What this seat involves
Restructuring lawyers operate at the point where a company's debt is greater than its ability to service it. The job is to restructure the balance sheet; reducing debt, extending maturities, or exchanging debt for equity; in a way that allows the business to survive. That can happen out of court (a consensual restructuring) or through a formal insolvency process (administration, scheme of arrangement, restructuring plan, or Chapter 11 in the US).
At US firms in London, restructuring work often involves cross-border situations with creditors governed by different laws. The English restructuring plan (introduced by CIGA 2020) has made London a significant centre for European restructurings. Understanding who you represent; company, secured lender, bondholders, or a distressed fund buying debt at a discount; changes the entire framing of the work.
Trainee-level work this seat is built around
You may not be asked to run all of this on a vacation scheme. This section explains the kind of work trainees and junior lawyers do, so the seat and its exercises make sense in context.
Capital structure analysis
Mapping the debt stack; who holds what, at what level in the structure, on what terms; to understand the priority waterfall and which creditors have leverage in the negotiation.
Document review and research
Reading existing facility agreements and bond indentures to identify what consents are needed for a restructuring, what events of default have been triggered, and what standstill rights creditors hold.
Research on insolvency processes
Researching specific procedural questions; how a scheme of arrangement works, what the voting thresholds are for a restructuring plan, or what cross-class cram-down means under the English regime.
Creditor committee support
Helping prepare materials for creditor committee meetings; position papers, analysis of competing proposals, valuation summaries. The committee's legal team drives much of the negotiation.
Distressed M&A support
Helping with the legal aspects of a loan-to-own strategy or a pre-pack administration sale; where a buyer is lined up before insolvency is formally commenced.
Court process support
Restructuring plans and schemes require court sanction. Preparing hearing bundles, reviewing evidence, and attending court to understand how judges approach contested restructuring issues.
What you could do on a vacation scheme
Vacation scheme exercises are usually lighter than trainee work. They are designed to test research, document sense, commercial judgement and how clearly you explain unfamiliar material.
Capital structure map
You may be asked to map who holds the debt, which creditors are secured and where value appears to break in a simple distressed structure.
Process comparison
You may be asked to compare administration, scheme of arrangement, restructuring plan or out-of-court workout at a high level and explain why one might be chosen.
Creditor position summary
You may be asked to summarise what a particular creditor wants, what leverage they have and what information is missing before advice can be given.
Document review for triggers
You may be asked to read a short finance document extract and identify events of default, consent thresholds or standstill language that could matter in a restructuring.
What good looks like at this stage
Clarify the task, have a proper go before escalating, explain your thinking and return clean work. The best vacation schemers are proactive and curious without creating noise.
At vacation-scheme stage, the useful starting point is understanding the capital structure and having an idea of where the money or value lies. If you can work out who is owed money, who is secured, and who is likely to recover something, you are already asking the right kind of questions.
Research to do before you start
- Understand the basic English insolvency processes: administration, CVA, scheme of arrangement, and the restructuring plan introduced by the Corporate Insolvency and Governance Act 2020.
- Look into what makes the restructuring plan different from a scheme, including the idea of cross-class cram-down.
- Read about the priority waterfall in a leveraged capital structure: how secured debt, senior unsecured debt, subordinated debt, and equity rank on enforcement. Understanding where value breaks is fundamental.
- Look at significant recent English restructuring cases; Virgin Atlantic, Cineworld, Thames Water; and understand the legal issues and how the process was used.
- Understand what a distressed debt fund does: buying debt at a discount, potentially with a view to gaining control of the company through a debt-for-equity swap.
- Read about the tension between English restructuring processes and US Chapter 11, and why companies sometimes choose to restructure in the US even when they operate primarily in Europe.
Questions worth asking
Has cross-class cram-down changed how creditors negotiate in restructuring plans?
Specific, technically grounded, and reflects how the legal landscape actually changed after CIGA 2020. Shows you've engaged with the current law, not just the historic framework.
When a distressed fund buys a company's debt, what is it usually trying to achieve?
A question about strategy and reputation that only someone who has thought about how these situations play out would ask.
Is the volume of restructuring work picking up as higher-for-longer interest rates work through the leveraged capital structures put in place during the low-rate era?
Counter-cyclical awareness. Restructuring practices have been watching the maturity wall for years; the answer reflects what's actually in the pipeline.
In a cross-border situation, what determines whether you use an English restructuring plan, a US Chapter 11, or an out-of-court workout?
Shows you understand the cross-border dimension that makes US firm restructuring work distinctive. The answer reveals the strategic choices driving the most interesting mandates.