The Puerto Rico Oversight Board hired strategic and legal advisors including Proskauer Rose LLP, a New York-based law firm that worked for the Government Development Bank for Puerto Rico as recently as this spring.
On Sunday the board announced in a press statement that it was hiring Proskauer Rose as lead outside legal counsel. Proskauer represented the GDB in its case through the federal legal system to defend its home-grown bankruptcy law for its public corporations. In June the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that a part of Chapter 9 bankruptcy prevents the island from creating its own bankruptcy law.
Lawyer Ralph Ferrara will lead Proskauer's team for the Puerto Rico Oversight Board. Ferrara wasn't a member of the team representing the GDB according to a Law 360 web site story.
The board also announced the hiring of San Juan-based O'Neill & Borges LLC as outside legal counsel and McKinsey & Co. as strategic consultant. Hermann Bauer and Julio Pietrantoni will be O'Neill & Borges's primary lawyers for the board.
The McKinsey team "will be led by a mix of senior experts with deep experiences in Puerto Rico, public sector transformation, debt restructuring, economic development, operational efficiency and infrastructure," according to the board's press statement.
The board chose its two legal firms from among 50 applicants and chose McKinsey from among nearly 20 applicants.
