DLA Piper announced today that Chris Dickerson, formerly a partner at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meager & Flom LLP, has joined the Corporate and Finance practice as a partner in the Chicago office. Dickerson, who has been involved in some of the highest profile bankruptcy filings in recent years, focuses his practice on complex business reorganizations, debt restructurings and insolvency matters.

“Chris brings an established and sophisticated bankruptcy practice to our growing corporate platform,” said Roger Meltzer, global chair of DLA Piper’s Corporate and Finance practice.  “His well-regarded practice spans the breadth of the debtor and creditor sides of bankruptcy matters with tremendous experience in the distressed marketplace.”

Dickerson is the latest in a series of high-profile restructuring lawyers to join DLA Piper this year, following the recent arrival of his former colleague Gregg Galardi, who joined in May from Skadden Arps. In April, Craig Rasile and Andrew Zaron joined the firm’s Miami office from Hunton & Williams. Stuart Brown joined as managing partner of the firm’s Wilmington office, which opened in March. In February, a team of five partners, led by Richard A. Chesley, joined the practice in Chicago. 

Dickerson has counseled many large corporations in Chapter 11 matters, including The Antioch Company; Circuit City Stores, Inc.; CIT Group, Inc.; Refco, Inc.; US Airways, Inc.; and Zenith Electronics. He also regularly assists secured lenders and providers of debtor-in-possession financing, including Citibank, N.A. as debtor-in-possession lender to Solutia Inc., JPMorgan Chase & Co. as debtor-in-possession lender to Kaiser Aluminum Corporation. In addition, Chris has assisted financial institutions, private equity and hedge funds such as Black Diamond Capital, BNP Paribas, Silver Point Capital and Credit Suisse in in-court and out-of-court acquisitions of distressed assets.

The Deal magazine lists Dickerson as one of the “Top Bankruptcy M&A Lawyers” and featured him as the No. 1 lawyer on that list in 2010 and 2009. 

“Chris’ deep experience in the bankruptcy and restructuring space makes him an important asset to the Chicago office, further expanding our corporate practice in Chicago,” said Michael Poulos, co-managing partner of DLA Piper’s Chicago office.  “His insight will be invaluable to the numerous clients who rely on our guidance in Chapter 11 and debt investment matters.”