September 28, 2021 – The U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York issued a press release announcing that Judge Robert D. Drain has declared his intention to retire on June 30, 2022.

Most recently, Drain was in the spotlight as the judge hearing the Plan of Reorganization confirmation proceedings for the Purdue Pharma LP cases. He issued a bench ruling confirming the controversial Plan on September 1, 2021 following more than two weeks of testimony and closing arguments. Several appeals and stay requests have been filed in respect of that ruling.

The Court's release provides, "Judge Drain joined the Southern District bench in 2002.  During his tenure, he has presided over such chapter 11 cases as Loral, RCN, Cornerstone, Refco, Allegiance Telecom, Delphi, Coudert Brothers, Frontier Airlines, Star Tribune, Reader’s Digest, A&P, Hostess Brands, Christian Brothers, Momentive, Cenveo, 21st Century Oncology, Tops, G A&T, Sears, Standard Amusements (Playland), Full Beauty Brands, Sungard, Windstream, Purdue Pharma, Jason Industries, OneWeb and Frontier Communications.  He has served as the court-appointed mediator in a number of chapter 11 cases, including New Page, Cengage, Quicksilver, LightSquared, Molycorp and Breitburn Energy.

Judge Drain is a fellow of the American College of Bankruptcy, a member and board member of the American Bankruptcy Institute, a member of the International Insolvency Institute, a member and former Secretary of the National Conference of Bankruptcy Judges and a founding member and chair of the Judicial Insolvency Network.  He is the current chair of the Bankruptcy Judges Advisory Group established through the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts and was appointed to the FDIC’s Systemic Resolution Advisory Committee through May 1, 2021.  He was an adjunct professor for several years at St. John’s University School of Law’s LLM in Bankruptcy Program and currently is an adjunct professor at Pace University School of Law and has lectured and written on numerous bankruptcy-related topics.

Until his retirement date, Judge Drain plans to stay active with cases.  Judge Drain’s judicial vacancy will be filled by the Second Circuit."

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