Gibson Dunn secured five mandates in March, giving it the top spot among lead counsel for the month and extending its lead in the first quarter rankings. In the financial advisor category, Moelis narrowly edged out FTI Consulting by one mandate for the top spot in 1Q26.

In total, 124 restructuring mandates were recorded in March, involving USD 51.9bn in debt, representing a 22.5% decline in the number of engagements compared with February and a 16.8% fall compared with March 2025. Through 1Q26, there were 449 mandates involving USD 130.2bn in debt, compared with 456 mandates tied to USD 123.9bn in 1Q25.

The following Excel file contains all mandates covered in this report.

League tables  

The tables below rank the following advisory representations for the month of March across the following categories: (1) lead counsel; (2) local / special counsel; (3) financial advisors, including investment bankers and restructuring advisor / CRO; 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

March’s lead counsel rankings placed Gibson Dunn at the top with five engagements, followed by Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft and Pachulski Stang Ziehl & Jones, which had three engagements each.

 In the 1Q26 lead counsel rankings, Gibson Dunn retained the top spot with 15 engagements, followed by Latham & Watkins with nine.

No firm received more than one Chapter 11 debtor counsel mandate in March.

Kirkland & Ellis led the 1Q26 Chapter 11 debtor counsel rankings with five engagements. Saul Ewing Arnstein & Lehr followed with three.

Local / special counsel

Local / special counsel mandates were spread evenly in March, with no firm receiving more than one.

The 1Q26 local and special counsel rankings saw little movement, with Cole Schotz holding the top spot with six engagements, followed by Porzio Bromberg & Newman with three.

Financial advisors

FTI and Province tied for the top spot in the overall financial advisor league table and the restructuring advisor/CRO subcategory in March, with three engagements each. Guggenheim Securities, Houlihan Lokey, and Moelis tied for the lead among investment banks with two mandates each.

Moelis remained at the top of both the 1Q26 financial advisor rankings and the investment banking subcategory. FTI retained second place in the quarterly financial advisor ranking and first in the restructuring advisor / CRO subcategory with eight engagements.

Claims agents

Epiq Corporate Restructuring, Stretto, and Verita Global (f/k/a KCC) shared the top spot among claims agents in March with two mandates each, followed by Donlin Recano & Co. and Kroll with one apiece.

In the 1Q26 claims agent rankings, Epiq Corporate Restructuring remained in the top spot with 10 mandates in cases tracked by Debtwire, followed by Stretto with eight.

Out-of-court cases

Out-of-court restructuring activity picked up in March from February, with 11 situations generating 17 mandates tied to USD 20.5bn in funded debt. That compares with five situations and 11 mandates involving USD 7.6bn in February, representing a 120% increase in situations and a 169.7% rise in funded debt.

In-court cases

In contrast to out-of-court activity, in-court restructuring activity slowed in March from February, with 34 cases generating 107 advisory mandates tied to USD 31.4bn in funded debt. That compares with 36 cases and 149 mandates involving USD 46.5bn in February, representing a 5.6% decline in cases and a 32.5% decrease in funded debt.

[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].