Richard G. Mason (Ricky) is a senior partner in Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz and the former chair of the firm’s Restructuring and Finance Department, a position he held for six years until January 2024.

Ricky is a trusted senior leader, advisor and advocate in distressed situations. Over the course of his 35-year career, 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 and Boy Scouts of America (BSA).

In the BSA case, Ricky chaired and represented the Ad Hoc Committee of Local Councils, which under Ricky’s leadership, galvanized the BSA’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, the BSA announced the naming of the Richard G. Mason Fire Ring in a central gathering place at the BSA’s iconic Philmont Scout Ranch.

A recognized leader in the restructuring field, Ricky is the 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, a co-author of Collier’s Bankruptcy Practice Guide 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 and Who’s Who Legal recently named Ricky a Global Elite Thought Leader in Restructurings & Insolvency.

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 a former Chair of the BSA’s Greater New York Councils, which serves thousands of young men and women in New York City, a 2022 recipient of the Silver Buffalo Award, the BSA’s highest volunteer recognition, and a member of the BSA’s National Executive Board and National Executive Committee.

Ricky is also 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. Together with his wife Beth and their two children, Ricky founded the Mason Civic League, a 501(c)(3) charity dedicated to providing educational, art and civic support in Hoboken, New Jersey and beyond.