Selendy Gay Adds Paul Weiss Bankruptcy Partner Kelley Cornish

New York litigation boutique Selendy Gay on Tuesday said it hired Kelley Cornish, a bankruptcy partner at Paul Weiss.

Cornish has represented Walter Energy over bankruptcy appellate matters and fashion retailer SPARC Group in its acquisition of Brooks Brothers and Lucky Apparel. She has been at Paul Weiss for over two decades.

“I began my career as a litigator, and in recent years, litigation has become commonplace in out-of-court restructurings and Chapter 11 cases as corporate and capital structures are increasingly complex and stakeholders are more adversarial,” Cornish said in a statement.

The new addition comes as Selendy Gay rebounds from the loss of one of its founding partners, David Elsberg, who left the firm last month to launch his own firm.

The trial-heavy firm has jumped into litigation on both sides of the docket, including representing plaintiffs bringing a class action suit against Coinbase over alleged securities violations and defending consulting firm McKinsey & Co. against RICO conspiracy allegations.

“We’re happy to have another female trailblazer,” said founding partner Faith Gay in an interview, who said Cornish brings expertise and maturity to the firm’s operations. The firm is looking to maximize its market share of bankruptcy litigation, she said.

“This type of work has been accelerating, and adding Kelley to our bench really deepens our capability,” Gay said.

In the last year, the firm has added two other lateral partners, including Rajat Rana and Temidayo Aganga-Williams, a senior investigative counsel for the House Select Committee on the January 6 insurrection.

Selendy Gay, formerly known as Selendy Gay & Elsberg, launched in 2018 with 10 Quinn Emanuel partners. The litigation boutique has nearly 80 attorneys.

Cornish starts at Selendy Gay on Feb. 26.