Sylvia Mayer is a partner in the Business Finance & Restructuring Department of Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP, a New York based law firm with approximately 1,200 attorneys world-wide serving major corporate clients. Ms. Mayer, who resides in Houston, specializes in workouts, bankruptcy, and restructuring representations and is known for her excellence in creative problem solving, advocacy, crisis leadership, and complex case management. She has represented debtors, committees, trustees, creditors, and acquirers in chapter 11 cases and out-of-court restructurings. Ms. Mayer has also applied her restructuring expertise to areas outside of the chapter 11 context, including representations involving insurance company rehabilitations and systemically-important financial institution resolution planning. In addition to serving as a leader in numerous restructuring matters, she regularly speaks and writes about current bankruptcy issues, actively participates in public service and civic organizations in her community, and is very involved in the firm’s pro bono and diversity programs.
Ms. Mayer has represented such high profile chapter 11 debtors as Enron Corp., Edison Brothers Stores, FoxMeyer, General Growth Properties, Pioneer Companies, SemGroup LP, United Companies Financial Corporation, and WorldCom, as well as chapter 11 trustees in D&A Realty and Midcon Offshore and the debtor in the out-of-court restructuring of Highland Hospitality. She has also represented statutory unsecured creditors' committees in APS Holdings and First Wave Marine and ad hoc committees in Adelphia Communications Corp. and the out-of-court restructuring of Gothic Energy. In addition to debtor, trustee and committee work, Ms. Mayer has represented various creditor constituencies or acquirers in Century Offshore, EOTT Energy, McKenzie Methane, Rand Energy, Silver Cinemas, and Stanley Stores. Over the course of her career, she has worked on cases in a variety of industries including energy, financial, petrochemical, pharmaceutical, retail, and telecommunications. Moreover, Ms. Mayer's experience extends beyond bankruptcy and restructuring to commercial litigation and appellate work in state and federal courts around the country.
Ms. Mayer regularly writes, teaches, and speaks about current bankruptcy and restructuring issues. For example, in 2011, Ms. Mayer published an article in the ABA’s Expert Witnesses Newsletter entitled, What Do You Do With a Completed Bankruptcy Examiner’s Report?, served as a speaker on a panel for the Greater Houston Partnership regarding Lessons Learned in the Economic Downturn: Critical Guidance for Executives and In-House Counsel, and was a speaker at the University of Texas 30th Annual Jay L. Westbrook Bankruptcy Conference addressing a variety of insolvency regimes, including state insurance proceedings, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation receiverships, and the receivership and resolution planning processes implemented through the recently enacted Dodd-Frank Act.