All Professionals
Overview
Frank Merola is a partner in the Financial Restructuring group at Paul Hastings and is based in the firm’s Century City office. After nearly 35 years in practice, Frank’s legal and business acumen and creative execution strategies have earned him a reputation as a bold and tireless advocate in business reorganization, who achieves his clients’ objectives both in and out of court.
He has demonstrated his capacity to find creative solutions, time and again. Most recently, Frank is a key part of the Paul Hastings team representing the Official Committee of Unsecured Creditors in the highly complex Chapter 11 cases of FTX Trading Ltd. and affiliates in conjunction with one of the largest and most complicated businesses to file for bankruptcy.
Frank advises debtors, creditors, official and ad hoc committees, acquirers and equity holders both in Chapter 11 and out-of-court restructurings. He services a broad spectrum of industries, ranging from real estate, gaming and leisure, oil and gas, retail, fintech, healthcare, and communications and media.
Accolades
- Bankruptcy/Restructuring, Chambers USA
- Bankruptcy and Creditor Debtor Rights / Insolvency and Reorganization Law, Best Lawyers
- Bankruptcy, Super Lawyers
- Legal 500 US
- Large Company Transaction of the Year Award (USA Capital First Trust Deed Fund), Turnaround Management Association
- Deal of the Year: Banking and Finance (Pacific Gas and Electric Company), IFLR1000 (2021)
- Energy Deal of the Year (over $1B) (EP Energy), The M&A Advisor (2021)
Education
- University of California, Los Angeles, School of Law, J.D. (Order of the Coif; Order of the Barrister; Moot Court Honors Program – Board of Judges, 1988; Distinguished Advocate, 1987), 1988
- Georgetown University, B.S. (cum laude), 1985
Representations
- Akoustis Technologies (official committee of unsecured creditors)
- 21st Century Oncology (ad hoc group of creditors)
- Aladdin Hotel & Casino (official creditors’ committee)
- Arizona Charlie’s (debtor)
- ATP Oil & Gas (debtor)
- BPZ Resources, Inc. (debtor)
- Caesars Entertainment Group (ad hoc group of creditors)
- Crusader Energy (debtor)
- Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill Trust (trustee)
- EP Energy (official creditors’ committee)
- Extraction Oil & Gas (official creditors’ committee)
- Fontainebleau Las Vegas (ad hoc committee of noteholders)
- FTX (official creditors’ committee)
- Gateway Casinos (ad hoc committee of noteholders)
- Global Brands Group (official creditors' committee)
- Haggen Holdings LLC (debtors)
- Herbst Gaming (official creditors’ committee)
- Innkeepers USA Trust (official creditors’ committee)
- Insight Health (debtor)
- JAKKS Pacific Inc. (ad hoc group of unsecured convertible noteholders)
- LSC Communications (official creditors’ committee)
- LightSquared (secured creditor)
- M*Modal (official creditors’ committee)
- The McClatchy Company (official creditors' committee)
- MSR Resorts Golf Course LLC (official creditors’ committee)
- Naartjie Custom Kids, Inc. (debtors)
- OnCure Holdings, Inc. (ad hoc group of noteholders)
- PG&E Corporation (DIP lender)
- Resort at Summerlin (debtor)
- Tronox, Inc. (official creditors’ committee)
- Tropicana Hotel & Casino (noteholder)
- Trump Hotel & Casino Resorts (equity committee)
- Village of Tuxedo, NY (party to Hosting Agreement)
- WeWork (official creditors’ committee)
Engagement & Publications
Speaking Engagements
- AIRA – 13th Annual Advanced Restructuring Conference, New York, NY, Speaker (Nov. 11, 2014)
- “Overview of Chapter 11,” Macquarie Capital, Speaker (Oct. 21, 2014)
- “Restructuring Process,” The Defense Industry in a Time of Change, New York, NY, Panelist (March 27, 2014)
- “Evidentiary Privileges,” ABI’s 25th Annual Winter Leadership Conference, Rancho Palos Verdes, CA, Speaker (Dec. 5-8, 2013)
- ABI’s 21st Annual Southwest Bankruptcy Conference, Incline Village, NV, Speaker (Aug. 22-24, 2013)
- “Fundamentals of Valuation Analysis, Part III: Testing the Models in Case Decisions and Other Scenarios,” VALCON 2013 Conference, Las Vegas, NV, Moderator (Feb. 20, 2013)
- “NCBJ/ABI Roundtable,” 86th Annual National Conference of Bankruptcy Judges, San Diego, CA, Panelist (Oct. 24-27, 2012)
- “Fiduciary Duty Issues,” National Conference of Bankruptcy Judges, San Diego, CA, Speaker (Oct. 26, 2012)
- “Bad Boy Guarantees,” American Bankruptcy Institute – Southwest, Las Vegas, NV, Speaker (Sept. 14, 2012)
- “How to Achieve a Successful Restructuring in Today’s Changing Legal and Business Environment,” Turnaround Management Association Annual Convention, San Diego, CA, Speaker (Oct. 26, 2011)
- “Surviving a Distressed Credit Scenario,” Native American Finance Officers Association Annual Conference, Jersey City, NJ, Speaker (Sept. 15, 2011)
- “Distressed Credit and Debt Management,” Native American Finance Officers Association Spring Finance Conference, Pala, CA, Speaker (March 22, 2011)
- “The Chips Are Down: Dealing with Casino Bankruptcy Cases,” National Conference of Bankruptcy Judges, New Orleans, LA, Speaker (Oct. 14, 2010)
- “Industry Trends – Who Will Benefit From and Who Will Labor Under the Economic Recovery,” Turnaround Management Association Distressed Debt Conference, Las Vegas, NV, Speaker (Jan. 27- 29, 2010)
- “Snake Eyes – Casino Bankruptcies,” National Conference of Bankruptcy Judges, Las Vegas, NV, Speaker (Oct. 18-21, 2009)
- “Understanding Capital Markets,” American Bankruptcy Institute – Southwest, Lake Tahoe, NV, Speaker (Sept. 10-12, 2009)
- “Financial Institutions and Hot Topics,” California Bankruptcy Forum Annual Conference, Carmel, CA, Speaker (May 17, 2009)
- “Rights Offerings, Kellogg Business School Conference,” Chicago, IL, (May 6, 2009) Milken Institute, “Taking Control of Restructurings to Drive Successful Turnarounds,” Beverly Hills, CA, Speaker (April 28, 2009)
- “Rights Offerings,” Turnaround Management Association Distressed Investing Conference, Las Vegas, NV, Speaker (Jan. 27, 2009)
- “Chaos in the Boardroom: A Day in the Life of a Director in a Distressed Company,” Turnaround Management Association Annual Conference, New Orleans, LA, Speaker (Oct. 29, 2008)
Involvement
- Member – American Bankruptcy Institute
- Member – Los Angeles Bankruptcy Forum
- Member – The State Bar of California
- Member – Turnaround Management Association