Ms. Cullen Ann Drescher Speckhart

Cullen A. Drescher Speckhart is chair of Cooley LLP?s business restructuring & reorganization practice and partner in charge of its Washington, D.C., office. She is a top advocate in corporate restructuring and financial litigation, with a diverse practice spanning a range of industries, including health care, life sciences, technology, energy and retail. Ms. Speckhart regularly represents debtors, creditors? committees, trustees and foreign representatives in significant bankruptcy matters throughout the U.S. Having led some of the largest and most significant restructuring engagements in a multitude of jurisdictions, she has deep experience in complex insolvency litigation. Her recent practice experience includes serving as lead restructuring counsel to official creditor constituencies in Mallinckrodt, LTL Management (Johnson & Johnson), Endo International, Le Tote, 24 Hour Fitness and White Stallion Energy. Ms. Speckhart also acts as lead restructuring counsel to companies seeking to reorganize in and out of court and provides business risk management and strategic advice to entities across such industries as technology, life sciences, cyber services and cryptocurrency. Her company-side practice involves representation of public and private debtors in chapter 11 cases, and she often confronts complex emerging legal issues and matters of public importance. Her current work on behalf of companies in bankruptcy includes representing Ascena Retail Group (Ann Taylor, Loft, Lane Bryant), as well as serving as lead restructuring counsel to Enjoy Technology, NS8, PhaseBio Pharmaceuticals, Quanergy Systems and Lucira Health in chapter 11 proceedings. Ms. Speckhart is a frequent speaker on corporate insolvencies, restructuring in life sciences and technology, career and professional development, advocacy and leadership. In 2015, she co-authored the ABI?s manual on Chapter 15, and in 2017, she was selected as a member of ABI?s inaugural ?40 Under 40? class. In 2021, on account of exemplary practice performance and leadership, she was named Restructuring Lawyer of the Year at the Global M&A Network?s 13th Annual Turnaround Atlas Awards. Ms. Speckhart serves on the advisory board of the Institute for Restructuring Studies at the University of Pennsylvania, and her career, practice and leadership experiences have been covered by numerous national media outlets. As part of her work on issues related to diversity, equity and inclusion and women?s initiatives, she led a team in designing and delivering a bespoke leadership training program for Cooley professionals seeking development in confidence, public speaking and personal branding. Before entering private practice, Ms. Speckhart clerked for then-Chief Judge Stephen C. St. John of the US Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of Virginia. During law school, she was the first prize winner of the ABI?s inaugural Bankruptcy Law Student Writing Competition and the first law student ever to receive the Thatcher Prize for Excellence, an award presented annually to a William & Mary graduate student of outstanding scholarship, leadership, service and character. Ms. Speckhart received her B.A. in politics and economics from Georgetown University and her J.D. from the College of William & Mary, Marshall-Wythe School of Law.