Alston & Bird has expanded its finance capabilities with the addition of Katrina Llanes as partner in the firm’s New York office.
Llanes focuses her practice on securitization, structured and secured lending, and other complex corporate finance transactions.
“Katrina is a rising star whose legal sophistication, talent, and thought leadership are the perfect complement to our structured finance work, particularly in the areas of servicing advances and mortgage servicing rights securitizations,” said Shanell Cramer, Alston & Bird partner and co-chair of its Finance Group. “I have personally known Katrina for many years, and I’m delighted that we have attracted a lawyer of her standing to support our clients in their business and legal needs in this important and growing asset class.”
Llanes brings more than a decade of experience and deep relationships with a wide range of clients – from lenders, underwriters, and investors, to borrowers, sponsors, and issuers. She has counseled clients extensively across a spectrum of complex transactions, including advising on master trust structures for financing Ginnie Mae and Fannie Mae mortgage servicing rights (MSRs), private placement issuances of asset-backed notes collateralized by MSRs and excess servicing spread, and acquisitions and sales of servicing rights and loans and financing servicing advance receivables and servicing rights through structured and traditional credit facilities and securitizations.
While at her former firm, Llanes was seconded to Credit Suisse, where she served as counsel to the bank’s securitized products and commercial real estate finance businesses. There, she advised on asset-backed financings, loan originations, purchases and sales, warehouse lending, securitizations, and other complex transactions.
A frequent commentator on finance issues and trends, Llanes was a speaker at the 2018 SFIG Legal Forum, where she discussed warehouse facility documentation for asset-backed securities. She has also written on Dodd-Frank Act securitization rules for The Business Lawyer, published by the American Bar Association.
In addition to her finance work, Llanes is active in pro bono matters representing women and children seeking immigration relief under the Violence Against Women Act and U nonimmigrant status visa petitions. She is a former recipient of the New York Legal Aid Society’s Pro Bono Publico Award for outstanding service to the organization and its clients.
“Katrina has established an exceptionally strong reputation in the servicing rights market,” said Jamie Hutchinson, partner in charge of Alston & Bird’s New York office. “Her track record of success makes her a valuable addition to our team and raises our strategic growth in meeting the end-to-end financing needs of our clients in New York and nationally.”
Llanes is the latest prominent finance practitioner to join Alston & Bird in New York. She follows the arrival of partners David Hoyt, Kenneth Rothenberg, and Russell Chiappetta, who joined as part of a five-member finance team from Andrews Kurth in 2018, and partner Paul Hespel, who arrived from Pepper Hamilton LLP in 2017.
With Llanes’s addition, Alston & Bird’s Finance Group now numbers 101 attorneys, a 48 percent increase since 2013.
Llanes focuses her practice on securitization, structured and secured lending, and other complex corporate finance transactions.
“Katrina is a rising star whose legal sophistication, talent, and thought leadership are the perfect complement to our structured finance work, particularly in the areas of servicing advances and mortgage servicing rights securitizations,” said Shanell Cramer, Alston & Bird partner and co-chair of its Finance Group. “I have personally known Katrina for many years, and I’m delighted that we have attracted a lawyer of her standing to support our clients in their business and legal needs in this important and growing asset class.”
Llanes brings more than a decade of experience and deep relationships with a wide range of clients – from lenders, underwriters, and investors, to borrowers, sponsors, and issuers. She has counseled clients extensively across a spectrum of complex transactions, including advising on master trust structures for financing Ginnie Mae and Fannie Mae mortgage servicing rights (MSRs), private placement issuances of asset-backed notes collateralized by MSRs and excess servicing spread, and acquisitions and sales of servicing rights and loans and financing servicing advance receivables and servicing rights through structured and traditional credit facilities and securitizations.
While at her former firm, Llanes was seconded to Credit Suisse, where she served as counsel to the bank’s securitized products and commercial real estate finance businesses. There, she advised on asset-backed financings, loan originations, purchases and sales, warehouse lending, securitizations, and other complex transactions.
A frequent commentator on finance issues and trends, Llanes was a speaker at the 2018 SFIG Legal Forum, where she discussed warehouse facility documentation for asset-backed securities. She has also written on Dodd-Frank Act securitization rules for The Business Lawyer, published by the American Bar Association.
In addition to her finance work, Llanes is active in pro bono matters representing women and children seeking immigration relief under the Violence Against Women Act and U nonimmigrant status visa petitions. She is a former recipient of the New York Legal Aid Society’s Pro Bono Publico Award for outstanding service to the organization and its clients.
“Katrina has established an exceptionally strong reputation in the servicing rights market,” said Jamie Hutchinson, partner in charge of Alston & Bird’s New York office. “Her track record of success makes her a valuable addition to our team and raises our strategic growth in meeting the end-to-end financing needs of our clients in New York and nationally.”
Llanes is the latest prominent finance practitioner to join Alston & Bird in New York. She follows the arrival of partners David Hoyt, Kenneth Rothenberg, and Russell Chiappetta, who joined as part of a five-member finance team from Andrews Kurth in 2018, and partner Paul Hespel, who arrived from Pepper Hamilton LLP in 2017.
With Llanes’s addition, Alston & Bird’s Finance Group now numbers 101 attorneys, a 48 percent increase since 2013.