They’ve Got Next: The 40 Under 40 - Angela Libby of Davis Polk & Wardwell

Angela Libby

Age: 39

Law Firm: Davis Polk & Wardwell

Practice Area: Bankruptcy & Restructuring

Title: Partner

Location: New York

Law School: New York University School of Law

Please describe two of your most substantial, recent wins in practice.

From 2023-2024, I represented bondholders holding over $3 billion of claims against the holding company of Silicon Valley Bank when the bank dramatically collapsed. During the Chapter 11 case, the bondholders enabled a successful sale of the remaining operating business by effectively serving as a stalking horse bidder.

We then negotiated the terms of a liquidating trust to monetize the company’s extensive warrant portfolio and pursue a $2 billion deposit claim against the FDIC, with proceeds distributed to creditors on a “waterfall” basis, based on seniority, and agreed rates of return, which resolved intercreditor valuation disputes and led to a consensual plan. We currently represent the liquidating trust, including with respect to the deposit claim litigation.

This year, I represented the lenders to MSG Networks in connection with a comprehensive restructuring, necessitated by increased commercial pressures on regional sports networks. We successfully led a multi-party negotiation that resulted in a restructured business plan for MSG Networks, concessions from all stakeholders and a restructuring of the company’s balance sheet going forward. Most importantly, we were able to accomplish the restructuring entirely out-of-court, which allowed the company to avoid the costs of an in-court process and preserved significant value for our clients.

What is the most important lesson you learned as a first-year attorney and how does it inform your practice today?

The key lesson of my first year was the importance of demonstrating excellence in every assignment, no matter how small. If you cannot be trusted to get the smallest assignments right, then you will simply never gain the confidence of your team, or your clients, when it comes to the extremely complex, high stakes matters that clients come to us for. That is a lesson that has held true to my practice today—our practice demands excellence at every stage of the transaction, from making sure every comma is where it should be, to truly understanding every nuance, argument and counterargument in order to deliver the best result for your clients.

How do you define success in your practice?

To me, success means being a trusted adviser. Every time that a client hires us for a transaction, they are counting on us to care about the transaction as much as they do, to work tirelessly alongside them to get the best results and to share our legal advice and judgment in those critical deal moments. And fundamentally, that trust is rooted in obtaining successful outcomes for clients, even in the most complicated and fraught situations.

In restructuring, a successful outcome can mean anything from an out-of-court restructuring of the capital structure to avoid a court process to a full-blown in-court restructuring that results in a change-of-control transaction. It sometimes looks like a trial court victory, but equally often can be measured by the ability to reach a quick settlement with various stakeholders that avoids litigation costs and uncertainty.

To truly earn the role of a trusted adviser, restructuring professionals need to able to assess and advise on the full range of potential outcomes and then go achieve the one that is best for the client. Building a track record demonstrating successful outcomes and earning that level of trust, repeatedly and from multiple clients, is how I measure the success of my career.

What are you most proud of as a lawyer?

I am proud just to be a lawyer! As the first in my family to get a high school diploma, let alone go to college or law school, I never could have imagined that I would be in the position that I am in now. As a woman partner in a field with still too few woman leaders, I am proud to be part of a group of women partners across various practice groups in the restructuring world that are coming up in their careers and who, individually and collectively, are going to be powerful leaders in our industry.

Who is your greatest mentor in the law and what have they taught you?

My partners in the restructuring group at Davis Polk have been my greatest mentors. I have known most of them since I was a 23-year-old summer associate, and over the past 15 years, I have learned so much from them. They taught me that excellent lawyering involves both deep intellectualism and creative, out-of-the-box thinking, and that delivering truly top-notch service to clients requires teamwork, from each other and from others across the firm.

Clients have a lot of options if they want the solution from the last big transaction, but they come to Davis Polk restructuring when they want the solution to the unsolvable or when they want to develop the next wave of technology on a deal. They’ve also shown me, through their own practices, that to be an effective counselor one must first and foremost learn to listen—to clients and to adversaries—so that we can truly understand points of difference and find ways to reach consensus.

Finally, and most importantly, each and every one of my restructuring partners has unfailingly modeled what it means to be a fully rounded person outside of their careers, through their dedication to their families, their communities and the many non-profits that they are involved with.

Tell us your two favorite songs on your summer music playlist.

“End of the World”—Miley Cyrus and “Pink Pony Club”—Chappell Roan. I’m keeping my summer playlist upbeat notwithstanding all of the uncertainty we are all living through. And my three-year-old son is obsessed with Chappell Roan.

Angela Libby of Davis Polk & Wardwell and her family on vacation in the Bahamas.

Photo Illustration: Jonathan Hurtarte/Bloomberg Law; Photo courtesy of Angela Libby