A $500 Billion Corporate-Debt Storm Builds Over Global Economy

Richard Cooper’s phone is something of an early alarm bell for the global economy. Lately, it’s been ringing a lot.

A partner at Cleary Gottlieb, a top law firm for corporate bankruptcies, he’s advised businesses worldwide for decades on what to do when they’re drowning in debt. He did it through the global financial crisis, the oil bust in 2016 and Covid-19. And he’s doing it again now, in a year when big corporate bankruptcies are piling up at the second-fastest pace since 2008, eclipsed only by the early days of the pandemic.

“It feels different than prior cycles,” Cooper said. “You’re ...