Michael Goldstein is the Chair of Goodwin's Financial Restructuring practice. A veteran restructuring and insolvency lawyer with over 35 years of experience, Mr. Goldstein represents debtors, sponsors, bondholders, creditors, committees and purchasers of distressed assets. His representations span a variety of industries, including chemicals, consumer goods, finance, health care, hospitality, high-tech printing, municipal debt, real estate, retail and technology.
Experience
Recent representative engagements:
- Representation of Foris Ventures, LLC and certain affiliated entities, as prepetition lenders, DIP lenders, and plan sponsors in the chapter 11 cases of Amyris, Inc. and its affiliates, which successfully discharged approximately $1 billion of secured and unsecured debt, renegotiated key customer contracts, streamlined manufacturing operations, and funded $190 million of new capital for reorganized Amyris’ operations
- Representation of CertainTeed, LLC in DBMP’s chapter 11 case.
- Representation of Teva Pharmecutical in Purdue’s chapter 11 case.
- Representation of Benefit Street Partners in Il Mulino’s chapter 11 case.
- Representation of TA Associates in Millennium Lab’s chapter 11 case.
- Representation of Partners Group Inc., in the out of court restructuring of Form Technologies and Curvature.
- Representation of an ad hoc group of noteholders in the out of court restructuring of a privately held media company.
- Representation of numerous private equity sponsors, debtors, creditors and investors in out of court restructurings, refinancings and sales.
Professional Activities
Professional Experience
Credentials
Education
JD1984
Harvard Law School
BS1981
Franklin & Marshall College
(magna cum laude)
Admissions
Bars
- California
- New York
- Washington, D.C.
Courts
- U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York
- U.S. District Court for the Central District of California
- U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California
- U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California
- U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California
- U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
- U.S. Supreme Court
Recognition & Awards
Mr. Goldstein has been recognized by The Best Lawyers in America Best Lawyers for his work in Bankruptcy and Creditor Debtor Rights / Insolvency and Reorganization Law and Litigation - Bankruptcy 2022-2025.
Mr. Goldstein has been listed as a 2024 Lawdragon 500 leading Global Bankruptcy and Restructuring Lawyer.
Mr. Goldstein is a Fellow of the American College of Bankruptcy and a Member of the International Insolvency Institute. He has been repeatedly listed in U.S. News-Best Lawyers (Bankruptcy and Creditor Debtor Rights / Insolvency and Reorganization Law; Litigation – Bankruptcy) and selected as a “Super Lawyer” in Southern California and New York. He is consistently recommended for Restructuring (including Bankruptcy) Corporate and Private Equity Funds (including Venture Capital) by The Legal 500 United States. He is rated AV® Preeminent™ 5.0 out of 5.0 in Martindale Hubbell. Mr. Goldstein was recently honored by Chambers USA as a “Recognised Practitioner” in the area of Bankruptcy/Restructuring. In 2019, Mr. Goldstein was honored by the Turnaround Management Association for his work as lead counsel for client Gibson Brands, Inc. in its Chapter 11 restructuring, which was named Mid-Size Company Transaction of the Year.
Publications
Co-Author, “Uptier Transactions and Open Market Purchase Provisions,” Reuters (2023)
Co-Author, “Top 10 Intellectual Property License Issues in Bankruptcy,” Goodwin (2023)
Co-Author, “Intercreditor Agreements and the Bankruptcy Code”, Journal of Bankruptcy Law (2022)
Mr. Goldstein recently co-authored “Strategies for restaurants to address financial distress in the UK and US” in Restaurant Dive on November 30, 2020.
Mr. Goldstein is frequent speaker on restructuring and insolvency-related topics, including on subjects such as compensation of professionals, conflicts of interest, executory contracts in retail Chapter 11 cases, expert testimony, litigating confirmation issues, municipal debt restructurings, second lien debt, subprime lending and valuation. He is an active participant in Chapter 11-related conferences, including appearances on panels at the National Conference of Bankruptcy Judges, conferences of the American Bankruptcy Institute and the Association of Insolvency and Restructuring Advisors, Turnaround Managers Association, and Practising Law Institute.
He writes regularly on topics of note in his field. His article on "Navigating the Distressed Real Estate Workout: A General Overview," appearing in ABA Probate and Property magazine, was selected as the winner of the Best Practical Use Article. Mr. Goldstein is a contributing author to Collier on Bankruptcy, Chapter 9 (“Adjustment of Debts of a Municipality”).