From our base in New York, we represent a diverse range of clients across the country and around the world.

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The last financial crisis shined a harsh light on the legal exposure of lenders, loan servicers, sponsors and trustees, when investors and other participants in the credit markets incurred losses. The collapse of the subprime mortgage securitization market, in particular, brought a wave of litigation — by investors and deal counterparties claiming contractual breaches and outright fraud — that continues to this day. This litigation has created a roadmap for new plaintiffs to follow, escalating the stakes for defendants.

Our attorneys have been actively representing participants in the credit markets and the litigation they face, gaining deep experience in protecting and enforcing their rights at each stage of a market’s evolution.

Through our proprietary site, Credit Chronometer, we provide insights on economic, political and legal developments that affect subprime auto lending, residential and commercial mortgages, fintech and student lending. We stay ahead of the curve on emerging issues, such as the challenges of financing cannabis-related businesses and regulatory changes that impact lending and servicing in the most significant consumer markets.

A Multidisciplinary Approach

Clients have stayed with us as their needs arising from lending transactions and structured finance products evolve over time. These needs range from investing in new business relationships and loan origination platforms, to the management of asset portfolios and servicing, to the insolvencies of counterparties and litigation over loss allocations.

For many of our clients, protections and remedies are enforced when borrowers or counterparties enter bankruptcy, which happens with increasing frequency in times of economic flux.  Whether the matter is in or outside of bankruptcy court, we litigate when needed and negotiate settlements when warranted. Coming full circle, our experience in enforcement and litigation enables us to provide more robust and pragmatic protections for our clients in new credit extensions.

Based on this experience and knowledge, borrowers seek us to assist in specialized areas of financing, such as mortgage loan warehouse financing, receivables financing and derivative transactions. We are also called upon by intermediaries, such as marketing communications companies, to protect them against liability to third parties when their client is in financial distress. 

Representative Experience

  • Achieved numerous victories, including multiple dismissals and favorable resolutions for one of the largest residential mortgage-backed securities (RMBS) sponsors in cases brought by investors and securitization trusts for fraud and repurchase, leading to the dismissal of over $1 billion in claims. These litigation victories created precedent that cut off future claims against our client and other defendants in the RMBS space and benefit ABS sponsors in all credit markets with similar deal structures.

  • Defending a European investment bank against over $600 million in exposure from an ongoing fraudulent transfer lawsuit brought by Madoff bankruptcy trustee based on derivative transactions, including total return swaps and leveraged notes. In Madoff-related litigation, achieved, with other similarly situated banks, dismissal of over $200 million state law- and foreign insolvency-based actions asserted by liquidators of largest offshore Madoff feeder fund. The litigation resolved legal exposure for the client incurred in providing its customers with desired synthetic deal structures.

  • Advised investors on regulatory risk exposure of subprime auto lending targets and potential litigation recoveries in RMBS and subprime auto ABS. Our guidance enabled the investors to anticipate regulatory changes and litigation outcomes, helping to determine long and short positions.

  • Advising a residential mortgage lender as a borrower with over $100 million in warehouse financing, resolving regulatory and structural matters to help the client bring a new innovative product to market. The advice helps the client reduce the risk of regulatory scrutiny related to unique bridge financing.

  • Developed a proprietary strategy to limit a marketing communications intermediary's legal exposure to media and other third parties when its clients became insolvent and the threat of preference liability loomed. This strategy has since been implemented on numerous occasions to save intermediaries hundreds of millions in situations where their clients have not paid them or have sought to claw back funds in bankruptcy.

  • Guided an international real estate investment firm in chapter 11 bankruptcies of its retail tenants during the COVID-19 pandemic. Maximized the client's recoveries by enforcing its rights as a commercial landlord under the Bankruptcy Code and participating in negotiations concerning unprecedented rent relief during government shutdowns. The ultimate resolution balanced the retail tenants' need for rent relief during the shutdowns and the client's right to collect right during the bankruptcies. This resolution created a framework to deal with future disputes and commercial tenant insolvencies during the pandemic.

Key Contacts

Meet The Team