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Mark D. Sherrill

Partner

Mark is a bankruptcy and insolvency lawyer who focuses on financial and commodity markets. 

Mark's practical experience with derivatives and other commodity contracts provides an edge when those issues arise in bankruptcy court. In turn, Mark’s experience in many of the country’s largest bankruptcy cases helps him counsel clients on specific bankruptcy risks at the transactional stage.

With a keen understanding of the complex derivatives market, Mark focuses primarily on the effect of bankruptcy law on physical and financial trading of energy commodities. He counsels energy companies and commodity traders to protect clients’ business interests as they interact with financially distressed counterparties. He also works with energy companies, commodity traders and hedge funds on various complex transactions, including asset-based structured transactions, agreements for the purchase and sale of energy and commodities and other over-the-counter derivatives. Mark aids companies in evaluating credit and liquidity risks, including assisting a major hedge fund with an emergency review of its entire trading book at the outset of the credit crunch. He also addresses issues related to the ongoing dynamics of contractual and regulatory responses to systemic risk.

Aside from financial and commodity issues, Mark has represented debtors, DIP lenders, secured creditors, noteholders, post-confirmation trusts and other major constituencies in bankruptcy proceedings involving commercial real estate, airlines, major retailers, consumer products and telecommunications companies. He has engaged in alternative dispute resolution and significant bankruptcy litigation, including at the appellate level. In addition, Mark has represented numerous buyers and sellers of distressed assets, in and out of bankruptcy court.

Before joining the firm, Mark served as a law clerk for the Honorable Randolph Baxter of the US Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Ohio.

  • Serves as counsel to DIP lenders in such cases as a New York-based energy finance company and a Louisiana-based offshore E&P company.
  • Represented private equity fund as deal counsel in its successful bid and acquisition of four coal-fired power plants totaling 1200 MW of generation capacity in New Jersey, West Virginia and Arkansas including back leverage financing to support the acquisition.
  • PPA Fundamentals, November 2, 2021, CoBank
  • Here We Go Again: Bankruptcy Issues from the Oil Patch and Beyond, April 29, 2020, Association of Corporate Counsel
  • FERC Vs Bankruptcy Court: Jurisdictional Battle of the Titans, February 11, 2020, North American Power Credit Organization
  • Best Practices to Protect Your Company Against Financially Distressed Counterparties, September 11, 2018, North American Power Credit Organization

Publications

  • In Defense of the Bankruptcy Code's Safe Harbors, The Business Lawyer (Vol. 70, Fall 2015)
  • To Knock First or Barge Right In: Is a Chapter 11 Committee's Right to Intervene in an Adversary Proceeding Absolute or Permissive? Emory Bankruptcy Developments Journal (Vol. 23, 2007)
  • Named to The Best Lawyers in America in the area of bankruptcy and creditor debtor rights (2024)
  • Selected for inclusion in Washington, D.C., Super Lawyers® “Rising Stars” (2013-2014)
  • Member, American Bankruptcy Institute
  • Member, International Swaps and Derivatives Association
  • Member, Futures Industry Association
  • District of Columbia
  • Ohio
  • Texas
  • Virginia

Honorable Randolph Baxter, U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Ohio

  • B.A., Johns Hopkins University
  • J.D., Washington and Lee University School of Law
Mark Sherrill

Partner

Mark Sherrill

Partner

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