Skip to main content

Rosa Evergreen is a partner in the firm's Bankruptcy and Restructuring practice. She has been recognized by a number of leading publications for her bankruptcy practice, including Chambers USA (2015–2023), which has described her as “tenacious" and an "effective and strategic lawyer,” someone who “fights hard for clients” and “knows the ins and outs” of bankruptcy and has “great creativity” and “strong legal and strategic instincts.”

Rosa has experience in all aspects of bankruptcy and corporate restructuring, including complex Chapter 11 cases, asset dispositions and bankruptcy litigation, as well as out of court restructurings and receivership cases. She has been involved in bankruptcy cases in a wide range of industries across the country, including financial services, retail, real estate, environmental, oil and gas, hospitality and healthcare, among others.

Rosa has been involved in a number of large bankruptcies, including, AbitibiBowater, Adelphia, ASARCO, Borders, Circuit City, Extraction Oil & Gas, General Motors, LandAmerica, Lehman Brothers, Quebecor, Reader's Digest, The PMI Group, Vertis, and Windstream. She has acted on behalf of corporate debtors, secured and unsecured creditors, bondholders, lenders, trade vendors and suppliers, landlords, contract counterparties, private equity funds, investors and asset purchasers, and individuals and businesses involved in bankruptcy court litigation. She also has experience advising boards of directors and individual officers and directors in insolvency-related matters.

Rosa clerked for the Honorable Stephen C. St. John of the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of Virginia. While earning her law degree at William & Mary, she was the Symposium Editor on the William & Mary Law Review and a teaching assistant for Evidence, and upon graduation was elected to Order of the Coif.

Rosa is a frequent speaker and writer on bankruptcy-related topics. She served as a research fellow for the American Bankruptcy Institute Commission to Study the Reform of Chapter 11. She has presented at the National Conference of Bankruptcy Judges, conferences for the American Bankruptcy Institute and the American Bar Association, and many other conferences and venues. She was the editor for Driving the Recovery Bus: Augmenting Creditor Recoveries Through Claims Brought by a Litigation Trustee, published by the ABI in 2024. Rosa also maintains an active pro bono practice and she is active in the firm and the community. She chairs the firm's associate professional development committee and she serves on the board of Arlington Arts Center (a nonprofit visual arts center) and on the boards for the International Women's Insolvency & Restructuring Confederation and the Turnaround Management Association. In 2018, Rosa received the D.C. Bar's Laura N. Rinaldi Pro Bono Lawyer of the Year award.

Experience

  • Novartis Innovative Therapies AG as the buyer of certain assets of Clovis Technology Inc. in its Delaware Chapter 11 proceedings.
  • BP Global Products in Limetree Bay Refinery's Chapter 11 proceedings in the Southern District of Texas.
  • DCP Operating Company, LP in the Chapter 11 proceedings of Extraction Oil & Gas Inc.
  • Quad/Graphics Inc. as the buyer of substantially all of the assets of Vertis Holdings, Inc. and its affiliated entities in their Delaware Chapter 11 proceedings.
  • PMI Mortgage Insurance Company in connection with its Arizona receivership and the Delaware Chapter 11 proceeding of its parent company, The PMI Group, Inc.
  • Quebecor World (USA) Inc. and its 52 affiliated debtors as debtors' counsel in their successful Chapter 11 reorganization, In re Quebecor World (USA) Inc. (08-10152), pending in the Southern District of New York.
  • Creditors and other parties-in-interest in the Lehman Brothers bankruptcy and SIPA proceedings, including the Federal Housing Finance Agency, as Conservator of Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae.
  • Cortland Capital Market Services LLC, in its role as agent with respect to first lien credit facilities in the Chapter 11 proceedings of Windstream.
  • The acquirer of the equity in the W Hotel in Union Square in New York City from the mezzanine lender in the lender's Chapter 11 proceedings the District of Delaware.
  • Health Care REIT in the LandAmerica bankruptcy in the Eastern District of Virginia; obtained $137 million recovery on an expedited basis.
  • The Robert and Dee Leggett Foundation, a charitable and preservationist foundation, in connection with the Virginia bankruptcy proceeding of Loudoun Heights, LLC.
  • International company listed on the Oslo Stock Exchange in its acquisition of certain assets of a provider of tactical integrated electronic systems from a state law insolvency proceeding.
  • Trade vendors on relationships with debtors, including issues such as reclamation, offset and recoupment.
  • Investors and asset purchasers in section 363 sales.
  • Landlords and counterparties to executory contracts in bankruptcy proceedings throughout the United States.
  • Officers and directors of bankrupt companies, including advising officers and directors on fiduciary duties and responsibilities, representing officers and directors with respect to indemnification and D&O insurance claims in bankruptcy proceedings, and defending litigation.
  • American Capital in a federal class action case under the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act (WARN Act).

Perspectives

Washingtonian Names 25 Arnold & Porter Lawyers to 2024 ‘Top Lawyers’ List
Best Lawyers in America 2025 Recognizes 91 Arnold & Porter Lawyers, Names Three as "Lawyers of the Year" and 80 as "Ones to Watch"
"40 Under 40" Panel: Professional Growth
Presenter, 2024 Mid-Atlantic Bankruptcy Workshop
Recent Developments Bankruptcy Case Law Update
Presenter, The Northern Virginia Bankruptcy Bar Association, Fairfax, VA
Discussion Between Author and Editor of "Driving the Recovery Bus" - Ep. 271
American Bankruptcy Institute Podcast
More

Recognition

The Deal
Top Women in Dealmaking: Restructuring (2023)
Chambers USA
Bankruptcy/Restructuring (Washington, D.C.) (2015-2024)
Washingtonian Magazine
"Top Lawyers" Bankruptcy (2017-2022, 2024)
More

Credentials

Education

  • J.D., College of William and Mary Law School, 2005, Order of the Coif
  • M.B.A., College of William and Mary, 2005
  • B.A., Sociology and Psychology, Georgetown University, 2000, magna cum laude

Admissions

  • District of Columbia
  • Virginia
  • U.S. District Court, District of Columbia
  • U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Virginia
  • U.S. District Court, District of Maryland
  • U.S. Bankruptcy Court, Eastern District of Virginia
  • U.S. Bankruptcy Court, District of Maryland

Clerkships

  • United States Bankruptcy Court, E.D. Virginia, The Honorable Stephen C. St. John

Activities

  • Member, International Women's Insolvency & Restructuring Confederation (IWIRC) (Vice Director of Diversity, Inclusion and Belonging Committee for IWIRC, and Washington, D.C. Network Board Member)
  • Member, Turnaround Management Association (TMA) (Member of Board of Directors, Chair of Network for NOW, Chesapeake Chapter of Turnaround Management Association)
  • Member, The Bankruptcy Inclusion, Diversity, Equity & Accessibility Consortium
  • Member, Board of Directors for Arlington Arts Center
  • Advisory Committee, William & Mary Journal of Race, Gender, and Social Justice (previously known as William & Mary Journal of Women and the Law)
  • Barrister, Walter Chandler American Inn of Court
  • Member, American Bar Association (ABA) (Business Bankruptcy Committee for the Business Law Section, and ABA Women Rainmakers)
  • Member, American Bankruptcy Institute (ABI)
  • Served as an attorney co-chair for “Roadways to the Federal Bench,” a program aimed at promoting diversity on the bench (2023)
  • Member, Advisory Board for ABI's Views from the Bench (2022, 2023, 2024)
  • Steering Committee for the ABI “40 under 40” Program (2021, 2022, 2023)
  • Steering Committee for Tina's Wish (2022, 2023)
  • Member of TMA Symposium Executive Committee, TMA Mid-Atlantic Regional Symposium (2022, 2023)
  • ABI NYC Professional Development Conference Advisory Board (2019)
  • Served as Research Fellow for the ABI Commission to Study the Reform of Chapter 11
  • Served as Member of ABI Workshop Advisory Council, ABI Workshop: Turnaround and Secured Lending Program (2016)
  • Served as Member of ABI Workshop Advisory Council, ABI Workshop: Lending to Distressed Companies: Credit Analysis to Exit Strategy (or Keeping the Benefit of Your Bargain) (2014)
Overview