Katten Muchin Rosenman hired five structured finance lawyers from Dewey & LeBoeuf, including five structured finance partners in New York and a financial products tax partner in Washington, D.C.
The attorneys are Chris DiAngelo, Anna-Liza B. Harris, Howard M. Schickler, Joseph P. Topolski and John P. Keiserman.
The group focuses on public and private consumer and commercial asset ABS and handles all types of financing for bank and non-bank finance firms.
These latest additions come after last week's hiring of commercial finance partner Angela Batterson from King & Spalding and financial services partner Guy Dempsey from Latham & Watkins, who are both based in Katten’s New York office.
DiAngelo has over 25 years of experience in the financial services industry. He represents a wide range of clients, including issuers, lenders, underwriters and bond insurers on different programs and projects, such as ABS, municipal, and straight corporate debt. He also handles equity, warehouse lines, regulatory matters and acquisitions. He was previously global co-head of Dewey & LeBoeuf’s structured finance group and was recently named to the board of directors of the American Securitization Forum.
Anna-Liza Harris focuses her tax practice in the areas of structured finance and securitization, such as debt capital markets transactions; residential and multi-family MBS; ABS; and the structuring of complex derivative and hybrid equity securities.
Harris has also provided tax advice for issuances backed by performing, re-performing, nonperforming and synthetic assets, using REMICs, commercial paper conduits and other fixed and revolving structures through U.S. and offshore issuing vehicles. She has expertise representing issuers of financial products in disputes with the IRS.
Howard Schickler represents a range of structured finance participants, such as issuers, underwriters, credit enhancers, lenders and borrowers in both domestic and international matters. He has been involved in structured finance deals involving a variety of asset classes, such as mortgages, home equity loans, auto loans, equipment leases, credit card receivables, franchise loans, health care receivables, trade receivables and royalties. His transactions include debt and equity structures, private and public issuances, warehouse lines and domestic and cross-border deal backed by both existing assets and future flows.
Joseph Topolski represents issuers, underwriters, placement agents and investors in ABS and other structured finance transactions. He has worked on deals backed by a wide range of asset classes, with an emphasis on retail auto loans, retail auto leases and dealer floorplan finance receivables. Topolski has extensive experience with public and private offerings, domestic and cross-border, term note and variable funding note offerings. He also handles existing asset and future flow transactions and single-seller and multi-seller commercial paper conduits.
John Keiserman regularly represents issuers and underwriters in ABS and MBS deals with a focus on auto loan, auto lease and dealer floorplan securitizations and warehouses. He has also represented monoline insurers and collateral managers on market value, cash flow and synthetic CDOs; issuers on franchise loan securitizations; issuers and underwriters on mortgage loan and HELOC securitizations; and issuers and underwriters on numerous Latin American diversified payment rights securitizations.
“We are excited to have this group of outstanding attorneys join us,” said Henry Bregstein, co-managing partner of Katten’s New York office. “They also happen to be a great group of people that we are looking forward to working with. Their structured finance expertise augments our existing finance platform, which will enable us to provide an even broader range of high-level services to our clients.”
DiAngelo said that the group chose Katten based on the firm’s “platform, strength in existing practice areas and growth opportunities for the New York office.” He said that the group expects that all of their current associates and support staff will join them.
“We look forward to continuing to provide outstanding service to our clients,” he said.
