Derivatives

Experience/Services

Trading documentation services

• Structuring, drafting and negotiating:
  • Bespoke transactions
  • Master agreements and long-form confirmations
  • Prime brokerage documentation
  • Futures agreements
  • Execution and clearing arrangements
  • Collateral segregation arrangements
  • Repo and securities lending agreements
• Advice on best practices and industry models
• Documentation audits and recommendations for improved legal risk management
• Preparing dynamic databases of documentation provisions

Complex products and transactions with embedded derivatives

• Derivatives products in lending, debt offerings and other financing arrangements
• Derivatives products as part of structured finance programs
• Structured product programs and takedowns
  • Registered transactions
  • Private transactions
  • Section 3(a)(2) programs
• Offering documents and product/pricing supplements for structured note platforms
• Review of structured investment products

Regulatory

• Advice on new products and structures
• Advice on legislative and regulatory regimes and substituted compliance initiatives
• Regulatory monitoring
• Preparing comment letters
• Preparing requests for regulatory consents and exemptions
• Preparing compliance manuals and guidelines
• Assisting in preparation for and response to regulatory audits

Governmental investigations

• Representation in governmental investigations
• Representation before governmental bodies

Insolvency and dispute resolution

• Advice on insolvency consequences, including safe harbors for derivatives products
• Advice on unwinding transactions and products
• Representation in bankruptcy and other insolvency proceedings
• Advice on dispute resolution
• Litigation
• Mediation and arbitration

Tax advice

• Structuring products and transactions for beneficial tax treatment
• Cross-border considerations
• FATCA/HIRE Act
• Tax integration eligibility

Accolades

Our derivatives practice group includes individuals with substantial experience in financial services who have served as external counsel and internal counsel for dealers and end-users and who have held positions with the SEC, IRS and federal banking regulators. The group includes attorneys who have been recognized by Chambers, Super Lawyers, Lawdragon and other nationally and internationally recognized trade publications. We are active in many industry associations, including the International Swaps and Derivatives Association (ISDA), Futures Industry Association, International Energy Credit Association, Managed Funds Association, Structured Products Association, Women in Derivatives, American Bar Association’s Derivatives and Futures Law Committee, New York State Bar Association’s Derivatives and Structured Products Law Committee and New York City Bar Association’s Futures and Derivatives Committee. Our attorneys frequently speak at industry events, and we contribute to and are often cited in industry publications.

Bringing Value to Our Clients

Every client is unique. We team with each of our clients to craft practical approaches and individual solutions that address the client’s legal concerns and business realities. Our clients look to us for advice throughout the life cycle of a product, from the initial concept through product structuring and development, regulatory approvals and filings, program implementation, ongoing modifications, termination and dispute resolution. We have worked with derivatives and structured products in a wide variety of contexts, and we have hands-on experience with the internal processes and market practices surrounding the products. In addition, we have represented clients in the most significant insolvency cases and in government investigations and enforcement cases, and we regularly participate in industry responses to regulatory developments. As a result, we bring perspective and judgment to our clients as they respond to the ever-changing environment for derivatives and structured products.