Boies Schiller Flexner announced the addition of two lateral partners to our New York office this week: Robert Gordon and Frederick Lee. Robert, who started on October 24, focuses on both in-court and out-of-court restructuring matters; while Frederick, who began October 28 and plans to eventually relocate to the Los Angeles office, bolsters the firm’s experience with copyright- and AI-related issues that entertainment and technology companies face.
“We are excited to welcome Bob and Freddie to the firm,” said Chairman Matthew L. Schwartz. “Bob strengthens our offering for clients involved with investment disputes, particularly in the distressed debt and restructuring space; and Freddie returns to BSF with deeply relevant experience in the issues impacting technology, media, and entertainment companies today.”
Robert offers clients a wealth of restructuring experience, having represented distressed companies, significant creditor constituencies, and related parties in complex, high-stakes corporate and public sector restructurings. His recent work includes advising a special committee of independent directors in the chapter 11 case of Intelsat S.A., restructuring $14 billion of debt, and advising on the largest in-court public sector restructuring in U.S. history, representing the Official Retiree Committee in the bankruptcy of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico (holding claims of $58 billion).
“BSF has an incredible reputation as an elite trial firm that is willing to aggressively advocate for its clients,” Robert said. “The combination of trial strength, crisis management capabilities, and government relationships are all crucial components in the restructuring space today. I’m looking forward to further developing the practice here.”
Robert’s experience spans industries such as energy, telecommunications, automotive/manufacturing, real estate, gaming and hospitality, media and entertainment, retail, and aviation. He has advised distressed companies, independent directors, ad hoc and official creditors’ and retirees’ committees, pension systems, secured and unsecured creditors, distressed-asset investors, lessors, trustees and liquidating agents. Robert also provides advice regarding contractual risk management and represents parties in liability management transactions in the restructuring context. Robert joins from a national law firm.
Frederick brings a wide range of media and entertainment-related experience to the firm from his roles in-house. Most recently, he served as vice president and assistant chief counsel for The Walt Disney Company, where he was Global Head of Product Legal for Disney’s various streaming offerings, including Disney+, Hulu, and ESPN+. Prior to that he was corporate counsel at Amazon Inc., a role that included serving as Global Head of Legal for all artificial intelligence work at Amazon’s streaming service, Prime Video.
“I am thrilled to be returning to Boies Schiller Flexner, a firm that’s known for both its willingness to take cases to trial and its entrepreneurial culture” Frederick said. “I have enjoyed my time working in-house at large, innovative companies, but I’ve also missed being a courtroom litigator. I’m looking forward to bringing my skills in entertainment, AI, copyright, and other areas to clients in private practice.”
Frederick also previously served as general counsel to Hiro Systems, which at the time was a $5 billion market cap blockchain technology company and where he led the first-ever SEC-qualified digital token offering. He also co-founded a legal finance company and is an angel investor in an AI company. Early in his career, Frederick spent seven years as an associate in BSF’s New York office, interspersed with clerkships for judges in the Southern District of New York and the Second Circuit.