James Doak

James leads the Capital Structure Advisory Group, formerly known as Miller Buckfire. James’s experience includes M&A, financing, and restructuring transactions on behalf of Lazydays, Gymboree, Aéropostale, the City of Detroit, the Mashantucket (Western) Pequot Tribal Nation, Magna Entertainment Corp., Standard Pacific Corp., Allied Holdings, Hines Horticulture, ITC^DeltaCom, Level 3 Communications, Kanebo Ltd., Burlington Industries, Horizon Natural Resources, CenterPoint Energy, and Gilat Satellite Networks. James has also represented creditor constituents in various restructuring transactions including The Bon-Ton Stores, Inc., COFINA/Puerto Rico, Idearc, Wilton Brands Inc., and The Lenox Group and advised several non-disclosed sovereigns and municipalities.

James is a former member of the financial restructuring group of Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein. Prior to joining Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein, he was an investment banker at Goldman, Sachs & Co.

James has focused on a variety of sectors throughout his career, including municipal/sovereign financial distress, retail, gaming, transportation, telecommunications, distribution, home goods, information technology, textiles, and power generation and transmission. He is a member of the Turnaround Management Association, the American Bankruptcy Institute, and a frequent panelist at industry conferences. James recently served on the Federal Judiciary’s Chapter 9 Roundtable. He has authored several articles on corporate distress and turnaround leadership and in June 2011 was selected as one of The M&A Advisor’s 40 Under 40 leading M&A, financing and turnaround professionals. He currently serves on the Board of Directors of The Heat and Warmth Fund, a leading non-profit provider of utility assistance to Michigan residents in need.

James received his MBA (with high distinction) from Harvard Business School, where he was a Baker Scholar, a J.D. (cum laude) from Harvard Law School, and an A.B. (magna cum laude) from Harvard University with a concentration in Social Studies.