A major U.S. healthcare client and its subsidiaries needed help with the resolution of a significant number of post-effective date bankruptcy claims and issues.

The bankruptcy group worked with an interdisciplinary team tasked with resolving approximately 3,000 claims throughout the United States totaling over $900 billion. The case involved wide-ranging legal issues including, among others, bankruptcy, tax, insurance and antitrust. The case was before the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in New York.

The claims were favorably resolved in less than one year.

The sole shareholder of our long-term corporate client decided the time was right to sell his business. He wanted to retain ownership of the real property and the plants where the business was operated.

Sullivan's Mergers & Acquisitions group advised our client as to all steps in a private-company sell-side M&A transaction, including engaging the most experienced investment bankers in the industry to market the company in an auction situation; selecting the best-qualified bidder to be the purchaser; working with the company’s accountants to develop the most advantageous sale structure; negotiating highly complex deal terms; and successfully closing the deal.

Sullivan's Boston office recently organized a backpack drive for a local elementary school. Thanks to the support of attorneys and staff, we prepared over 30 backpacks filled with school supplies necessary for the year. The bags will go to students in several grades at the John F. Kennedy Elementary School in Jamaica Plain.

We are pleased to welcome Angela Gomes to the Boston office as a partner in the Corporate practice. Angela, who moves to Sullivan from Skadden, focuses her practice on securities regulation and corporate finance, as well as mergers and acquisitions and general corporate matters.

"Angela is a terrific addition to Sullivan’s Corporate practice group and we’re happy to have her on our team," said Joel Carpenter, managing partner of the firm. "With extensive experience in a wide range of transactional matters, her practice dovetails nicely with our clients and where we expect to see growth. We’ve worked with Angela many times and have repeatedly been impressed by her talent."

In addition to the 40 attorneys named to the annual Best Lawyers list, which we featured in a previous post, Sullivan is very proud to announce that two of our lawyers have been named "Lawyer of the Year" for 2020. This honor is conferred upon a single attorney in each practice area within a designated metropolitan area.

The Sullivan lawyers who received this honor were:

A corporate client was looking to tap into the Asian public markets for investment in the U.S. real estate market and came to us because of our top-tier public REIT experience.

Sullivan represents more than 100 blockchain clients, whose size varies from the top 10 cryptocurrencies by market cap and large enterprises, to smaller startups. We help our clients pursue and execute first-of-their-kind business ideas, which involve unseen regulatory uncertainty and have required us to think beyond traditional ways of practicing law.

We help clients navigate emerging legal issues and regulatory uncertainties, manage risk, identify opportunities and proactively plan for the future. With deep financial, regulatory and technological expertise, we ascertain the implications blockchain will have on our clients’ operations and prepare them to offer new services and products. Working with entrepreneurs, investors and established companies in a range of industries, we provide strategic guidance to help clients finance, develop and capitalize on the promises of blockchain technology while gaining a competitive edge in the marketplace.

Representative client work includes:

We are very pleased to announce that 40 lawyers have been included in the 2020 Edition of The Best Lawyers in America. Since it was first published in 1983, Best Lawyers has become universally regarded as the definitive guide to legal excellence.

Best Lawyers has published their list for over three decades, earning the respect of the profession, the media, and the public as the most reliable, unbiased source of legal referrals. Its first international list was published in 2006 and since then has grown to provide lists in over 75 countries.

Part of what makes Sullivan such a unique place is our people, so we'd like to introduce you to some of them in a series of posts. We asked associates around the firm why they chose Sullivan and how their experiences have been since joining us.

Erika Todd received her J.D. from Harvard Law School in 2013, and came to Sullivan as a lateral associate. Her practice includes complex, commercial and employment matters, and she is a member of the Art and Museum Law practice group. Erika is also a director of the Harvard Law School Association of Massachusetts, where she leads an annual mentoring program and coordinates other initiatives.

Why did you choose Sullivan?

I liked the fact that Sullivan combined the resources of a bigger firm, including an international presence, with the individual attention on associate development of a smaller firm. That balance makes Sullivan unique among the firms I considered.

Congratulations to Ashley Brooks on being named one of the recipients of the 2019 Excellence Award in Commercial Real Estate. The winners represent the "best of the best in commercial real estate," according to Upendra Mishra, publisher of the Boston Real Estate Times. In addition to Real Estate Law, for which Ashley was recognized, winners were selected from multiple specialties within the industry: architecture, brokerage, construction, engineering, green design, finance, multifamily management, and others.