David Botter’s practice focuses on large, complex restructuring cases, both out of court and in Chapter 11, across a variety of industries.

David frequently handles multijurisdictional and cross-border matters for both distressed companies and major creditors, with an emphasis on creditors’ committees and bondholder committees. He is particularly respected for his representation of bondholders as part of his broad creditor-side practice. He also has experience representing bondholders, institutional investors, hedge funds, debtors-in-possession, post-petition lenders, and acquirors of distressed assets in the health care, transportation, and energy sectors, among others.

David joined the firm as a partner in 2023. Prior to joining Cleary, David was a partner at another major international law firm.

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Notable Experience

  • An ad hoc group of senior noteholders of Aerovías de México in the Chapter 11 restructuring of $2 billion in liabilities of Aeroméxico, Mexico’s flagship airline. Cross-border Restructuring of the Year - Over $1B (M&A Advisor)

  • An ad hoc group of private placement noteholders holding $5.9 billion of debt of Nordic Aviation Capital in its Irish scheme of arrangement and subsequent Chapter 11 proceeding.

  • The ad hoc committee of senior unsecured noteholders in Pacific Gas and Electric Company’s (PG&E) highly complex and widely publicized $30+ billion Chapter 11 cases—one of the industry’s largest bankruptcies.

  • The official committee of unsecured creditors in the Chapter 11 case of ViewRay, Inc., a company that designs, manufactures, and markets a magnetic resonance image (MRI) guided radiation therapy, including in connection with a potential Section 363 sale.

  • The prepetition lenders and DIP lenders in the Chapter 15 restructuring of more than $440 million in liabilities of Just Energy, a leading North American distributor of electricity & natural gas.

  • An ad hoc group of unsecured bondholders and lenders in connection with the restructuring of over $2 billion in liabilities of Crédito Real, a Mexican non-bank financial institution.

  • An ad hoc group of bondholders in connection with the restructuring of Unifin Financiera, a Mexico-based non-banking financial company.

  • An ad hoc group of bondholders in the Chapter 15 recognition of the Brazilian judicial recovery proceedings of Americanas, one of the largest retailers in Brazil.

  • The official committee of unsecured creditors of Adeptus Health Inc., one of the largest operators of freestanding emergency rooms in the United States. Despite the contentious, controversial, and complex nature of the case, the debtors obtained plan approval less than six months after filing following a two-day trial. Under the plan, the general unsecured creditors achieved substantially better outcomes than they would have recovered in a straight waterfall plan or a liquidation.

  • FirstEnergy Solutions Corp. (FES) in its $5 billion debt restructuring, which was among the largest and most complex filings of 2018. The multipronged operational and balance sheet restructuring strategy saved multiple plants and more than 4,500 jobs. FES secured big wins over the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and contract counterparties on rejecting costly power purchase agreements, and developed a massive public affairs operation aimed at delivering regulatory support for the fleet. It also secured a comprehensive $1 billion plus global settlement, eliminating the threat of years of protracted litigation, and sold its certain noncore assets. FES emerged from bankruptcy in February 2020.

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