Rich Cooper

Richard Cooper is a partner based in Cleary Gottlieb’s New York office. Rich is one of the preeminent cross-border restructuring lawyers in the United States and is the recognized leader in cross-border restructurings involving companies and countries in Latin America and other emerging markets. He has represented Governments and their State-owned enterprises in restructuring and other related transactions, including the Governments of Mexico, Lebanon, Indonesia, Colombia and Puerto Rico, as well as corporate issuers, distress investors and creditor committees in a wide variety of in court and out of court restructurings. Additionally, Rich has been a thought leader on issues related to the restructuring of Venezuelan debt and spoken and written extensively on the subject.
In the energy sector, Rich has represented a number of oil and gas and energy companies including Petrobras, Pemex, Ecopetrol, Pampa Energy, Northern Tier Refinery, PDVSA, PLN, PREPA and Sempra Energy, and has advised clients involved in some of the most noteworthy restructurings over the last 20 years. In Latin America, he has advised debtors and creditors, including, Odebrecht Oil and Gas, Constellation Oil Services Holding S.A., Tonon Bioenergia, Oi S.A., GVO, Mirabela Nickel, Embratel, IMPSA, and Odebrecht Engineering and Construction in Brazil; Oro Negro, Arendal, Empresas ICA, Grupo IDESA, Inbursa, and CEMEX in Mexico; San Antonio Oil and Gas, Albanesi, Metrogas, TGN, Edenor, Telecom Argentina, and Stoneway Capital Corporation in Argentina; and Automotores Gildemeister and Alsacia and Express in Chile. In the U.S., he has advised on the restructurings of PREPA, M&G Chemicals, Aleris, America West Airlines, Circle K, Insight Healthcare, and Lehman Brothers, among others. Rich is currently advising the United States Treasury in connection with the assistance it is providing air carriers under the CARES Act.
Rich is regularly recognized as a leading lawyer by Chambers Global, Chambers Latin America, Chambers USA, Latinvex, Latin Lawyer, Financial Times, Global M&A Network, The Legal 500 Latin America, The Legal 500 U.S., IFLR1000, and others. Law360 named him a “Bankruptcy MVP,” and Turnarounds & Workouts named him an “Outstanding Restructuring Lawyer” three years in a row.