Carrie Hardman
Partner
Carrie is a partner in the firm’s restructuring group, concentrating her practice in financial restructuring and insolvency matters, and related litigation.
Carrie represents the full range of participants in bankruptcy cases and corporate restructurings, including debtors, trustees, secured and unsecured creditors, official and unofficial committees, acquirers of distressed assets, lenders of post-petition (debtor-in-possession and/or exit) financing, directors and officers, equity/membership holders, court-appointed examiners, and others in all facets of the restructuring and insolvency process.
She is experienced in complex commercial litigation, including bet-the-firm and bankruptcy-related litigation involving fraudulent transfers, preferences, and related director and officer liability. Carrie also advises boards of directors, board committees, and senior management of financially troubled companies on a range of issues, including fiduciary duties and corporate governance.
Carrie is also experienced in the nuanced issues involving municipal restructuring, having represented major creditors and parties in interest regarding in and out of court restructurings, including the chapter 9 cases of Detroit, Michigan and Jefferson County, Alabama, and the latest restructuring of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico and related agencies.
She has a broad range of restructuring experience across a number of industries, including aircraft, commodities, construction, energy, healthcare, hospitality, maritime, media & entertainment, real estate, retail, oil & gas, securities, technology, and telecommunications. Carrie also provides pro bono legal assistance through the City Bar Justice Center in preparing and advising individual clients seeking a fresh start through the bankruptcy process.
Prior to joining Winston & Strawn, Carrie served as law clerk to the Honorable Robert D. Drain, United States Bankruptcy Judge for the Southern District of New York.
Carrie was recognized by The Legal 500 U.S. (2021–2023) as a “Key Lawyer” in Transport: Aviation and Air Travel-Finance. She was featured in the sixth annual (2021) Women in the Law edition of Best Lawyers, recognizing top female attorneys in the U.S. across all practice areas and celebrates the many accomplishments of women in the legal industry. She was also recognized in Best Lawyers: Ones to Watch in America for her work in bankruptcy and creditor debtor rights, and insolvency and reorganization law (2021–2023). She was named one of only ten City Bar Justice Center 2020 Outstanding Pro Bono Service Award winners. Carrie has been named a New York Rising Star since 2017 for the Metro Edition of Super Lawyers for her work in the field of corporate restructuring.
Carrie is the New York Hiring Partner, and Vice Chair on the Firmwide Hiring Committee. Carrie is also the New York chair of the firm’s Mentorship Program, a co-chair of the Firmwide Family Network (affinity group), and a member of the firm’s associate evaluation committee and the First Generation Affinity Group.
Carrie is a member of the American Bankruptcy Institute (ABI), International Women’s Insolvency & Restructuring Confederation (IWIRC), and is the co-chair of the National Association of Women Lawyers, bankruptcy affinity group (NAWL).
Credentials
Education
Carrie received a B.A. in Political Science, with a concentration in Domestic Politics and Law, in 2006 from Binghamton University.
Carrie received a J.D. in 2009 from St. John’s University School of Law, where she was an editor for both the New York International Law Review and the New York Real Property Law Journal, and also interned for the Honorable Allan L. Gropper, United States Bankruptcy Judge for the Southern District of New York.
Carrie also received an LL.M. in Bankruptcy Law in 2013 from St. John’s University School of Law, where she served on the amicus brief team in U.S. Student Aid Funds, Inc. v. Espinosa (regarding the dischargeability of student loans), and her master’s thesis examined the propriety of treatment (disgorgement) of administrative priority claimants in administratively insolvent cases.
Admissions
- New York
Clerkships
- USBC - Southern District of NY for the Honorable Robert D. Drain
Related Insights & News
Carrie has authored various client briefings on restructuring-related topics, and is a co-author of the treatise Creditors’ Rights in Bankruptcy, a Thompson Reuters publication. In addition, Carrie regularly speaks about various restructuring-related matters, and other matters of legal interest, including most recently, hosting a talk on neurodiversity in the legal workplace.
September 10, 2024
November 13, 2023
November 21, 2022
November 15, 2022
August 18, 2022