Jim Bromley is a partner based in the New York office and a leader of the firm’s global restructuring and insolvency practice. Mr. Bromley is an acknowledged expert in international restructuring and teaches a course on cross-border insolvency at the Harvard Law School as a Lecturer at Law. His practice is focused on restructuring, insolvency and acquisition advice to debtors, creditors, strategic investors and government actors. Over the course of his career, he has been involved with the telecommunications, financial services, automotive, manufacturing, energy, mining, aviation and retail industries, among others.
Recognized by
Chambers USA (2005 – 2011),
Chambers Global (2011) and
Legal 500 US (2009 - 2011) as one of the nation’s top bankruptcy and restructuring lawyers, Mr. Bromley is described as someone who "appreciates complex legal issues, but does not get bogged down with them" and possesses "excellent legal skills" and as "extremely articulate, forceful when necessary, and a great problem solver."
Mr. Bromley was honored in 2010 as a "Dealmaker of the Year" and in 2009 as a "Dealmaker of the Week" and a "Dealmaker in the Spotlight" by
The American Lawyer. He also has been recognized for his work by the
International Financial Law Review, as an "Outstanding Restructuring Lawyer of 2010" by
Turnarounds & Workouts, and as a leading lawyer in the
Guide to the World's Leading Insolvency and Restructuring Lawyers.
Since 2009, Mr. Bromley has been leading the firm’s representation of Nortel Networks, Inc. and affiliates in their chapter 11 proceedings and coordinating these complex cases with insolvency proceedings in Canada and Europe. He was instrumental in designing and implementing the unique multinational sale process that resulted in the disposition of Nortel's patent portfolio and its CDMA, Enterprise and MEN businesses, among others, through highly successful auctions conducted under section 363 of the Bankruptcy Code and approved in the U.S. and Canada through multiple joint hearings. These ground-breaking sales generated over $7.5 billion in proceeds.
Mr. Bromley is involved currently in the firm’s Dodd-Frank efforts focusing on the statute’s living wills provisions. He also has had material roles in many high profile matters since the onset of the financial crisis, including Lehman Brothers, General Motors and Chrysler. In Lehman, he represented the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and the Securities and Exchange Commission on the chapter 11 filing of Lehman Brothers Holdings, the SIPA (Securities Investors Protection Act) filing of broker-dealer Lehman Brothers Inc. and the related sale of substantially all the assets of the broker-dealer on an highly expedited basis. He later led the bankruptcy team that represented Hellman & Friedman in its joint stalking horse bid (with Bain Capital) for Neuberger Berman.
In General Motors and Chrysler, Mr. Bromley represented the United Auto Workers in the bankruptcy proceedings of both automakers. The representation dates back to the creation of the VEBA entities to provide medical benefits to UAW retirees and continued through the implementation of the of the landmark section 363 sales in both cases. Mr. Bromley also represented the UAW in the hotly contested litigation relating to both sales, which in the case of Chrysler included expedited appeals to the US Supreme Court.
Mr. Bromley's past representations include serving as chapter 11 debtors' counsel to Covanta Energy and Apex Silver Mines, counsel to Goldman Sachs in its acquisition of Litton Loan Servicing and the related work-out of C-BASS, counsel to the Daewoo and SK Global groups of companies in their cross-border restructurings, counsel to the Savings Bank of the Russian Federation in the failure of Refco and counsel to the official creditors committee of Livent Inc., which was subject to simultaneous proceedings in the US and Canada. In addition, Mr. Bromley represented substantial clients in the Enron, Calpine, Delta Air Lines, Northwest Airlines, UAL, Delphi Automotive, Dana Corporation, Global Crossing, Foamex International, Loews Cineplex Odeon, and Gate Gourmet matters, among others.
Mr. Bromley regularly writes and speaks on restructuring and insolvency matters. He recently co-authored a chapter on international lessons from Lehman's failure for Oxford University Press'
Cross-Border Bank Insolvency and he is co-author of a
bankruptcy blog published by Westlaw News & Insight. He has been inducted into the American College of Bankruptcy, and is a member of the American Bankruptcy Institute, the International Insolvency Institute and the Bar of the City of New York. He is a member of INSOL International, and has served as one of its representatives on the Insolvency Law Working Group of UNCITRAL, the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law. Mr. Bromley has been an instructor for INSOL, the American Bankruptcy Institute, the Loan Syndications Trading Association, the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association, the Practising Law Institute, the Association of the Bar of the City of New York and the New York University School of Law Continuing Legal Education.
Mr. Bromley received a J.D. degree from the Columbia University School of Law in 1989, where he was an editor of the
Columbia Law Review. He received his undergraduate degree,
summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa, from Boston College in 1986.
Mr. Bromley is a member of the Bars of New York and New Jersey and numerous Federal Courts.