About the Author

Co-Head of Capital Solutions & Restructuring, Jamie Sprayregen has spent more than three decades leading many of the largest and most complex restructurings, representing debtors, creditors, boards of directors and other key stakeholders at the global law firm Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP. Jamie has advised on numerous high-profile cross-border distressed situations, and his work has touched a wide range of industries.

Chambers USA (2022) sources have described Jamie as “a rock star—the Mick Jagger of the bankruptcy bar,” noting that he is “probably the best restructuring lawyer in the world” and “a luminary in the field.” Prior editions of Chambers USA have praised him as “a restructuring genius and one of the best strategists in the country” who has a “great ability to take extraordinarily complex issues and make them understandable for boards and executive management teams.” Jamie has been consistently ranked Band 1 by Chambers USA and Chambers Global, among other global directories. In 2013, Jamie was named “Global Insolvency & Restructuring Lawyer of the Year” by Who’s Who Legal Awards. He was inducted into the Turnaround Management Association’s Turnaround, Restructuring, and Distressed Investing Industry Hall of Fame in 2013, and in 2010 was selected by The National Law Journal as one of “The Decade’s Most Influential Lawyers.” In 2018, The M&A Advisor honored Jamie with the Lifetime Achievement Award.

“Jamie and his team were essential contributors to the success of the United Airlines restructuring and eventual merger with Continental Airlines. His role—as the content of this book attests—extended well beyond legal counsel, into strategy deliberations and decisions with the management team and into the boardroom. It is difficult to imagine, upon reflection, the subsequent success of United Airlines without Jamie and the vital role he played during its most challenging period.”

—Glenn Tilton, Former Chairman and CEO, United Airlines, Inc.

Jamie leverages decades of corporate restructuring and capital solutions experience, including lengthy stints in private practice and on the business and financial advisory side. He founded the worldwide restructuring practice at another major firm, building it into a leading international restructuring practice, then left to co-head the Restructuring Group at Goldman Sachs from 2006 to 2008, advising clients and deploying capital in restructuring and distressed situations, before returning to private practice for 16 years. From 2024 to 2026, he served as Vice Chairman, Global Strategy & Growth at Hilco Global, a diversified financial services company and subsidiary of ORIX Corporation delivering integrated professional services and capital solutions.

From 2013 to 2015, Jamie served as President of INSOL International, the world’s leading international insolvency association. He was an adjunct full professor of finance at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, where he taught a joint course on corporate restructuring with Penn Law. Jamie is a Fellow of the American College of Bankruptcy, a member of the National Bankruptcy Conference, and a former member of the ABI Bankruptcy Reform Commission. He is a frequent speaker and writer on issues pertaining to restructuring.