holdings Inc., Apex Tool Group, LLC, SiO2 Medical Products, Inc., Altera Infrastructure L.P., Just Energy Group Inc., FTS International, Inc., Oasis Petroleum Inc., Arena Energy, L.P., Whiting Petroleum Corporation, Tapstone Energy, LLC, Jones Energy Inc., Vanguard Natural Resources Inc., Parker Drilling Company, Técnicas Marítimas Avanzadas, S.A. de C.V., Seadrill Limited, Seadrill Partners, Quintana Energy Services, LP, Penn Virginia Corporation, Magnum Hunter Resources Corporation, Barneys New York, Neways, Inc., Orchard Brands/Appleseed’s, Chemtura Corporation, Atrium Corporation and TOUSA, Inc.
Brian has also advised a number of private equity sponsors, lenders and other capital providers in similar transactions, including GLAS Trust Company LLC, Fortress Investment Group, Cerberus Capital Management, Summit Partners, W&T Offshore, several commercial funding trusts affiliated with BasePoint Capital, Brentwood Associates, Kinderhook Industries, LLC, EQT Ventures, LLC, an ad hoc group of unsecured noteholders in the chapter 11 cases of Bristow Group Inc., private equity sponsors and Sable Permian Resources, LLC, Pelican Energy Partners, L.P., holders of DRH notes in Ocean Rig’s pending restructuring proceedings, EIG as the largest creditor in Intervention Energy’s chapter 11 proceedings, an ad hoc committee of second lien noteholders of Alpha Natural Resources, Inc., a group of second lien debt holders in the restructuring of Mach Gen, LLC, Oaktree Capital Management, Anglo Irish Bank and a consortium of charter-in tanker owners of TORM A/S.
Brian has been widely recognized for his work in the restructuring space. He was selected as a “Forty Under Forty–Emerging Leaders in Insolvency Practice” by the American Bankruptcy Institute in 2020 and an “Outstanding Young Restructuring Lawyer” by Turnaround & Workouts in 2019. He has also been listed as a “Notable Practitioner” in the 2018–2025 editions of IFLR1000 and was recognized in 2015 by The Legal 500 U.S. for his corporate restructuring work. In May 2015, Brian was selected as a member of the 2015 Next Generation Class for the National Conference of Bankruptcy Judges.
Brian received his J.D. from New York University School of Law in 2007, where he was an Article Editor for the N.Y.U. Annual Survey of American Law. He received his B.A., summa cum laude, from Cornell University in 2004, where he was a member of Phi Beta Kappa and received distinction in all subjects. He is admitted to practice in Texas and New York.