Craig Martin

Partner

Global Co-Chair, Restructuring

Managing Partner, Wilmington Office

Emailcraig.martin@us.dlapiper.com

About

Craig Martin is the office managing partner of the Firm's Delaware office and Global Co-Chair of the Firm's restructuring practice. He is a globally recognized restructuring and insolvency lawyer, known for advising stakeholders in complex domestic and cross‑border distressed situations. Based in Wilmington, Delaware, but also admitted in New York and Texas, he has built a practice centered on high‑stakes Chapter 11 cases, international insolvency proceedings, and restructuring‑related litigation, representing a wide range of constituencies including debtors, foreign representatives, creditors' committees, indenture trustees, lenders, and distressed asset purchasers.

Mr. Martin is particularly noted for his work in international insolvency and Chapter 15, representing foreign representatives and stakeholders in recognition proceedings and parallel restructurings. He is the author of the American Bankruptcy Institute's text on Chapter 15 and has been involved in several precedent setting cross border cases, including restructurings in the energy, retail, financial services, and technology sectors. He has also been involved in advising in fund exits and winddowns, particularly in situations where an offshore investment fund has a parallel Delaware entity as part of its investment structure.

Over the course of his career, Craig has played a leading role in some of the most sophisticated cross border restructurings of the past decade, acting in matters spanning North America, Europe, Asia, Latin America, and offshore jurisdictions. In a related practice area, Craig has advised parties involved in sovereign debt restructurings. His experience includes serving as counsel in proceedings involving many countries, including Canada, Cayman Islands, BVI, Germany, Ireland, India, China, Hong Kong, Singapore, South Korea, Japan, Spain, Isreal, Bermuda, the Dominican Republic, Mexico, Africa, the UK, and Argentina.

In addition to transactional and restructuring matters, Mr. Martin serves as first chair litigation counsel in bankruptcy related disputes, including litigation in the Delaware District Court, the Court of Chancery, Courts of Appeal over bond indenture interpretation, intercreditor issues, and contested governance and control matters. Craig has also argued numerous appeals in federal Courts of Appeals and the Delaware Supreme Court. His litigation experience complements his restructuring practice, allowing him to guide clients through both negotiated solutions and contested proceedings.

Areas of FocusRestructuring Finance

Bar admissionsDelawareNew YorkTexasDistrict of ColumbiaPennsylvania

CourtsSupreme Court of the United StatesUnited States Court of Appeals for the Third CircuitUnited States Court of Appeals for the Second CircuitUnited States District Court for the District of DelawareUnited States District Court for the Southern District of New YorkUnited States District Court for the Southern District of TexasUnited States District Court for the District of ColoradoUnited States District Court for the Eastern District of PennsylvaniaUnited States District Court for the Northern District of Texas

EXPERIENCE

Craig has acted in the following types of situations:

Cross Border Chapter 15 and Multinational Restructurings:
Represented stakeholders and foreign representatives in a range of complex cross border insolvency proceedings involving parallel cases and assets across multiple jurisdictions, including high profile restructurings such as China Fishery, Abengoa, Luckin Coffee, and Vesttoo, requiring coordination among US, European, Asian, and offshore insolvency regimes. As to his Chapter 15 cases, he frequently advises offshore liquidators and other foreign representatives, having filed over thirty chapter 15 cases in courts across the US, but predominately in Delaware, the Southern District of New York, and Miami, Florida.
International Insolvency Advisory Work:

Frequently been engaged to advise on the interaction between US bankruptcy law and foreign insolvency regimes, including recognition, enforcement, and coordination issues, drawing on deep experience in international restructuring practice. In this regard, he has assisted foreign counsel in filing recognition applications in Singapore, Australia, Isreal, Canada, Mexico and other foreign courts that have adopted the United Nations Model Law on Cross-Border Insolvency. He has also served as an expert on US law in US courts as well as in foreign insolvency proceedings, including in Spain, Canada, the Cayman Islands, and the UK.
International Asset Sales and Distressed M&A:

Advised purchasers and counterparties in bankruptcy auctions and court approved asset sales involving distressed businesses with international operations, including transactions spanning Europe, Asia, and North America, and addressing successor liability, tax, and insolvency related risk allocation.
Sovereign Debt Restructurings:

Analyzed and interpreted bond indentures and bank paper between international banks and bondholders with sovereign nations in litigation over breaches of these documents. Perform analysis of the sovereign's financial operations for purposes of attachment under the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act (FSIA) and taking discovery over and litigating attachment of sovereign assets, including acting for judgment creditor in Delaware federal court over forced sale of Venezuela's indirect shareholdings in CITGO. Led general research on sovereign debt work out history, international government loan workout, and private and public negotiations and issues with the IMF, Paris Club, London Club, and debt forgiveness. Assisted with issues arising under various treaties and international instruments regarding litigation over sovereign debt.
Bankruptcy Litigation and Appellate Work:

Litigated technical issues under the US Bankruptcy Code: In re Mallinckrodt PLC, 647 B. R. 296 (Bankr. D. Del. 2025); In re Live Well Fin., Inc., 2025 Bankr. LEXIS 1760 (Bankr. D. Del. Jul. 23, 2025); In re Santino, 653 B.R. 79 (Bankr. S.D.N.Y. 2023); In re Glasshouse Techs., Inc. 2022 Bankr. LEXIS 2760 (Bankr. D. Mass. Sept. 30, 2022).

Litigation in Courts of Appeals: Johnston v. Court-Appointed Receiver, 20225 US App. LEXIS 16483 (2d Cir., Jul. 2, 2025) (briefing and argument); In re Mallinckrodt PLC, 99 F.4th 617 (3d Cir. 2024) (briefing and argument); In re BSA, 137 F.4th 126 (3d Cir. 2025) (briefing); In re Weinstein Co. Holdings, LLC, 997 F.3d 497 (3d Cir. 2021) (briefing); MOAC Mall v. OI European Grp. B.V. v. Bolivian Republic of Venezuela, 73 F. 4th 157 (3d Cir. 2023)(briefing); In re LTL Mgmt., LLC, 64 F. 4th 84 (3d Cir. 2023) (briefing); MOAC Mall Holdings LLC v. Transform Holdco LLC, 598 US 288 (2023) (briefing in Supreme Court; argued in Second Circuit).

Litigation in Delaware Courts: Principal Growth Strategies, LLC v. AGH Parent LLC, 2025 Del. Ch. LEXIS 2044 (Del. Ch. Nov. 28, 2025); Germaninvestments AG v. Allomet Corp., 225 A.3d 316 (Del. 2020); Gatz Props., LLC v. Auriga Capital Corp., 59 A.3d 1223 (Del. 2019).

Awards

Pro Bono

Craig recently represented the Ad Hoc Committee of Local Councils in the Boy Scouts of America bankruptcy case on a pro bono basis, for which National Scouting awarded him the North Star Award. Prior to that work, Craig founded a legal clinic with the Delaware Veterans Administration that has provided free clinical services for over a decade.

Education

J.D., University of Houston Law Center
cum laude

M. Phil., Organizational Dynamics, University of Pennsylvania

M.Sc., University of Edinburgh

B.A., History, Texas Christian University

Bylines

Seminars

Panelist, "Cross-Border Recovery in Fraudulent Schemes," ABI Annual Spring Meeting, April 2024
Speaker, "Forensic Panel," Cross-Border Insolvency Program hosted by ABI, October 2023
Speaker, "State Intervention & Green Re-Industrialization," TMA Europe, July 2023
Moderator, "Chapter 15 and Cross Border Practice in the District of Delaware," INSOL USA/Canada Membership Development Committee Meeting, June 2016
Speaker, "UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights," Costa Rican Bar Association, October 2015

Media Mentions