Peter S. Burke is a partner in the firm’s Global Finance practice group and serves as the vice-chair of the Los Angeles office of Paul Hastings. He previously served as the chair of the Corporate Department of the Los Angeles office from 2013-2017.

Mr. Burke has practiced law for over twenty-five years, in both the public and private sectors. He has been recognized by Chambers USA for the last fifteen years, has been recognized as a Los Angeles, California “Super Lawyer,” and has been included in the U.S. News & World Report’s “Best Lawyers” list.

Graduating from The University of Virginia School of Law in 1996, Mr. Burke worked in the bankruptcy courts, first clerking for the Honorable E. Stephen Derby, U.S. Bankruptcy Court Judge for the District of Maryland, and then serving in the U.S. Department of Justice’s Trustee Office in Los Angeles, being admitted through the prestigious and highly selective U.S. Attorney General’s Honors Program.

After serving in the bankruptcy courts, Mr. Burke transitioned to private practice, where he focuses on commercial and corporate finance transactions, and represents major banks, private credit funds, and other direct lenders in working capital facilities (cash flow and asset-based), acquisition financings, structured financings, and restructurings and recapitalizations—both cross-border and U.S. focused. He has industry experience in a variety of business sectors including technology and software, healthcare, transportation and logistics, energy, retail, food and beverage, and manufacturing and industrials.

Mr. Burke has significant experience negotiating intercreditor agreements, including 1st lien/2nd lien arrangements, split collateral arrangements, and unitranche arrangements. He also has extensive experience in complex commercial reorganizations in out-of-court restructurings and in insolvency proceedings, including debtor-in-possession and exit financings and asset sales of distressed companies. Mr. Burke also structures credit facilities with private equity funds in subscription, NAV, hybrid, and asset-backed financings. 

As a thought leader in the finance industry, Mr. Burke speaks and writes on critical issues facing lenders. His publications include "Borrower in Distress? A Toolbox for Secured Lenders," "UCC Foreclosures on Collateral: Effecting a Sale and Evaluating Article 9 Alternatives," "Certainty of Execution – Asset-Based Lending in Leveraged Finance," and "Comparing Intercreditor Arrangements." Over the past decade, his continuing legal education webinars on "UCC Foreclosures on Collateral: Effectuating a Sale and Evaluating Article 9 Alternatives" and "Split Collateral Intercreditor Agreements" have also been popular.

He is a member of the California State Bar, the Maryland State Bar Association, and the Virginia State Bar.

• Named by Chambers USA to the list of leading attorneys in the United States for Banking and Finance each year since 2009 (2009 – 2023)
• Named to US. News & World Report's “Best Lawyers” list (2023)
• Named as a Los Angeles, California “Super Lawyer” (2012 – 2013, 2018)
• M&A Advisor 40 under 40 Award Finalist (2011)
• Admitted to the U.S. Attorney General’s Honors Program (1997)

• University of Virginia School of Law, J.D., 1996
• College of William and Mary, B.A., cum laude, 1993