Richard G. Mason (“Ricky”) is currently Of Counsel at Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz, after having been a partner of the firm for 30 years and the Chair of the firm’s Restructuring and Finance Department.

Ricky is a trusted senior leader, advisor and advocate in distressed situations. He has had leading roles, and helped to drive consensus, in many of the largest and most complex bankruptcies and out of court restructurings in the United States and elsewhere, including, most recently, Delphi Corporation, Kerzner International, Energy Future Holdings, Bristow Helicopters, Hawker Beechcraft, Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority, LATAM Airlines, GOL Airlines and Boy Scouts of America (now Scouting America).

In the Boy Scouts case, Ricky chaired and represented the Ad Hoc Committee of Local Councils, which under Ricky’s leadership, galvanized Scouting’s over 250 independent Local Councils to help create the largest settlement fund of its kind in U.S. history. In recognition of Ricky’s key role in the settlement, Scouting America announced the naming of the Richard G. Mason Fire Ring in a central gathering place at their iconic Philmont Scout Ranch in Cimarron, New Mexico.

A recognized leader in the restructuring field, Ricky is a Conferee and recent former Vice-Chair of the National Bankruptcy Conference, whose primary purpose is to advise the United States Congress on bankruptcy law, a Fellow in the American College of Bankruptcy and a speaker on insolvency subjects at prominent institutions around the world.

Chambers USA Guide to America’s Leading Business Lawyers and K&A Restructuring Register identify Ricky as one of the leading restructuring lawyers in the United States, Who’s Who Legal recently named Ricky a Global Elite Thought Leader in Restructurings & Insolvency, and Lawdragon has listed him as one of the 500 Leading Global Bankruptcy & Restructuring Lawyers.

Ricky graduated magna cum laude from Virginia Commonwealth University in 1983 with a B.S. in Economics and was inducted into the Phi Kappa Phi honor fraternity. Ricky received a J.D. cum laude from New York University in 1987. At NYU, he became a member of the Order of the Coif and was on the staff of the Annual Survey of American Law.

Ricky believes in giving back to the community. A Distinguished Eagle Scout, Ricky is now the National Chair-Elect of Scouting America, which serves over one million youths across the United States, and a recipient of the Silver Buffalo Award, Scouting America’s highest volunteer recognition.

Ricky is a recent recipient of the American Jewish Committee’s National Human Relations Award and the 2022 honoree for Tina’s Wish, a leading foundation dedicated to early detection of ovarian cancer.