Judith Elkin

Judith Elkin, resident in the firm’s New York office, has cultivated a national reputation over a 40+ year career representing debtors, official committees, lenders, and acquirers in chapter 11 cases for publicly traded and privately held companies throughout the country and internationally. Judith’s work for clients spans dozens of industries and has included such prominent chapter 11 engagements as representing debtors Highland Capital Management, Amyris and ATA Airlines, the official creditors’ committees in Neiman Marcus and Tailored Brands, senior secured lenders in Adelphia, Enron and SemGroup, and significant creditors and foreign representatives in chapter 11 proceedings, out-of-court restructurings and crossborder proceedings. Judith is also a trained mediator and has mediated multi-million dollar fraudulent transfer claims in the Fantasy Diamond case and was one of eighteen mediators appointed by the court to mediate mortgage indemnification claim disputes in Lehman Brothers. Judith has also represented debtor-sellers and strategic acquirers in chapter 11 assets sales in transactions totaling several billion dollars. Judith has been published and speaks frequently in both the US and internationally. Judith has been listed in Best Lawyers in America, named a Super Lawyer, recognized for Insolvency and Restructuring in Euromoney Institutional Investor Expert Guides, and granted Martindale-Hubbell’s AV Preeminent Peer Rating, its highest recognition for ethical standards and legal ability. A founding member of the International Women’s’ Insolvency and Restructuring Confederation (IWIRC) in 1992, Judith helped grow the organization to more than forty global networks and served as it international chair. Judith has also held leadership roles in numerous other professional organizations including serving as chair of the Insolvency Section of the International Bar Association, chair of the American Bankruptcy Institute’s Mediation Committee, chair of the ABA Litigation Section Bankruptcy and Insolvency Litigation Committee, Business Law Section International Insolvency Committee and International Section Insolvency Committee. Judith is also a member of the prestigious International Insolvency Institute, serving as a board member and chair of the Membership Committee. Judith serves as a delegate to the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) on behalf of IWIRC and III for Working Group II (Dispute Resolution) and Working Group V (Insolvency). The working groups meet twice a year in New York and Vienna and assist with drafting model laws for adoption by UN member states.

Programs & Lectures

Scaling the Tower of Babel: Stakeholder Communication in Crossborder Cases, ABI International Conference (New York, Nov. 2019); When in Rome: An Interactive Program on the Theory and Practice of Crosscultural Negotiations, 19th Annual International Insolvency Institute (Barcelona June 2019); What Happens in Mediation, Stays in Mediation; or Does It? American Bankruptcy Institute webinar (May 2018); Makewhole Provisions: A Rational Hedge Against Falling Rates or a Shining Example of Corporate Greed? ABA Section of International Law Fall Meeting (Miami Oct. 2017); Sauce for the Goose? Dual Standard Emerging in Crossborder Insolvencies: Domicile Not Enough to Recognize Foreign Proceeding, PLI Current Developments in Bankruptcy & Reorganization (New York April 2016); How Many Lawyers Can Fit on the Head of a Drilling Rig and Other Questions to Ponder in Oil & Gas Industry Insolvencies, ABA Section of International Law Spring Meeting (New York April 2016); How Much Momentum Will Momentive Create? Judicial Interpretation and Enforcement of Intercreditor Agreements, American Bankruptcy Institute Northeast Bankruptcy Conference (Falmouth MA July 2015); The Saga of Sean O’Murphy’s Grill and Its Journey Through the Insolvency Safe-Harbor Provisions of High Finance, the World Bank and UNCITRAL, ABA Section of International Law Spring Meeting (Washington DC April 2015); Lender Liability: Present and Future-The U.S. Perspective: An Exercise in Finder Pointing, International Bar Association Annual Meeting (Tokyo Oct. 2014)

Publications

I Meant What I Said and I Said What I Meant: The Enforceability of Make-Whole Provisions in U.S. Loan Agreements and Indentures, ABA Section on International Law Fall Meeting (2017)

Sauce for the Goose? Dual Standard Emerging in Cross Border Insolvencies: Domicile Not Enough to Recognize Foreign Proceeding, in program handbook for Bankruptcy & Reorganizations (Practising Law Institute 2014, 2015, 2016)

The Law of Unintended Consequences: Application of the Safe Harbor Provisions of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code, ABA International Law Section Spring Meeting (2015)

Lender Liability in the US: An Exercise in Finger Pointing, 9 Insolvency & Restructuring Int’l 9 (April 2015)

News

PSZJ Attorneys Named in 2025 Edition of Best Lawyers in America and Best Lawyers: Ones to Watch

August 15, 2024

PSZJ Attorneys Named in 2024 Edition of Best Lawyers in America

August 17, 2023

PSZJ Attorneys Named in 2023 Edition of Best Lawyers in America

August 18, 2022

Pachulski Stang Ziehl & Jones Wins Prestigious 2021 TMA Turnaround/Transaction of the Year Award

September 1, 2021

PSZJ Attorneys Named in 2022 Edition of Best Lawyers in America

August 19, 2021

Events

Recent Updates on Avoidance Actions: Foreign Sovereign Immunity Defense and Exterritoriality of Safe Harbors

International Insolvency Institute's UCC Regional Conference Miami, FL
January 14, 2026

The Legacy of IWIRC Through Generations

IWIRC NY New York, NY
October 22, 2024

Cats vs. Wildlife: Is Peaceful Coexistence Feasible?

New York City Bar Association Webinar
October 20, 2022

The Effect of Stress and Remote Work on Mediation

abiLIVE Zoom Webinar
May 26, 2022

Humane Education: Laws, Purpose & Practice

Bar Association of the City of New York Animal Law Committee Virtual
November 15, 2021