Subprime Mortgage Markets

Our subprime mortgage markets initiative is a multidisciplinary team of attorneys devoted to advising our financial services and corporate clients in connection with the growing crisis in the global capital and credit markets.  We represent some of the largest U.S. banks, financial institutions, lenders and investment firms in a variety of litigation, dispute resolution, regulatory and transactional matters including bankruptcies, workouts, class actions, investment disputes, capital markets transactions and securitizations.  The team combines experience across many practice areas within the firm to share expertise and knowledge of current market issues more effectively.

EXPERIENCE

In response to the widespread problems affecting the financial services industry in recent months, our attorneys have been at the forefront of offering advice to clients in a variety of areas, including the:

• Representation of financial institutions with the bankruptcies of debtors who were loan originators and sellers who packaged loans into mortgage-backed securities; representation of investment firms in connection with the purchase of defaulted mortgage loans; and representation of a mortgage originator and servicer in its bankruptcy case. 
• Representation of banks, thrifts, credit unions and other lenders in federal and state regulatory issues, including the sale of distressed financial assets.
• Representation related to retirement plan investments in company stock and financial products with exposure to subprime mortgages.
• Representation of parties to derivative transactions and hedge funds with exposure to subprime mortgages and representation of investors in structured products tied to subprime markets and related credit markets.
• Conduct of corporate internal investigations and the provision of counsel to companies concerning potential external investigations.
• Representation of transaction parties in issuances of collateralized debt obligations and other asset-backed and mortgage-backed securitization transactions secured in whole or in part by assets with exposure to subprime mortgage loans and with ongoing issues associated with these structures, including disputes involving actions brought by investors, collateral managers, insurers and other deal parties in connection with defaults and alleged defaults.
• Representation of financial institutions in disputes and litigation arising from collateralized debt obligations and structured investment vehicles.
  Representation of financial institutions and lenders involved in class actions filed in connection with subprime mortgage issues.
• Representation of underwriters in pending securities fraud class actions filed against issuer alleging various subprime mortgage issues; representation of a subprime lender in an SEC investigation concerning the adequacy of company’s loan loss reserves; representation of the principals of a bank regarding various regulatory matters due to subprime issues; and representation of clients in connection with insurance coverage issues under directors’and officers’ liability policies.

RECOGNITION

We devote substantial time to identifying emerging trends and developments in the financial services industry, and understanding how these developments affect the business and interests of our clients.  This client-focused approach, combined with our commitment to responsiveness to client needs, has been recognized by a recent third-party client service study as the key to our ability to deliver superior value in the advice we provide to our clients.