500 West Madison Street Suite 3700, Chicago, IL USA 60661
Aaron Hammer is an award-winning, nationally recognized corporate restructuring attorney who devotes his practice to solving his client’s most challenging insolvency and creditors’ rights issues. For over twenty-five years, he has led major engagements on behalf of corporate borrowers, lenders, financiers, and vendors and, most notably, bankruptcy committees—both official and unofficial —, and trustees in countless significant bankruptcies and workouts across the country and in many foreign countries. Aaron’s clients span nearly every industry vertical including technology, healthcare, insurance, manufacturing, energy, media and entertainment, and retail and consumer goods, from small businesses to Fortune 100 companies.
Prior to joining the firm, Aaron was a partner and chair of the Bankruptcy, Reorganization, and Creditors’ Rights practice at HMB Legal Counsel, a well-established, corporate-focused law firm headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. Previously, Aaron was a name partner at another law firm based in Chicago, Illinois where he served as Chairman of its Executive Committee.
Aaron was named “Legal Advisor of the Year” in 2023 by The M&A Advisor at its 17th Annual Turnaround Awards. He has been recognized a “Leading Lawyer” for Commercial Bankruptcy and Workout Law and Creditor’s Rights/Commercial Collections Law by Leading Lawyers magazine (2008-2017, 2023-2025), and is listed in Chambers USA: America’s Leading Lawyers for Business and was recognized for his “unrivaled business judgment and client service” (2009-2011, 2013-2014, 2017, 2023). Earlier in his career, Aaron was honored as one of the “40 Illinois Attorneys Under Forty to Watch” by Law Bulletin Publishing Company, publisher of Chicago Daily Law Bulletin and Chicago Lawyer, and Turnaround & Workouts as one of the Top Young Restructuring Attorneys in America.
Aaron’s leadership of major engagements, both domestically and internationally, has earned him the Turnaround Management Association’s prestigious Large Transaction of the Year award—twice. In 2020, Aaron and his team also received the association’s Small Business Turnaround of the Year award for their representation of RED, the Steakhouse in Miami Beach. Highlights of the turnaround industry’s acknowledgement of his achievements on behalf of his clients include:
- Small Business Turnaround of the Year – TMA Chicago/Midwest Chapter, 2020
- Section 363 Sale of the Year ($10MM – 25MM) – The M&A Advisor, 2018
- Refinancing Deal of the Year (Under $250MM) – The M&A Advisor, 2017
- Large Transaction of the Year – TMA Global, 2014
- Consumer & Retail Products Deal of The Year – The M&A Advisor, 2014
- Outstanding Young Restructuring Attorney – Turnaround & Workouts, 2010
- Large Transaction of the Year – TMA Chicago/Midwest Chapter, 2009
Experience
*Counsel to the Official Creditors’ Committees for: In re Something Sweet Acquisitions, Inc. (Bankr. D. Del.); In re Thrush Aircraft, Inc. (Bankr. M.D. Ga.); In re Zero Energy Systems, LLC (Bankr. S.D. Iowa); In re World Marketing Chicago, LLC, et al. (Bankr. N.D. Ill.); In re Newton Manufacturing Co. (Bankr. S.D. Iowa); In re Natural Pork Production II, LP (Bankr. S.D. Iowa); In re Quadrant 4 Systems Corp. (Bankr. N.D. Ill.); In re Trainor Glass Company (Bankr. N.D. Ill.); In re Lyon Workspace Products, LLC (Bankr. N.D. Ill.); In re Giordano’s Enterprises, Inc. (Bankr. N.D. Ill.); In re Midwest Banc Holdings, Inc. (Bankr. N.D. Ill.); In re Schwab Industries, Inc. (Bankr. N.D. Ohio); In re Arch Aluminum & Glass Co. (Bankr. S.D. Fla.); In re Arena Football League, LLC (Bankr. N.D. Ill.); In re Orius Corporation, Inc. (Bankr. N.D. Ill.); In re Gluth Bros. Construction, Inc. (Bankr. N.D. Ill.); In re Trinsic, Inc. (Bankr. S.D. Ala.); and In re Midcom Communications, Inc. (Bankr. E.D. Mich.).
*Counsel to liquidating trustees and plan administrators in the prosecution of mass bankruptcy preference claims in various notable chapter 11 and 7 cases, including: In re Worth Collection, Ltd. (Bankr. D. Del.); In re Thrush Aircraft, Inc. (Bankr. M.D. Ga.); In re Arro Corp. (Bankr. N.D. Ill.); In re GenCanna Global USA (Bankr. E.D. Ky.); In re Zero Energy Systems, LLC (Bankr. S.D. Iowa); In re AgFeed USA, LLC (Bankr. D. Del.); In re Newton Manufacturing Co. (Bankr. S.D. Iowa); In re World Marketing Chicago, LLC (Bankr. N.D. Ill); In re Trainor Glass Company (Bankr. N.D. Ill.); In re Lyon Workspace Products, LLC, et al. (Bankr. N.D. Ill.); In re Arch Aluminum & Glass Co. (Bankr. S.D. Fla.); In re Duke & King Acquisition, Inc. (Bankr. D. Minn.); In re Workflow Management, Inc. (Bankr. E.D. Va.); In re Orius Corp. (Bankr. N.D. Ill.); In re marchFirst, Inc. (Bankr. ND. Ill.); In re Gluth Bros. Construction (N.D. Ill.); In re Schwab Industries, Inc. (Bankr. N.D. Ohio); In re Mid-City Parking, Inc. (Bankr. N.D. Ill.); and In re Knight-Celotex, LLC (Bankr. N.D.Ill.).
*Counsel for the Official Committee of Equity Security Holders In re AgFeed USA, LLC, et al. in their successful sale of a multi-national farming operation before the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware.
*Counsel for Lason, Inc., DIRECTV Latin America, LLC, and Metal Management LLC in their successful chapter 11 multi-million-dollar debt restructuring proceeding before the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware.
*Counsel for Chellino Crane, Inc. and its subsidiaries in its successful sale under Section 363 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code before the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Illinois.
*Counsel to Bisteca, LLC in its efforts to restructure the operations of Red, the Steakhouse in Miami Beach, a representation culminating in the TMA Chicago/Midwest Chapter’s 2020 Small Turnaround of the Year.
*Special counsel to D&O insurance policy carriers to assess, value, and resolve significant breach of fiduciary duty claims against policies asserted by liquidating trustees.
*Bankruptcy counsel to a multi-national Fortune 500 information technology outsourcing company in several notable chapter 11 proceedings, including Hawaiian Telecom Communications, Inc. (Bankr. D. Haw.); Delta Air Lines, Inc. (Bankr. S.D.N.Y.); Entergy New Orleans, Inc. (Bankr. E.D. La.); Interstate Bakeries, Inc. (Bankr. W.D. Mo.); Global Crossings, Inc. (Bankr. S.D.N.Y.); WorldCom, Inc. (Bankr. S.D.N.Y.); and NewPage Corporation (Bankr. D. Del.).
*Bankruptcy counsel to a multi-national Fortune 500 insurance and professional services company in various notable chapter 11 proceedings, including Nortel Networks Inc. (Bankr. D. Del.); AbitibiBowater Inc. (Bankr. D. Del.); The Fairchild Corporation (Bankr. D. Del.); Tribune Company (Bankr. D. Del.); Hayes Lemmerz International, Inc. (Bankr. D. Del.); Smurfit-Stone Container Corporation (Bankr. D. Del.); R.H. Donnelley Corporation (Bankr. D. Del.); and AMR Corporation (Bankr. S.D.N.Y.).
*Member of team that successfully represented Bank of America, N.A. before the U.S. Supreme Court in Bank of America v. 203 N. LaSalle Street Partnership, which resulted in a seminal decision concerning the ability of pre-bankruptcy equity holders to acquire equity in a reorganized entity.
*Counsel to Rockwell Petroleum, Inc. and Deloitte and Touche, Inc., as receiver for CPI Plastics Group, Ltd. in their chapter 15 proceedings before the U.S. Bankruptcy Courts for the District of Wyoming and the Eastern District of Wisconsin.
*Counsel to the single largest aircraft financier to United Airlines, Inc. in connection with UAL’s chapter 11 bankruptcy, as well as to other aircraft and equipment financiers in the out-of-court restructuring of American Airlines and the chapter 11 bankruptcies of AMERCO, Inc. (Bankr. D. Nev.), the parent company of U-HAUL, and Atlas Air, Inc. (Bankr. S.D. Fla.).
*Experience gained by attorney prior to joining Kilpatrick
Northwestern University School of Law J.D. (1997) magna cum laude, Order of the Coif
University of Michigan B.A. (1994) James B. Angell Scholar, Pi Sigma Alpha
Illinois (1997)
New York (2009)
U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York
U.S. District Court for the Central District of Illinois
U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan
U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin
U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois
U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York
Young President’s Organization, Member
Anti-Defamation League, Board Member
Genesis Business Humanity, Board Member
Turnaround Management Association, Past President and Member
South Beach Tennis Club 501(c)(3), Founder and CEO
American Bankruptcy Institute, Member
National Association of Federal Equity Receivers, Member
INSOL International, Member
New York State Bar Association, Member
Illinois State Bar Association, Member
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