Biography
Michael L. Cook served as a partner in the New York office for 16 years, devoting his practice to business reorganization and creditors’ rights litigation, including mediation and arbitration.
Michaels' clients include professional firms, lenders, acquirers, trustees, creditors’ committees, troubled companies and other parties.
Michael received the 2022 Lexology Client Choice Award for restructuring and insolvency with over 2,000 nominations from clients, with no involvement from law firms during the process. According to one nominating client, Michael “knows everything there is to know and is an invaluable asset to his clients.” Chambers USA listed Michael as a “leading individual” in bankruptcy/restructuring and interviewees praise him for his “tremendous experience and vision in bankruptcy matters.” He has also been recognized by Benchmark Litigation: The Definitive Guide to America’s Leading Litigation Firms and Attorneys, The Best Lawyers in America, Expert Guide to the World’s Leading Banking, Finance and Transactional Law Lawyers, The K&A Restructuring Register, The Legal 500 US, New York Super Lawyers, PLC Cross-border Restructuring and Insolvency Handbook and Who’s Who in American Law.
He is a past chair of the American College of Bankruptcy, which has established the “Michael L. Cook Extraordinary Grant” for legal services organizations that provide pro bono bankruptcy services for indigent consumer debtors; a past chair of Lawyers Alliance for New York; and a past chair of the New York Bankruptcy Assistance Project. He is also a fellow of the American and New York Bar Foundations and a former chair of the American Bar Association’s Creditors’ Rights Litigation Committee.
A frequent contributor to major publications, Michael serves as lead editor and contributing author of Bankruptcy Litigation Manual (rev. ed., Aspen Law & Business, 2023), is on the editorial boards of Pratt’s Journal of Bankruptcy Law and The Bankruptcy Strategist, was a contributing author to Collier Bankruptcy Guide (rev. ed., Matthew Bender, 2022) and Collier on Bankruptcy (15th rev. ed., 2003), and he co-authored Creditors’ Rights, Debtors’ Protection and Bankruptcy (3rd ed., Matthew Bender, 1997) (with NYU School of Law Professor Lawrence P. King).
Michael served for 26 years as an Adjunct Professor at New York University School of Law, teaching courses on creditors’ rights, debtors’ protection and bankruptcy. He also served for two years as Lecturer at Herbert Lehman College of the City University of New York, teaching business law.