Seyfarth Launches Transactional Restructuring & Insolvency Practice and Adds to Servicing & Special Servicing Practice with Team Located Across the Country

CHICAGO (January 24, 2024) - Seyfarth Shaw LLP continues the national expansion of its Corporate department – launching a Restructuring & Insolvency practice and growing its Servicing & Special Servicing practice with three prominent partners, Jason DeJonker, Scott Olson and Richard (“Rick”) White.

DeJonker, who will chair the new practice, is based in Chicago, and Olson is in San Francisco. Both are returning to Seyfarth where they were previously partners. White, who is in Atlanta, joins the Servicing & Special Servicing practice, which advises clients on issues involving securitization, tax, securities law, defeasance, and loan assumptions and was created last summer. They all join the firm from Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner LLP where they were partners. The addition of their team continues the firm’s strategic growth with a dozen lawyers joining the Corporate practice in the past year.

“The formal launch of our Restructuring practice and the addition of Jason, Scott and Rick further demonstrates our commitment to growing our corporate and other transactional practices and deepening our strength in many of our core practice areas,” said Lorie Almon, Seyfarth’s chair and managing partner. “They successfully work across key practices, including real estate, corporate and litigation, and they will help grow this practice from coast to coast.”

Seyfarth’s multidisciplinary Restructuring & Insolvency team has wide-ranging experience spanning debt restructuring, financial reorganization, special situations, loan workouts, distressed asset transactions, and bankruptcy litigation, with a focus on multijurisdictional, complex cases. All three new partners will work closely with the firm’s Real Estate practice. 

“We are extremely excited to have Jason and Scott return to Seyfarth. They, along with Rick, are exceptional lawyers and strengthen our ability to serve clients in every phase of the market cycle and all layers of the capital stack,” said Steven R. Meier, chair of the firm’s Corporate department. “We have been intentional about finding and bringing on talent in all of the country’s major banking centers, and with this team, that will be accelerated.”

“This is a great opportunity to grow this practice with both a tremendous platform and group of lawyers,” said DeJonker, who was the global chair of BCLP’s banking sector, the co-global practice group leader of its Finance Transactions, and a member of the BCLP Board. “And for Scott and me, we are personally thrilled to be coming back to Seyfarth where we spent more than 10 years combined as partners.”

“In addition to being great lawyers, this highly accomplished team is a great cultural fit with the firm,” said Paul P. Mattingly, national chair of the Real Estate department. “Their energy and enthusiasm for serving clients is infectious and will be a catalyst for continued growth in this area.”

DeJonker focuses on restructuring and insolvency/special situations, transport and asset finance, finance, real estate, and real estate finance, and his practice sits at the intersection of corporate, litigation and real estate. He counsels clients on structuring distressed transactions, providing advice to corporate management and boards of directors on fiduciary duty issues, and helping private equity and traditional lender clients in structuring commercial real estate and commercial and industrial loans. DeJonker previously held leadership positions with the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association, the Asian American Bar Association of Greater Chicago, the Leadership Council on Legal Diversity, and the Chicago Committee for Minorities in Large Law Firms. He earned both his JD and BA from the University of Illinois.

Olson has extensive experience in bankruptcy and insolvency matters and regularly acts on behalf of secured and unsecured creditors in commercial bankruptcy proceedings nationwide. He counsels bank and non-bank lenders and other financial institutions on complex finance transactions including asset-based loans, cash-flow loans, and other credit facilities. He received his JD from the University of Notre Dame and his BA from Stanford University.

White counsels lenders, primary servicers, master servicers, and special servicers in all aspects of CMBS loan servicing and matters related to defaulted real estate loans and troubled assets. His practice centers around structured finance and servicing matters relating to commercial and residential mortgage-backed securities. He also represents loan originators and issuers in securitization matters. White earned his JD from Washington University and his BA from Duke University.

About Seyfarth

With more than 900 lawyers across 18 offices, Seyfarth Shaw LLP provides top tier advisory, litigation, and transactional legal services to clients worldwide.

Contact: Tom Mariam, Director of Public Relations: 212-218-3366 or tmariam@seyfarth.com