Willa Bruckner was be a featured speaker at this teleconference hosted by Strafford. Over the past decade, credit derivatives have become a common instrument for shifting credit risk from one party to another without transferring the underlying credit. The credit derivatives market is estimated to have grown from $180 billion in 1996 to more than $20 trillion in 2006. The current credit market crisis has brought heightened attention to the risks associated with credit derivatives. Regulators in the United States and overseas are worried that credit derivatives transactions may be poorly documented and risk management systems ineffective. What are the best practices for counsel to advise clients in utilizing these transactions in order to minimize legal risks, particularly during the current credit market crisis? Willa and other members of the corporate finance attorney panel reviewed the latest trends in the credit derivatives market, legal and documentation risks related to credit derivatives and strategies to minimize those risks. Key questions to be reviewed during the program included the following:
- What are the regulatory and operational risks of using credit derivatives?
- What key documentation terms does counsel advising on credit derivatives need to understand?
- How can counsel draft credit derivative contracts in a way that minimizes documentation and operational risks?
April 10, 2008
1:00pm - 2:30pm EST