A former Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP counsel is bringing his expertise in restructuring and liability management to Kramer Levin Naftalis & Frankel LLP's special situations practice.

Robert (Bodie) Stewart is taking on a partner role in Kramer Levin's New York office. He told Law360 Pulse on Monday that he was looking forward to joining a firm with a strong restructuring team as it works to bolster its out-of-court work in this area.

"I think one thing that I find extremely interesting with Kramer is that it has had a long-standing, really powerful in-court practice," he said, "and now it's putting a lot of emphasis into the out-of-court space, which, frankly, has been the much more active and more interesting area over the last few years — and I think increasingly so as stakeholders in the industry realize that there are many out-of-court options for them to pursue much of the time before actually going into the court process."

Stewart's clients include creditors, ad hoc groups, and companies. Just last year, he worked on the Davis Polk team advising an ad hoc group of public bondholders when co-working space provider WeWork announced that it had made a series of deals with investors to restructure its debt and obtain new funding.

Stewart began his legal career in Milbank LLP's New York and Singapore-based capital markets groups. He earned his law degree from Georgetown University Law Center.

"[Kramer Levin is] building up what I think is going to be an extremely strong practice group in [restructuring and liability management] but still being very nimble and very hungry and looking to build market share," he said. "And that really appeals to me as an entrepreneurial person to be out there and really trying to help build up a practice."

In a statement, bankruptcy and restructuring co-chair Amy Caton said Stewart "enhances our ability to think creatively and innovatively, two differentiating skills that will greatly benefit our hedge fund and distressed investor clients."

"Bodie's experience in liability management transactions and other out-of-court restructuring matters strengthens our special situations practice," she said. "Moreover, his significant recent experience in some of the highest-profile and most complicated deals in the market demonstrates a nuanced understanding of how capital markets practice and securities laws can affect structuring and execution."

Stewart's work also spans prepackaged, prearranged, and free-fall bankruptcies, according to Kramer Levin. He advises issuers and financial institutions on capital markets transactions as well.

"Bodie's wealth of experience in a broad range of out-of-court, as well as in-court, restructuring matters deepens our special situations practice bench and complements many of our other destination practices, including bankruptcy and restructuring and distressed mergers and acquisitions," Kramer Levin co-managing partners Paul H. Schoeman and Howard T. Spilko said in a joint statement.