Restructuring mandate activity was largely unchanged in August compared to July, as a sharp decline in out-of-court engagements was offset by increased Chapter 11 activity. In-court restructurings generated 93 mandates across 27 situations, up 18% from July, while funded debt rose 21% to USD 33.4bn. Out-of-court activity fell to just three mandates involving USD 6.2bn in funded debt, down 82.4% and 69.3%, respectively.

Despite holding broadly steady month over month, activity remained well below August 2025 levels. August generated 96 mandates across 30 situations, down from 150 mandates across 47 situations a year earlier. Year to date, Debtwire tracked 1,108 mandates tied to USD 301.2bn in funded debt, down from 1,304 mandates and USD 355.9bn over the same period last year.

In August McDermott Will & Schulte topped the lead counsel league table with three mandates.

League tables  

The tables below rank the advisory representations for the month of August across the following categories: (1) lead counsel; (2) local / special counsel; (3) financial advisors, including investment bankers and restructuring advisors / CROs; and (4) claims agents.

The mandates in categories 1-3 reflect representations of companies, debtors, official committees, ad hoc groups, significant lenders and other major parties-in-interest in Chapter 11 cases or other restructuring processes.

Lead counsel

McDermott Will & Schulte topped the lead counsel league tables in August, the only firm to land more than two lead counsel engagements.

Despite not appearing in August’s monthly rankings, Gibson Dunn & Crutcher remained atop the year-to-date table with 31 mandates. Kirkland & Ellis ranked second with 22 mandates, while Latham & Watkins placed third with 21.

No firm obtained more than one mandate as lead counsel to debtors in an in-court proceeding.

With 12 engagements, Kirkland & Ellis maintained a commanding lead in Debtwire’s year-to-date Chapter 11 and Chapter 15 lead debtor counsel rankings, a total that was triple that of second-place firms Cole Schotz and Sidley Austin, which each logged four mandates.

Local / special counsel

No firm secured more than one local / special counsel mandate in August.

Cole Schotz maintained its lead in the year-to-date local / special counsel rankings with 10 engagements, while Young Conaway retained second place with seven.

Financial advisors

Alvarez & Marsal, Province, and Houlihan Lokey shared the top spot in the August financial advisor rankings with two engagements each. The tie also put Alvarez & Marsal and Province atop the restructuring advisor / CRO rankings, while Houlihan Lokey was the only investment bank to record more than one mandate last month.

In the YTD financial advisor rankings Alvarez & Marsal topped the league table with 20 engagements, while FTI Consulting took second with 19.[2] Province followed with 17. Evercore and Houlihan Lokey led the investment banker subcategory with 12 engagements apiece.

Claims agents

Epiq Corporate Restructuring led the August claims agent rankings with four mandates. Kroll, Omni Agent Solutions, and Stretto shared second place with two mandates each, while Verita Global secured one engagement.

Also, Epiq continued to lead the year-to-date claims agent rankings with 21 mandates, while Kroll and Stretto shared second place with 18 mandates each across Debtwire-tracked cases this year.

Out-of-court cases

Reported out-of-court restructuring activity slowed sharply in August to three mandates across three situations tied to USD 6.2bn in funded debt. Mandates fell 82.4% from 17 in July, while funded debt dropped 69.3% from USD 20.2bn.

In-court cases

August in-court activity generated mandates from 27 situations, down just 10% from 30 in July. Despite the decline in case volume, mandate activity increased 18%, with 93 engagements recorded in August compared with 79 the previous month. In-court funded debt also rose month over month, with August involving USD 33.4bn versus USD 27.7bn in July, an increase of roughly 21%.

[1] Data for in-court restructurings is taken from Debtwire’s Restructuring Database which mostly tracks debtors filing in US courts that have funded debt of USD 10m or more, as well as a small group of cases that have less than that amount. Out-of-court mandates are sourced from Debtwire proprietary reporting as well as through email submissions. If you would like to submit mandates, please email [email protected].

[2] DISH DBS and DISH Wireless engaged FTI Consulting as restructuring advisor, and FTI Capital Advisors, FTI Consulting’s wholly owned subsidiary, as investment banker, both effective 30 June 30. This report refers to both as “FTI Consulting,” though the two engagements are separate.