Eric Schaffer

Eric Schaffer spent more than 40 years at a major international firm before stepping back in 2021 to spend more time on academic research and writing and working as an expert witness. He is of counsel at the Stonecipher Law Firm, where he serves select clients in matters involving insolvency and distress.

Eric’s practice has involved a wide range of restructuring and insolvency matters, with a related focus on default related litigation. He has represented chapter 11 debtors, creditors’ committees, and major creditors in state court receiverships and bankruptcy cases. Eric has focused particularly on representation of indenture trustees, collateral agents, and other corporate trust agents in major bankruptcy cases, receiverships, non-judicial restructurings, and litigation involving defaulted securities in a wide range of debt instruments, industries, and jurisdictions.

Eric has represented trustees and fiscal agents for municipal debt issuers across the country in connection with restructurings, receiverships, bankruptcies, and litigation (including lender liability actions) involving governmental units (such as the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico and County of Jefferson, Alabama), hospitals, airlines, real estate, gaming, hospitality, nursing homes and public housing, schools, waste disposal, and fitness, research, and cultural facilities. Similarly, he has represented trustees for corporate debt securities in matters involving investment banking (Lehman Brothers), energy and mining, airlines, mortgage banking, shipping, real estate, communications and publishing, and heavy industry. A substantial part of Eric’s practice has involved cross-border matters, including matters relating to sovereign debt issued by The Republic of Argentina, The Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, The Lebanese Republic, the Arab Republic of Egypt, the Republic of Guatemala, and certain Native American tribes, and domestic matters involving laws of the Bahamas, Canada, England, France, and Sukuk financing.

Eric also has served as an expert witness on bankruptcy and corporate trust issues in proceedings in the United States, Poland, France, and Croatia.

Eric has been a featured panelist on the subject of corporate trust defaults at meetings of the American Bankers Association and the American Bar Association, among others, and he has been a guest lecturer and presenter at several universities. Outside the law, Eric has been involved actively with several civic and cultural organizations. He is an aging cyclist, who claims to have ridden with the winners of 15 8 Tours de France.