Structured Finance

Orrick’s Structured Finance group has been at the forefront of global asset securitization since the industry’s inception. In 1977, we represented Bank of America in the first public offering of non-agency mortgage pass-through certificates, marking a milestone in the market’s development. Since then, we have continued to advise on the industry’s most innovative transactions and significant regulatory reforms.

Our team is recognized as a structured finance powerhouse, with the expertise and bandwidth to take bespoke approaches to the structuring, execution and sale of all types of securitized assets, including esoterics, commercial mortgage-backed, residential mortgage-backed and asset-backed securities, as well as CLOs, repackagings, resecuritizations and other financings.

We are consistently ranked by national and international legal directories, including Chambers USA Band 1 for CMBS and PACE, and Band 2 for ABS and RMBS. Asset-Backed Alert has ranked our securitization team among the top counsel for issuers, underwriters and investors over the past decade in both the 144A and Private 4(a)(2) markets. Our market leading CLO practice features key innovators in both the original market and in the evolution of post-crisis CLO 2.0 and 3.0 transactions.

Our multidisciplinary approach brings together practitioners in securitization, securities law, investment funds, tax, real estate, commercial law, banking, restructuring and ERISA. We collaborate closely with the firm’s private credit practice, which represents some of the most active funds in the market.

But what sets us truly apart is our record of innovation. In recent years, we helped our clients structure and close the first oil & gas royalty securitizations in the United States, supported MOBI’s FSSC working group in developing blockchain standards for the auto market, advised on the securitization of musical catalogs, including copyrights, trademarks, NIL and other income streams, and partnered with Microsoft to create a hedging instrument that shifts the risk of price variability in sustainable energy for corporate power purchasers to third parties. In developing these novel products, we draw on the firm’s deep knowledge of the assets, spanning from energy (where we have Chambers USA Band 1 practices) to IP rights (where our team is a two-time finalist for The American Lawyer Litigation Department of the Year) and beyond.

In Europe, our market-leading team is at the center of regulatory change in the banking markets, often shaping policy and working directly with regulators. Our French team, recognized as Chambers Global Band 1, helped draft French legislation enabling foreign and alternative capital providers to make loans in France and assist European banks in reducing non-performing loan exposure through novel structures. Ranked Band 1 in Chambers UK for CLOs and winner at the 2024 GlobalCapital European Securitization Awards, our UK team provides regulatory advice on securitization and asset‑backed finance.

Our Structured Finance lawyers work closely with Orrick Labs — our innovation team — to help clients leverage genAI and other advanced tools for mining data and executing transactions with greater speed and accuracy. Orrick was recently named by Financial Times as one of the top 10 most innovative law firms globally of the past 20 years, reflecting, in part, the 44 innovation awards our debt finance teams have earned during this period.

Orrick’s Structured Finance group combines deep market experience, multidisciplinary expertise, and a proven track record of innovation to deliver outstanding results for our clients. Whether navigating complex transactions, developing novel financial products, or shaping regulatory policy, we are committed to helping our clients achieve their goals in a rapidly evolving global market.