Duston McFaul

Practice Areas

DUSTON MCFAUL advises clients through restructurings, deleveraging transactions, distressed investments, and contested proceedings. As the Texas practice leader of Sidley’s global restructuring group, he manages teams to advise borrowers, lenders/creditors, sponsors, boards, and buyers in all aspects of Chapter 11 cases and deal strategies. In addition, he has prosecuted and defended a full array of cases based upon valuation, fraudulent transfer, rejection/assumption, conversion, cramdown, fiduciary duties, governance contests, and challenges to commercial transactions. Duston is licensed in both Texas and New York, and his practice has involved cases throughout most Circuits of the U.S., as well as in the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico.

Duston is routinely called upon by clients to handle their most complex matters. In 2024, he served as lead counsel to the majority shareholders of the international shipping company Eletson Holdings Inc., securing a significant governance win in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for SDNY. Also in 2024, he was lead counsel to AES Puerto Rico in their successful comprehensive company-side restructuring with rights offering, conversion of municipal debt to preferred, and complete restructuring of offtake terms with the commonwealth of Puerto Rico, and coordinated approvals with four regulatory agencies. He managed the Chapter 11 restructuring of publicly traded Legacy Reserves, and the engagement won “Restructuring of the Year” recognition in the Large Matter category by the national Global M&A Network/Atlas Awards. Duston was also lead for a bankruptcy team which was recognized by The American Lawyer for “a literal bet-the-company win” after a successful two-week trial in the Bankruptcy Court for SDTX. Duston was selected to Turnarounds & Workouts “Outstanding Restructuring Lawyers” in 2021 (limited to only 15 professionals nationally). The Global Restructuring Review 2023 reports that Duston is “thorough and extremely responsive… would refer Mr. McFaul to any party looking for counsel and strategy on a restructuring process.”

Virtually every legal ranking organization has identified Duston as a leading lawyer. Other recognitions include The Legal 500 U.S. in the area of Corporate Restructuring (2013–2024), The Best Lawyers in America in the categories of Bankruptcy and Creditor Debtor Rights (2010–2024) and Litigation — Bankruptcy (2011–2024), and Texas Super Lawyers (2013, 2017–2024). Highlighting his “reputation as a thoughtful and creative problem solver,” Chambers USA previously recognized Duston for his Bankruptcy/Restructuring Law practice and emphasized that Duston “is praised by clients for his great guidance and insights in negotiations,” is “valued by clients for his work ethic and excellent grasp of the financial aspects of situations,” and exhibits a “well-earned reputation as a strong presence in bankruptcy….”

Duston earned his J.D. from The University of Texas School of Law, and his A.B. from Duke University.