Jennifer C. Hagle

Last year, investors turned to Hagle, one of the country’s top transactional bankruptcy lawyers, when The Weinstein Co. fell into financial ruin following the sexual assault scandal involving co-founder Harvey Weinstein.

Representing MUFG Union Bank NA as an agent for several lenders and the largest creditor in the Chapter 11 cases that started in 2018 after Weinstein was fired, Hagle was able to help pull off what at one point seemed like the impossible: selling.

“The company was desperately trying to figure out how to restructure without Harvey or sell,” she said, describing the tumultuous period of financial uncertainty. “The domestic library was full of really top films like Django Unchained, Inglourious Basterds and Silver Linings Playbook that are really reliable in terms of generating income and future distribution rights.”

Things got more complicated when the New York Attorney General’s Office filed a sweeping civil complaint against The Weinstein Co., which was not generating revenue at the time.

But when Lantern Entertainment purchased the The Weinstein Co.’s assets in July, Hagle was able to ensure full payment to senior secured lenders pre-petition and post-petition debt.

“It was an outstanding result for a highly contested, highly scrutinized bankruptcy case,” she said. “The case was a playbook for this structure going forward.”

Hagle also represented Bank of America NA in relation to a $150 million senior syndicated loan facility issued by Corinthian Colleges Inc., the erstwhile for-profit college chain that fell into financial ruin after becoming the subject of several fraud investigations in 2015.

Additionally, she is leading a team of energy, bankruptcy and tax lawyers who represent creditor MetLife Capital LP, as FirstEnergy Solutions Corp. moves through a number of Chapter 11 cases related to fossil fuel and nuclear power generating facilities seeking to restructure $3.8 million in debt obligations.

“The impact and interplay these cases present with respect to environmental tort liability,” Hagle said. “It’s been very interesting trying to work through these Chapter 11 cases.”

— Nicolas Sonnenburg