Margaret R. Westbrook

Margaret R. Westbrook is a partner with K&L Gates LLP in its Raleigh, Charlotte and Research Triangle, N.C., offices, and currently serves as practice group coordinator for the firm’s Restructuring and Insolvency Practice Group. She represents and litigates for secured and unsecured creditors in restructuring and insolvency matters both in and out of the state and federal courts in North Carolina, and in other jurisdictions including New York and Delaware. Ms. Westbrook advises transactional clients with respect to insolvency risks and debt restructuring. She represents purchasers and sellers of debt and assets from financially distressed companies in a variety of structures, including foreclosure sales, Article 9 sales and § 363 sales. She has extensive experience with agricultural cases, including chapter 12 proceedings, and with health care insolvency issues both in and outside of formal insolvency proceedings. Prior to joining the firm, Ms. Westbrook clerked for Hon. J. Rich Leonard of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina from 1996-98. She chaired the Local Rules Committee for the Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina from 2010-19, as well as the North Carolina Bar Association Bankruptcy Section Council from 2021-22, and she served as president of the Carolinas Chapter of the Turnaround Management Association from 2022-23. She previously served as a member of the Board of the American Bankruptcy Law Journal and has been recognized for her work on behalf of her clients and the bankruptcy bar in Chambers USA, The Best Lawyers in America and as a Fellow in the American College of Bankruptcy. Ms. Westbrook received her B.A. and J.D. with honors from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.