Do you need to know bankruptcy law?

Not as a summer analyst. You should know what Chapter 11 is, what seniority means, and that the court approves a plan. The rest you learn on the job, working beside the lawyers.

Is restructuring harder than M&A?

It is usually more technical, with more moving parts and more parties. Many people find that more interesting, not harder.

What is Chapter 11 versus Chapter 7?

Chapter 11 reorganizes a company so it keeps operating, with a new capital structure. Chapter 7 liquidates it: the assets are sold and the proceeds paid out by priority.

Does restructuring only exist in recessions?

No. There are always companies with too much debt, in specific industries even in good years. Activity rises when defaults rise.

What is liability management?

Deals done outside court to fix a balance sheet, such as exchanging old debt for new debt with different terms or raising new money ahead of existing lenders. It has become a large share of restructuring work.

Restructuring investment banking: what it is and who does it

Restructuring bankers advise a company, or the lenders owed money by it, when the company cannot pay its debt as planned. The work is negotiating a new capital structure, in court through Chapter 11 or outside it, and it is among the most technical seats in banking. Much of it sits at independent advisory firms rather than the large lending banks, which often face conflicts as lenders.

Updated November 6, 2026. Live data checked against each firm's own careers site 1m ago.

What does a restructuring banker actually do?

When a company has more debt than its business can support, someone has to decide who takes the loss and what the company looks like afterward. Restructuring bankers do the analysis and run the negotiation. They figure out what the business is worth, how much debt it can carry, and how the value should be split among the different lenders and shareholders.

The outcome might be an amended loan, an exchange of old bonds for new ones, new money from existing lenders, a sale of the company, or a Chapter 11 filing where a court oversees the plan. Bankers on all sides model each option and argue for the one that helps their client.

Liquidity analysis: how many weeks of cash the company has, often in a 13-week cash flow model.
Valuation: what the business is worth as a going concern, and what it would fetch in liquidation.
Recovery analysis: how much each class of debt gets back under each plan.
Negotiation support: term sheets, proposals, and counterproposals between the company and its creditors.
Capital raising and sales: new financing during the process, or selling the business or pieces of it.

What is the difference between debtor side and creditor side?

Debtor side means you advise the company. You build the business plan, tell the company what it can afford, and propose how to fix the balance sheet. Creditor side means you advise a group of lenders or bondholders, usually organized as an ad hoc group or an official committee. You pick apart the company's plan and push for a bigger recovery.

Both sides do the same core analysis. Debtor work is more like running a process; creditor work is more like building a case. Firms often do both, on different situations.

How does the waterfall work, in one example?

Restructuring rests on priority: senior claims get paid before junior ones. Here is a simplified hypothetical. A company is worth 600 as a going concern. It owes 400 of senior secured loans and 300 of unsecured bonds, plus it has shareholders.

The senior lenders are owed 400 and the value covers it, so they recover in full. The 200 left goes to the bondholders, who are owed 300, so they recover about 67 cents on the dollar, often as equity in the reorganized company. Shareholders, at the bottom, get nothing. Real cases add fights over valuation, which is why the valuation work matters so much: if the company were worth 750, the bonds would recover in full.

Which firms are known for restructuring?

Restructuring advice is concentrated at independent advisory firms, because large banks that lent to the company are often conflicted. The firms below have well-known restructuring practices. The live status comes from each firm's own careers site; check whether a program places summer analysts into restructuring or staffs it later.

PJT PartnersOpen2 open now
Houlihan LokeyOpen1 open now
EvercoreOpen3 open now
LazardOpen2 open now
Moelis & CompanyOpen3 open now
Perella Weinberg PartnersOpen1 open now

Who is restructuring a good fit for?

Restructuring suits people who like hard technical problems with legal and financial pieces at once, and who enjoy negotiation. The deals are complex and adversarial, and you learn credit, valuation, and bankruptcy law faster than in almost any other group.

It is also countercyclical. When the economy is weak and defaults rise, restructuring gets busy while M&A slows. Bankers in the group like that their skills are in demand in bad years.

Good fit: you liked accounting, you read the credit section of the news, you enjoy arguing a position with numbers.
Harder fit: you want a calm, predictable process, or you want to work mainly on growth stories and IPOs.
Exits: distressed debt and special situations funds, credit funds, and private equity, among others.

How do you recruit for restructuring as an undergrad?

Most firms recruit summer analysts into the bank as a whole and place them later, but some programs let you name a group, and a few hire into restructuring directly. Either way, a real interest backed by real knowledge stands out, because few sophomores can talk about it.

Learn the basics: the capital structure, seniority, secured versus unsecured, and what Chapter 11 does.
Follow one live bankruptcy case in the financial press, and note who advises the company and who advises the creditors.
Practice the waterfall above with different valuations until you can do it in your head.
Find restructuring bankers among your alumni and ask them what their last case looked like from their seat.
Track the programs at the firms above on the calendar, and apply as early as each opens.

Questions students ask

Do you need to know bankruptcy law?: Not as a summer analyst. You should know what Chapter 11 is, what seniority means, and that the court approves a plan. The rest you learn on the job, working beside the lawyers.
Is restructuring harder than M&A?: It is usually more technical, with more moving parts and more parties. Many people find that more interesting, not harder.
What is Chapter 11 versus Chapter 7?: Chapter 11 reorganizes a company so it keeps operating, with a new capital structure. Chapter 7 liquidates it: the assets are sold and the proceeds paid out by priority.
Does restructuring only exist in recessions?: No. There are always companies with too much debt, in specific industries even in good years. Activity rises when defaults rise.
What is liability management?: Deals done outside court to fix a balance sheet, such as exchanging old debt for new debt with different terms or raising new money ahead of existing lenders. It has become a large share of restructuring work.