The head of US companywide restructuring at Simpson Thacher & Bartlett has rejoined Weil Gotshal & Manges in New York, after around 18 months at the firm. 

Sunny Singh has returned to Weil as a co-chair of its top-ranked global restructuring department, which has more than 140 lawyers globally. His move follows a leadership position in the practice opening up after Ray Schrock, who was a restructuring co-chair at Weil, exited late last month for Latham & Watkins alongside two more partners.  

Singh will co-chair the practice alongside Matt Barr, Gary Holtzer and Jeffrey Saferstein. He spent nearly 15 years at Weil before joining Simpson Thacher in spring last year, making partner at the firm in 2017. 

Singh advises debtors, boards of directors, sponsors and investors on significant chapter 11 cases, pre-packaged bankruptcies and out-of-court restructurings. He also advises on matters spanning a range of industries, including energy, technology, retail, infrastructure, telecommunications, real estate and financial services.

Weil executive partner Barry Wolf said Singh had “distinguished himself as an exceptional restructuring lawyer, client advisor and colleague”.

His return to Weil comes as the firm goes through the process of funding a successor to Wolf, who is approaching the firm’s mandatory retirement age and is expected to stand down in the next few years, Law.com reported.   

Singh has advised on some of the largest and most complex restructuring matters, including acting for the Sears debtors in their chapter 11 cases. He also represented the chapter 11 debtors in Exide, a restructuring which resulted in a first-of-its-kind global settlement with more than a dozen regulators to resolve hundreds of millions of dollars of Exide’s historical environmental liabilities. 

“We’ve worked side by side with Sunny on some of the most complex corporate restructurings and turnaround situations of the past decade, and we know our clients will benefit enormously from his judgement and experience,” said Barr, a co-chair of Weil’s restructuring department. “We’re thrilled to have Sunny back on our team.”

A Simpson Thacher representative didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment on Singh’s exit.

Weil also saw Elizabeth Stotland Weiswasser, co-chair of its litigation department and executive committee member, and Anish Desai, co-head of the firm’s patent litigation practice, exit to join Paul Weiss in New York late last month, amid a growing trend of rainmaker moves. 

Going the other way, the firm has been busily recruiting lateral talent over the course of the year, including a partner apiece from Fried Frank and White & Case in New York earlier this month to boost its banking and finance and executive compensation practices. 

Weil also hired a pair of private equity dealmakers from Latham & Watkins in the summer to open offices in Los Angeles and San Francisco.