Cadwalader adds financial restructuring partner

Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft has hired Mike Rupe, the former head of King & Spalding’s financial restructuring practice as it builds out its bankruptcy practice.

Rupe joins as a partner and head of special situations and reorganizations in New York. Cadwalader managing partner Pat Quinn said Rupe is an “ideal leader” of the firm’s growing special situations practice, and fits into its strategic growth plan.

Rupe joined King & Spalding in 2009. He was previously co-chair of Katten Muchin Rosenman’s New York bankruptcy and creditors’ rights practice.

Rupe advises financial institutions on in- and out-of-court workouts, restructurings and reorganization matters, the firm said.

He has represented creditor groups in a number of high-profile chapter 11 cases and out-of-court restructurings, including those of CEC Entertainment, APC Automotive Technologies, Fairway Group Holdings, Gymboree Group and Payless Holdings, among others. Rupe also led the team representing a crossover lender group in the chapter 11 cases of Nine West Holdings.

Rupe is the latest hiring for the firm’s private credit and special situations capabilities. It recently added partners Bevis Metcalfe and Matthew Smith in London.