Structured Finance

Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP has a long-standing commitment to its structured finance practice. Our more than 85 structured finance lawyers in offices throughout North America, Europe and Asia have played significant roles in the global asset securitization market, beginning in 1977 when we represented Bank of America in the first public offering of non-agency mortgage pass-through certificates. Since that time, we have assisted clients in developing many innovative structures and have played a critical role in many of the major legal developments that have shaped the structured finance field.

Our lawyers serve as counsel to issuers, underwriters, credit enhancement providers, sellers, servicers, asset managers, investors and other market participants in connection with the securitization of a wide variety of assets, including residential mortgage loans, home equity loans and lines of credit, commercial and multifamily mortgage loans, automobile loans, credit card receivables and trade receivables, installment sales contracts, franchisee loans, mutual fund fees, utility stranded cost fees, equipment leases, tobacco settlement payments, tobacco litigation legal fee awards, bank and corporate loans, insurance policy loans, student loans, future flow receivables, catastrophe and mortgage-guarantee risk, high-yield bonds and municipal bonds.

Global Strength

As the securitization market grows worldwide, we have leveraged our pioneering practice in the United States to develop particular strengths in jurisdictions including China, France, Italy, Japan, Korea, Taiwan and the United Kingdom. International Financial Law Review 1000 ranked Orrick as a "Top 5 Capital Markets – Structured Finance Firm Worldwide" in 2006. Much of Orrick's client work involves cross-border transactions or projects that span many countries, and our global offices where we currently operate are often central to those transactions. Our global experience allows us to support complex, cross-border transactions and is essential to our ability to provide seamless client service.

United States

Orrick consistently ranks among the top firms in the representation of issuers and underwriters in offerings of asset-backed and mortgage-backed securities. Chambers USA 2007: America's Leading Lawyers for Business ranked Orrick 2nd in national securitization and structured products. In previous years, Chambers USA has also noted that Orrick's Structured Finance Group is "a leading practice across the USA," declaring our lawyers "collegial and deal focused" with "the capacity to handle a volume of transactions." In 2006, Orrick ranked among the top five firms representing issuers in asset-backed and mortgage-backed securities transaction and among the top seven firms representing underwriters according to Thomson Financial and American Lawyer. In addition, we have been involved in numerous transactions named as "Deals of the Year" by International Financial Law Review, American Securitization Awards and the International Securitisation Report, among others.

Europe

Structured Finance lawyers in our London, Milan, Paris and Rome offices have worked on many of the first synthetic product transactions. Our team has also developed innovative products for reducing and shifting risk, such as CRISP, a unique transaction that provided a cap on losses related to a referenced index of credit card programs and was named "2002 Risk Management Deal of the Year" by Euromoney.

Our European Structured Finance Group was ranked in 2006 as one of the top two firms representing issuers for international CDOs and in the top seven firms representing managers for international CDOs by Thomson Financial. Orrick's securitization team in our Paris office was ranked by Opérations Financières in the 4th tier among all law firms in France for securitization leadership in 2006.

Asia

Our Asia-Pacific Structured Finance Group is an integrated team of lawyers regularly handling many of the most innovative transactions involving assets and clients around the world, including the first CLO/CBO issued by a Korean Bank and the first post-Asian financial crisis CDO of an all-Asian pool. Legal 500 ranked Orrick's Asia-Pacific securitization practice in the top tier in 2006-2007. Orrick is a pioneer in the Japanese CMBS and ABS markets, the Korean ABS market and the nascent Taiwanese RMBS and ABS markets. In China, our team advised the arranger of the first cross-border CMBS from the People's Republic of China and this transaction was named the "Securitisation Deal of the Year" by International Financial Law Review in 2006.

Latin America

Our Latin American securitization team has extensive experience in advising issuers, financiers and other counterparties in structured finance transactions in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Guatemala, Mexico and Venezuela. Our regional structured finance experience includes the securitization of oil and tax receivables; the securitization of emerging country debt receivables; the creation of multi-issuance platforms for securitizing emerging market bonds, loans, letters of credit and similar instruments; the repackaging of Brady Bonds and other securities issued by emerging market sovereigns and semi-sovereigns; and advising financial institutions on structured loan facilities, including IFC, Mexican Development Bank and Colombian Development Bank.

The Orrick Difference

We make an investment in understanding our clients' businesses, enabling us to provide strategic and practical solutions in an efficient and cost-effective manner. Our multidisciplinary team approach, involving transactional, securities, tax, real estate, commercial law, banking, bankruptcy and ERISA lawyers, enables us to provide our clients with sophisticated legal work on their most complex and challenging transactions.