Rishi Kapoor

Partner
Kapoor Rishi

Rishi Kapoor focuses on complex litigation, within and outside of the bankruptcy context. Rishi represents clients in mediation and assists with pre-litigation disputes. He advises commercial lenders and creditors, asset managers, investment banks, and other sophisticated corporate entities on a wide range of issues arising from investments, financing, derivatives, and real estate-related transactions. He also represents clients in all aspects of the Chapter 11 process, including first-day motions, relief from the automatic stay, 363 sales, claims litigation, avoidance actions based on preferential or fraudulent transfers, and plan confirmation.

Rishi frequently works on commercial mortgage-backed securities services (CMBS) issues – assisting trusts and special servicers on single-asset real estate bankruptcies, intercreditor disputes, foreclosure and guaranty actions, receiverships, lender-liability actions, UCC sales of mezzanine interests, and workouts, modifications, and sales of CMBS loans. 

In addition, Rishi advises financial institutions in disputes related to complex financial transactions, including those associated with the issuance and redemption of credit-linked notes, and the close-out of derivatives transactions with insolvent counterparties.

Experience

Representative Matters

  • Represented a global watch company as a Chapter 11 debtor, completing a 363 sale of the company’s assets in less than two months after the commencement of bankruptcy, and obtaining court approval of the company’s Chapter 11 plan in under four months
  • Represented a global investment bank in its lawsuit against a hedge fund that was seeking to recover tens of millions of dollars in distributions from a liquidating trust. Prior to discovery, the court granted summary judgment for the client, awarding more than $30 million, plus the rights to all future distributions 
  • Represented a CMBS trust and the loan's special servicer in a breach of contract action brought by the defaulting commercial borrower, challenging the servicer’s authority to administer the loan. Obtained complete dismissal of the action following a pre-answer motion to dismiss
  • Represented various CMBS trusts in successfully foreclosing on properties, obtaining securitized commercial loans ranging from millions of dollars to more than several billion dollars. In several of these cases, the firm successfully petitioned and was granted the appointment of a receiver to manage the property at issue, while the foreclosure action was pending
  • Represented a CMBS special servicer in the pre-answer dismissal of a lawsuit brought by the defaulting commercial borrower of a $27 million loan, asserting claims of tortious interference and breach of fiduciary duty  
  • Represented a major foreign bank in reaching a court-approved settlement of its bankruptcy claims against the Lehman Brothers estate, worth more than $500 million, and its subsequent efforts to monetize those claims by selling them to various financial institutions 
  • Assisted the foreign representative of an insolvent Swiss company on issues related to its Chapter 15 filings and represented the client in bankruptcy litigation against counterparties arising from the close-out of more than $100 million of derivatives contracts

Insights

Credentials
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Education

  • J.D. Fordham University School of Law 2008
    • Intern, United States Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of New York 
    • Intern, New York Stock Exchange Regulation Department
  • B.S.E. cum laude University of Michigan 2004

Bar Admissions

  • New York

Court Admissions

  • U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York
  • U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York

Professional Memberships and Activities

  • Former coordinator and mentor, Venable New York Summer Associate Program
  • Member, Venable Diversity and Inclusion Committee and New York Hiring Committee
 

Recognition
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  • Super LawyersRising Star, New York Metro, 2021 – 2023

Community
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Pro Bono

  • Represents an individual seeking asylum in the United States; previously obtained asylum for individuals who were persecuted in their home countries because of their political affiliation or sexual orientation
  • Counseled the Legal Aid Society in its efforts to hold the state of New York accountable for violating a mother's due process rights when her infant son was unjustly removed from her custody
  • Advised a community-based nonprofit lender to small businesses in the New York City area