Sharon Richardson concentrates her practice in the representation of debtors, lenders, creditors, acquirers, and investors in restructurings of financially distressed companies in chapter 11 and cross-border restructurings in chapter 15, as well as in restructurings outside formal judicial proceedings.

Sharon has extensive experience in all aspects of traditional as well as prepackaged chapter 11 cases. In traditional chapter 11 matters, she has represented major debtors, including LandSource Communities, Atkins Nutritionals, WorldCom, PennCorp Financial Group, Crystal Brands, R.H. Macy & Co., and Eastern Air Lines. Sharon also has represented General Motors Corp. in its restructuring efforts, Security Capital Assurance in its out-of-court restructuring, and the foreign representatives in the Hollinger Inc. and Kaupthing Bank cross-border chapter 15 cases. Sharon has represented debtor-in-possession lenders in the Marco Polo Seatrade, Printing Arts America, Recycling Industries, Telesphere Communications, and Elder-Beerman chapter 11 cases, the unsecured creditors' committee in the Truvo USA and Piece Goods Shops chapter 11 cases, acquirers of businesses in the U.S. Gen and Printing Arts America chapter 11 cases,  the institutional investors in the Kamine/Besicorp Allegany and Taren Holdings cases, as well as major creditors in the Lehman Brothers, SunCal, U.S. Gen, Dow Corning, and Orion Pictures chapter 11 cases.

In prepackaged chapter 11 cases, Sharon has represented debtors such as Xerium Technologies, Regal Cinemas, JPS Textile Group, and MB Holdings; secured creditors in cases involving TBS Shipping, The Plaza Hotel, and Southland Corporation; the noteholder group in Homer City Funding; and the equity investor in the Cook Inlet Communications chapter 11 restructuring. Major institutional clients served by Sharon include The Royal Bank of Scotland, Bank of America Merrill Lynch, JPMorgan Chase, Brookfield Asset Management, General Electric Capital Corporation, Citibank, N.A., and Odyssey Partners, as well as Ames Department Stores, Texaco Inc., and Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Company.

Sharon publishes frequently on a variety of bankruptcy and restructuring-related topics. She is editor of the two-volume treatise Reorganizing Failing Businesses (published by The American Bar Association, Section of Business Law) and Restructurings: Extracting Value from a Distressed Enterprise (Euromoney Publications), as well as co-author of chapters relating to structured financing techniques and mass tort chapter 11 cases. Sharon also served as a monthly contributing author to European Counsel magazine, addressing developments in U.S. bankruptcy law, and has co-authored chapters on bankruptcy-related issues in The Americas Restructuring and Insolvency Guide 2008/2009 (published by Globe White Page in association with PricewaterhouseCoopers and Morgan Stanley) and Real Estate Titles (published by the New York State Bar Association), and a chapter on cross-border insolvency issues in Shin Kokusai Tosan Ho No Jitsumu (New Practices of International Insolvency Law), published in Japan. She has lectured on current bankruptcy issues and regularly contributes to Cadwalader's Restructuring Review blog, www.restructuringreview.com.

In 2012, Sharon was recognized by Super Lawyers as one of the top 30 women bankruptcy attorneys in New York, and in 2012 and 2008, by Super Lawyers a leading lawyer in the New York metropolitan area. Sharon is a member of the ABA, TMA, and 100 Women in Hedge Funds.  She has served on the drafting committee for the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York, responsible for the procedural guidelines adopted for prepackaged chapter 11 cases and was a member of the working group for the development of the court's electronic case filing system.

Sharon received her B.A. from William Smith College, her M.Ed. from Antioch/New England Graduate School, and her J.D. from Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law, where she served as managing editor of the Cardozo Law Review.

She is admitted to practice in the State of New York, as well as before the U.S. Courts of Appeals for the Fifth and Seventh Circuits and the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.