WilmerHale

Partner

Co-Chair, Bankruptcy and Financial Restructuring Practice Group

Philip Anker, co-chair of the firm's Bankruptcy and Financial Restructuring Practice Group, is an experienced bankruptcy litigator and counselor who has practiced for more than 30 years in the field. Among other honors, he has been inducted as a Fellow of the American College of Bankruptcy. Mr. Anker has been selected as one of the “Best Lawyers” in Bankruptcy and Creditor Debtor Rights/Insolvency and Reorganization Law in the Best Lawyers in America each year since 2005, with peers stating that he is “a first-class litigator who is tremendous in open court.” In the 2020 edition, Best Lawyers in America named him "Lawyer of the Year" in the area of Litigation - Bankruptcy. He is also listed in the 2013-2021 editions of the Best Lawyers in America in the area of Litigation - Bankruptcy; the 2012-2022 editions of Chambers USA: America's Leading Lawyers for Business for his “excellent” Bankruptcy/Restructuring work, where clients describe him as “amazing in court,” “commercial, thoughtful and with a good command of the law” and “tough, tenacious, credible and incredibly effective;” the 2010-2021 editions of Benchmark Litigation, which has rated him as a “National Star” and “Top 10 Practitioner” for Bankruptcy Law and cites Mr. Anker's peers and clients as saying that he is “a superb lawyer, highly professional, and among the elite bankruptcy practitioners;” in the 2018 edition of Expert Guides' Best of the Best USA as one of the leading practitioners in the country in Restructuring and Insolvency Law, as selected by his peers; and in the 2020-2021 editions of Lawdragon where he is listed as among the 500 leading bankruptcy and restructuring lawyers in the country.

Mr. Anker's practice is wide-ranging. He has represented the full panoply of clients in business bankruptcy cases: debtors, Chapter 11 trustees, trustees of post-confirmation trusts, creditors' committees, ad hoc committees, secured creditors, debtor-in-possession lenders, noteholders, indenture trustees, unsecured trade creditors, equity holders, investors and purchasers of companies, claims and assets in bankruptcy. In addition, Mr. Anker has played a leading role in some of the largest, most prominent bankruptcy-related litigation matters in recent years, including disputed plan confirmation and other highly contested matters, as well as adversary proceedings and other actions, arising out of the Adelphia, Boston Generating, Boy Scouts, Energy Future Holdings, Enron, Global Crossing, Grupo Aeromexico, Idearc, Intelsat, Lyondell, Momentive, Refco, Sears, and Tribune Chapter 11 cases, as well as several consumer bankruptcy class actions. Among other prominent cases, Mr. Anker obtained the allowance for a group of noteholders of nearly $600 million in make-whole claims in one of the largest Chapter 11 cases ever, completed the successful defense at trial of a multi-billion-dollar fraudulent transfer action, and successfully prosecuted, at trial and on appeal, claims for contempt arising out of an acquisition, also led by Mr. Anker, of substantially all of the assets of a leading data fusion company. Mr. Anker has argued and prevailed (in whole or in substantial part) in nine separate bankruptcy appeals in the US Courts of Appeals, including In re MPM Silicones, LLC, 874 F.3d 787 (2d Cir. 2017); Delaware Trust Co. v. Energy Future Intermediate Holding Co., 842 F.3d 249 (3d Cir. 2016); In re Tribune Co. Fraudulent Transfer Litigation, 818 F.3d 98 (2d Cir. 2016); Adelphia Recovery Trust v. Bank of America, No. 09-0039-CV, 379 F. App'x 10 (2d Cir. 2010), aff'g, 390 B.R. 80 (S.D.N.Y. 2008); Eastman Kodak Co. v. Wachovia Bank, N.A., 456 F.3d 1277 (11th Cir. 2006); MBNA America Bank, N.A. v. Hill, 436 F.3d 104 (2d Cir. 2006); Arruda v. Sears, Roebuck & Co., 310 F.3d 13 (1st Cir. 2002); and AT&T Universal Card Servs. v. Mercer, 246 F.3d 391 (5th Cir. en banc 2001). Mr. Anker also successfully argued for the investment bank defendants in the New York Court of Appeals in Kirschner v. KPMG, et al., 15 N.Y. 3d 446, 938 N.E. 2d 941, 912 N.Y.S. 2d 508 (N.Y. Ct. App. 2010), which resulted in that court's seminal decision reinforcing the in pari delicto defense and the dismissal of $2 billion in claims against the banks.

Mr. Anker is a member of the New York City Bar Association Bankruptcy Committee as well as the American Bankruptcy Institute. He is a periodic contributor on the Creditor Rights Coalition, a frequent speaker and panelist at bankruptcy law conferences, and an author of numerous articles on issues of bankruptcy and related law. Mr. Anker previously served as co-chair of the Debtor Practice Subcommittee of the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Committee of the American Bar Association Section of Litigation.

JD, George Washington University Law School, 1982 BA, University of Pennsylvania, 1978