Andrew Alfano is a counsel in the Insolvency and Restructuring group at Pillsbury and a member of TMA’s NextGen Committee (New York chapter). In law school, Andrew enrolled in a bankruptcy law course his second year with the late Professor Alan N. Resnick. While Andrew heard that Professor Resnick was an engaging and enthusiastic professor, Andrew knew little about the subject or that Professor Resnick’s course would be the start of his journey as a bankruptcy lawyer. What immediately attracted him to bankruptcy practice was the variety that it offered, both in terms of the industries impacted and the areas of law implicated in any given case, as well as its fast-paced and high stakes nature.
After law school, Andrew clerked for the Honorable Elizabeth S. Stong in the US Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of New York. His time as a clerk was engaging and demanding. He helped manage about 30-40 chapter 11 cases, most of which were small or medium in size, and numerous individual cases. Most importantly, Andrew learned how to think like a judge, communicate and write effectively, and manage multiple workstreams (cases) at one time. These skills helped prepare him for private practice.
After his clerkship, Andrew joined Pillsbury and has been practicing there for about the last 7 years. Pillsbury’s I&R practice is diverse. Andrew has represented creditor groups, indenture trustees, chapter 11 debtors, chapter 15 debtors and foreign representatives, aircraft lessors and financiers, and other stakeholders in court and out of court. His work over the last few years has focused largely on representing governmental creditors in mass tort cases that filed as a result of the opioid crisis (Purdue, Endo International, and INSYS). Most importantly, Pillsbury’s clients in those cases, the State AG offices for various US states, have all agreed to dedicate their recoveries to abatement of the opioid crisis, which will hopefully help save lives.
In his spare time, Andrew enjoys golfing, skiing, cooking, reading, and training his crazy 2-year old Vizsla, named Stanley.