Jessica Liou is a senior associate in the Business Finance and Restructuring Department at Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP. Ms. Liou advises debtors, creditors, equity holders, investors, and other interested parties in all aspects of distressed and insolvency situations in various industries, including power, oil & gas, renewable energy, manufacturing, hospitality, retail and telecommunications. Her debtor representations include, among others, Claires Stores, Inc., Fieldwood Energy LLC, Basic Energy Services, Inc., Westinghouse Electric Company LLC, Paragon Offshore plc, Essar Steel Algoma Inc., Endeavour International Corporation, Extended Stay Hotels, AES Eastern Energy, Nortek, Hawkeye Renewables, Steve & Barry’s, and Recycled Paper Greetings. Her creditor representations include, among others, Brookfield, as one of the largest first lien creditors in the chapter 11 cases of Texas Competitive Electric Holdings Company LLC and its debtor affiliates, The Export-Import Bank of China as the largest secured creditor in the Baha Mar Ltd. insolvency proceedings, and Harbinger Capital Partners in the TerreStar Networks Inc. and TerreStar Corporation chapter 11 cases.
Ms. Liou has been a regular contributor to the Weil Bankruptcy Blog, has served on the Firm’s task force focused on Dodd-Frank financial legislation, and practices pro bono in the areas of family law and criminal appeals, where she successfully argued before the New York State Appellate Division to uphold an order of protection and was part of a team that successfully overturned a death penalty conviction for a mentally impaired defendant after 19 years. She has been recognized for her pro bono contributions by Sanctuary for Families Center for Battered Women’s Legal Services as a recipient of its 2012 Pro Bono Achievement Award.
Ms. Liou earned her J.D. from Boston College Law School, where she served as a legal writing teaching assistant and articles editor of the Third World Law Journal and was awarded the inaugural Commitment to Change Award. She obtained her B.A. from New York University, where she graduated magna cum laude and was awarded the Albert Gallatin Scholarship and Founder’s Day Award.