Robert J. (Bob) Gayda is a partner in Seward & Kissel’s Corporate Restructuring & Bankruptcy Group. Bob represents creditors’ committees, special committees, directors and officers, lenders, distressed asset purchasers and investors in restructurings, whether in or out of court. Bob has experience across a number of industries including retail, hospitality, pharma, crypto, financial services, energy, maritime/offshore, real estate, fintech and mass tort.

Bob has recently represented unsecured creditors’ committees in ABC Carpet & Home, Fairmont San Jose, Furniture Factory, Papyrus and Le Pain Quotidien, and currently represents the liquidating trustee in both ABC and Furniture Factory, where he is prosecuting fiduciary duty claims. Bob also represents an independent director tasked with restructuring a hospitality business in New York, Ascent Pharmaceuticals in a dispute in Purdue, and US Bank as indenture trustee in Endo. Bob represented the independent managers/special committee of the board in Payless ShoeSource, Fairholme Capital, the second largest unsecured creditor and investigation target in the Sears bankruptcy, US Bank in the Mallinckrodt cases, Merritt7 Ventures, one of the debtors’ largest landlords in Frontier Communications, and Borr Drilling in its acquisition of Paragon Offshore.

Bob is active in the restructuring community, writing and speaking frequently. Bob is the editor of Seward’s Back in (the) Black Blog, which posts weekly. In 2022, Bob has published articles in Law360, Turnarounds & Workouts, and the Journal of Corporate Renewal. Bob has also appeared in the Financial Times, Bloomberg, Forbes, Reorg Research and Law360.

Bob serves on the board of directors of the Gladiator Project, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit corporation which supports brain cancer research and patients, particularly those afflicted with glioblastoma. He is a member of the Turnaround Management Association (NY) Golf Committee, Secretary of the Maritime Bankruptcy and Insolvency Committee of the Maritime Law Association of the US, and a member of the Insolvency Section of the International Bar Association, the American Bankruptcy Institute, and the New York State Bar Association. Bob was also selected as a winner of the 7th Annual M&A Advisor Emerging Leaders Awards in the Legal Advisor category (formerly their “40 under 40” awards) and named a Rising Star by Super Lawyers 2017-2019.

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