
Powered by LawFuel – JENNIFER PASTARNACK JOINS SULLIVAN IN NEW YORK TO HEAD THE FIRM’S GLOBAL DEBT AND CLAIMS TRADING PRACTICE
New York City and Boston, February 4, 2020 – International law firm Sullivan & Worcester announced today that Jennifer Pastarnack has joined the firm as a partner to lead its firmwide Global Debt and Claims Trading practice in New York, expanding Sullivan’s offerings of corporate, bankruptcy and restructuring services in the United States and in London.
“At Sullivan, client relationships are at the core of our success. Jennifer brings that same client-focused, value-driven mentality to her practice. She has tremendous experience in a specialized area of the markets our domestic and international clients are interested in,” said Joel Carpenter, managing partner of the firm. “She is a great fit and we’re pleased that she’s chosen Sullivan as her new professional home.”
Pastarnack works with hedge funds, investment banks and asset managers in trading the debt of financially distressed companies in domestic and cross-border transactions in the secondary market. She is well-versed in all aspects of the investment life cycle for claim trades including diligence reviews, claim evaluation and structuring, and has provided counsel on a broad mix of complex regulatory, legal and commercial matters, including U.S. federal securities laws. She joins Sullivan from Clifford Chance, prior to that she was with Kramer Levin Naftalis & Frankel.
“Sullivan has the dynamic platform I wanted for the next stage of my career,” Pastarnack said. “The firm has outstanding legal talent, is an entrepreneurial, forward-thinking organization, and recognizes the importance of investing in technology to better serve our clients.”
Sullivan is a member of the Loan Syndications and Trading Association, Inc., the trade association for the U.S. debt industry, and the Loan Market Association, the trade association for the European debt trading industry. Pastarnack will be working closely the firm’s Chambers-ranked Bankruptcy & Restructuring group.
“Jennifer is an excellent lawyer whose experience in the debt and claims trading area is unique among our peers and will allow us to expand the services we provide to our existing fund and bankruptcy clients,” said Jeffrey Gleit, head of the Bankruptcy & Restructuring group.
As a pro bono advocate, Pastarnack successfully co-represented a client in a Special Immigration Juvenile Status immigration case in Brooklyn Family Court. In October 2019, she published an article in the New York Law Journal entitled “Bankruptcy Trade Claim Market: The Dangers of Claim Trading Platforms and Automated Contracts” and was featured in a lengthy Corporate Counsel Business Journal article in May, 2019, that shared Jennifer’s unique approach to client relationships and business generation. Pastarnack earned her J.D. cum laude at New York Law School and received her B.S. from Cornell University in Labor and Industrial Relations.
About Sullivan
Sullivan & Worcester (Sullivan) is a leading AmLaw 200 law firm. With over 200 attorneys in Boston, London, New York, Tel Aviv and Washington, DC, they guide organizations that are rewriting the rules. Sullivan’s clients, including Fortune 500 companies and emerging businesses, rely on Sullivan’s strategic vision, comfort with complexity and intense focus on results. ZAG / Sullivan & Worcester (formerly ZAG-S&W) — a joint venture between Israel-based Zysman, Aharoni, Gayer & Co. and Sullivan & Worcester LLP — provides counsel to Israel-based companies and U.S. companies with Israeli interests on a variety of legal matters including access to capital markets, international tech IPOs, mergers and acquisitions, and tax. For more information please visit sullivanlaw.com.
Recent LawFuel Headlines
- Burford Capital Isn’t Just Financing Suits Anymore; It’s Trying to Own the Firm TooBurford Capital the litigation finance behemoth wants not just to bankroll lawsuits but to buy stakes in actual U.S. law firms. The move isn’t your garden-variety PE play; it’s a direct challenge to the profession’s no-capital-external-to-the-firm orthodoxy. Burford, under the ever-quotable Jonathan Molot, (pictured above) told the Financial Times he is floating a structure ripped from healthcare and accounting playbooks: split a law firm into two entities, a lawyer-owned practice handling client work, and a Managed Service Organization (MSO) holding assets and providing back‑office muscle in exchange for a cut. It’s a classic “external capital without violating ethics rules.”
- AI Is Hiring and Firing – The Legal Jobs Recovery Nobody Asked ForFive Straight Months of Job Growth in Legal — But AI Is Replacing Your Paralegal Norma Harris, LawFuel contributing editor The US legal sector just clocked five straight months of… Read more: AI Is Hiring and Firing – The Legal Jobs Recovery Nobody Asked For
- Am-Law A List – Who Climbed, Who Stalled?A-List 2025: Munger reigns, Jenner rockets, and who actually moved the needle The American Lawyer’s A-List isn’t about who shouts the loudest about profits, blending money and meaning: revenue per… Read more: Am-Law A List – Who Climbed, Who Stalled?
- Hot Summer Bonuses At BigLaw Conceal A SecretFollowing months of market uncertainty, the summer bonus season at BigLaw has exceeded expectations with Milbank’s announcing special bonuses ranging from $6,000 to $25,000 for associates, a cascade of firms has followed suit. But a new trend is also emerging in the way compensation is being handed to associates. While partners enjoy increased PEP rates with premium work, the competitive world of associate recruitment is seeing some major changes in the way law firms handle the compensation for their top performers at associate level. The summer bonus season is seeing that trend play out.
- BigLaw Pay Race 2025: How High Big Law Pay Rates Go Before They Crack?If you thought the Great Legal Pay Spike was last year, think again. At present Duane Morris is under fire in a partner-pay class-action suit, amid allegations of misclassifying non-equity partners to dodge taxes and benefits—even as women and minority partners allegedly earned less. That in itself sent ripples through partner compensation practices nationwide. But perhaps more gripping: the Financial Times reports top corporate partners billing over $2,500/hour and annual earnings soaring above $25 million.
- Pogust Goodhead Fires Back at BHP and Vale in £1.3 Billion Legal Fee ShowdownPogust Goodhead Accuses BHP & Vale of Underhanded Tactics Ben Thomson, LawFuel contributing editor The fight that has roiled the mining and legal worlds isn’t only about environmental responsibility as… Read more: Pogust Goodhead Fires Back at BHP and Vale in £1.3 Billion Legal Fee Showdown
- Why Big Law Lawyers Are Walking Away: Exits, Burnout & New Legal CareersMore Big Law associates and partners are choosing to leave than ever before—citing burnout, lack of advancement and remote-era disconnection sparking a seismic exodus toward in-house, startups and boutique law career paths. The Big Law conveyor belt, once seen as the golden escalator to prestige and partnership, is creaking under the weight of its own expectations.
- Free Legal Fees from Big Law? Could This Really Happen with Legal AI?AI disruption forces Big Law to rethink billing: “Firms will give more for free” Ben Thomson, LawFuel contributing editor A mounting chorus of industry voices—from Artificial Lawyer to Thomson Reuters… Read more: Free Legal Fees from Big Law? Could This Really Happen with Legal AI?
- BigLaw’s Pay Party: UK Partners Laugh All the Way to Their Third HomesWhich UK Firm Takes The Top Partner Pay? Magic Circle firms post eye-watering PEP figures while associates wonder if they’ll ever afford London rent John Bowie, LawFuel publisher What a… Read more: BigLaw’s Pay Party: UK Partners Laugh All the Way to Their Third Homes