Orrick Picks Up A&O Shearman Restructuring Partner in New York

Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe has recruited A&O Shearman restructuring partner Emanuel Grillo in New York, the firm announced on Wednesday.

Grillo advises on in-court and out-of-court restructurings with a recent focus on distressed energy investments. He joined Allen & Overy in 2021 from Baker Botts, where he was chair of that firm’s financial restructuring practice.

Energy and finance dominated his practice over the last two years “and where those two things meet or create some action is on the restructuring side,” Grillo said in an interview. “You want to be in a place and in a position where you can be able to cross-sell those skills.”

Orrick is adding Grillo to its roster after earlier this week picking up a 13-lawyer group from Gunderson Dettmer in Los Angeles—including Mike Heath and Cody Peterson, who co-founded the office.

At the UK’s Allen & Overy, Grillo served as chair of the US restructuring practice prior to the firm’s merger with New York-founded Shearman & Sterling in May 2024. He also previously served as the head of Goodwin’s financial restructuring practice.

“I’ve worked at the table with Manny for decades, and I’m incredibly excited to have him as part of our team,” Raniero D’Aversa, Orrick’s restructuring group leader, said in a statement. “His practice is an extraordinary fit with our focus on distressed energy, tech and finance.”

Grillo recently represented a foreign state-owned defense contractor in the Paramount Group Ltd. bankruptcy cases, a private investment fund in the foreclosure upon a defaulted borrower’s solar energy investment, and the equity holders of a portfolio of operating and developing solar projects.

There will be winners and losers after much investment in renewables and energy transition over the last decade because not every project will be successful or follow its original timeline, Grillo said. Issues such as inflation, interest rates, and tariffs add to the uncertainty, he said.

“For us in the restructuring markets, change brings opportunity,” Grillo said. “All of a sudden what you thought worked yesterday may not work today or tomorrow.”