{{news.date}}
{{news.source}}
{{news.type}}
Katherine Catanese
Partner
Katherine (Katie) Catanese is a partner in our Restructuring and Insolvency Practice Group, where she advises distressed companies on strategically solving financial issues they face, recognizing that not every company in distress needs to file bankruptcy and each solution must be tailored made to fit the particular company’s specific needs. In this regard, she focuses on non-bankruptcy alternatives as well, including Article 9’s, assignments for the benefit of creditors, wind-downs, receiverships and out of court sales.
In addition to working with troubled companies, she represents funds, creditors and investors, as well as other parties in fraud-related litigation within the insolvency space, especially in the cross-border space. Katie has significant experience in filing Chapter 15s and representing liquidators, lenders and creditors, both domestically and abroad, with issues they face in various insolvency situations. Her work often involves litigating jurisdictional disputes, cross-border claims issues, fraudulent transfers and alter ego claims at the intersection of US and offshore entities.
She also has represented numerous domestic and foreign insurance companies and related entities in disputes arising in distressed situations, including selling assets of distressed companies with collateral protection insurance and complex proof of claim disputes.
Katie also helps clients maximize asset value through in- and out-of-court sales, and counsels creditors on distressed debt issues, including representation of creditors in various cryptocurrency bankruptcies.
Additionally, Katie is deeply committed to pro bono work. She has contributed to nationwide innocence projects and advocates for low-income women in family law matters, reflecting her dedication to access to justice.
- Representing foreign liquidators and defendants in complex Chapter 15s and litigations in the US.
- Representing lenders and funds against non-paying borrowers in litigation, including in and out of bankruptcy disputes.
- Represented numerous distressed restaurant chains in out of court, non-bankruptcy solutions to maximize value and avoid the expensive bankruptcy process.
- Represented numerous entities in various industries in Article 9’s, Assignments for the Benefit of Creditors and receiverships across the US.
- Represented purchasers in buying distressed assets of a catalog company, food equipment, farming equipment, commercial boilers and financial services products.
- Represents companies in distress in “business divorce” litigation.
- Representing insurance companies in the sale of distressed assets subject to collateral protection insurance.
Education
- Michigan State University, J.D., cum laude, 2004
- Michigan State University, B.A., summa cum laude, 2001
Admissions
- New York, 2012
- Michigan, 2004
Memberships & Affiliations
- Vice President-International, American Bankruptcy Institute
- Former board member, Association of Insolvency and Restructuring Advisors
- Former visiting professor, teaching research and writing at Thomas M. Cooley Law School
- Member, International Women’s Restructuring and Insolvency Confederation (IWIRC)
- Board Member, Association of Insolvency and Restructuring Advisors (AIRA)
- Member, Turnaround Management Association (TMA)
- Former member, ABA Task Force on Attorney Discipline
- Lifetime member, Michigan State University Alumni Association
- Former member, Michigan State University Law Alumni Board
- Pro bono award for assisting Be’er Hagolah, a K-12 Jewish school in Brooklyn
- Selected for inclusion to Law Leaders 2024 (top 10% attorneys in the nation)
- Selected for inclusion to the New York Metro Super Lawyers list in the field of Bankruptcy: Business (2021, 2022 and 2025)
- Recognized by Lawdragon as one of the 500 Leading US Bankruptcy and Restructuring Lawyers (2020, 2022 and 2024)
- Recognized as “40 Under 40” by American Bankruptcy Institute in the field of insolvency (2018)
- Speaker, ABI European Insolvency Symposium, Berlin, “Third Party Releases and Chapter 15 Implications,” October 2025.
- Speaker, NCBJ Conference, AIRA Lunch Program, “Other Roles in the Bankruptcy Process – Trustees, Examiners, Why Not Special Masters?”, September 2025.
- Chair, ABI Latin America Symposium, Mexico City, September 2024 and Cartagena, Colombia, May 2025.
- Chair, ABI Caribbean Insolvency Symposium, Puerto Rico, January 2024 and Cayman, January 2025.
- Speaker, ABI Winter Leadership Conference, “Financially Distressed De-SPAC Companies,” December 1, 2023.
- Speaker, ABI Winter Leadership Conference, “Financially Distressed De-SPAC Companies,” December 1, 2023.
- Speaker, “Rebuilding After Covid,” 95th Annual Conference of the National Conference of Bankruptcy Judges (NCBJ), October 8, 2021.
- Speaker, “Taming a Black Swan: Feasibility in Uncertain Times,” Webinar, American Bar Association (ABI), 2021 Rocky Mountain Bankruptcy Conference, January 29, 2021.
- Speaker, “Governance & Litigation Finance: What Board Members Should Know,” Webinar, American Bar Association, Business Law Section, September 15, 2020.
- Oversight Board, American Bankruptcy Institute Caribbean Insolvency Symposium 2020, February 3-5, 2020, Puerto Rico.