Eckstein Selected As One of the Leading Lawyers in America by Lawdragon 500

Corporate Restructuring and Bankruptcy partner Kenneth H. Eckstein has been selected as one of the Lawdragon 500 Leading Lawyers in America.

Mr. Eckstein was also profiled in a Q&A session which highlighted his bankruptcy work over the last 30 years, from working on the Texaco and Eastern Airlines bankruptcies in the 1980s, to representing the creditors’ committees in GM and Chrysler, and the debtors in St. Vincent’s Medical Center and Bally Total Fitness. Asked about being selected as counsel in the 2009 GM and Chrysler bankruptcies, Mr. Eckstein said that it was “a fantastic opportunity for Kramer Levin to play a major role in a historic period in financial restructurings,” and that they were able to quickly mobilize attorneys across departments to meet the rigorous timelines in both restructurings. Mr. Eckstein said that both he and his department co-chair, Thomas Moers Mayer, lead a group of partners and associates that have a “very pragmatic, solutions oriented approach,” with “a tremendous track record in court.” Further, he said, being able to draw on the best talent across the firm’s practices allows them to “assemble the A team for every one of our cases.” When asked about how he got started in the practice of bankruptcy law, Mr. Eckstein said that it was a clerkship for Judge John Galgay in the Southern District of New York that gave him his first exposure to bankruptcy law and experience in an area that few of his peers had. He said that starting his career when the 1979 bankruptcy code was going into effect allowed him the opportunity to “enter on the ground floor of a growing practice area that has become one of the high-profile practice areas of the last 30 years.”

The Lawdragon 500 features "the very best of the legal profession," with lawyers selected from a combination of votes from Lawdragon’s online ballot, submissions from law firms and “vetting by the toughest critics in the profession.” Attorneys on this list are those “who brought in the biggest verdicts and settlements, handled the biggest deals and defined what law practice was in the year just past.”