Paul R. St. Lawrence

Partner

Washington DC Phone +1.202.739.5314 Fax +1.202.739.3001

1111 Pennsylvania Ave. NW//Washington, DC 20004-2541//United States

Paul R. St. Lawrence concentrates his practice on complex financing transactions, with a particular emphasis on collateralized loan obligations (CLOs) and financings of pools of residential mortgage loans through both repurchase and secured loan facilities. He also handles securitizations, asset-based finance, and other structured finance and derivative products, and is often called upon by clients for his regulatory advice. Paul represents companies on both the sell-side and buy-side in derivative-based financings, CLOs, esoteric securitizations, and transactions utilizing other complex financial instruments. He also advises on the rights of creditors to exercise remedies in derivative and securities transactions following the insolvency of counterparties.

Before joining Morgan Lewis, Paul was a partner in the structured finance practice of another global law firm, resident in Washington, DC.

Selected Representations

Represented major underwriters and collateral managers in the structuring and offering of more than $43.5 billion in CLOs since 2014
Represented Bank of America and Goldman Sachs in connection with repurchase transactions of structured securities backed by non-performing residential mortgage loans
Represented Verizon Communications in the establishment of a platform for the sale to a variety of banks and their asset-backed commercial paper conduits of installment receivables generated by their sale of wireless equipment
Represented Citigroup and StoneCastle Financial in the origination and securitization of Tier 2 qualified subordinated loans to community banks; the initial securitization in 2015 was the first such securitization of subordinated bank debt since the financial crisis
Represented Merrill Lynch as initial purchaser in over $1 billion securitizations, including securitization of insurance company debt and securitization of insurance company and bank debt securities—the first such securitizations post-Dodd-Frank
Represented Strategic Credit Partners Holdings LLC, a joint venture between CIT Group and TPG Sixth Street Partners (f/k/a TPG Special Situations Partners), in a $100 million revolving secured credit facility for the acquisition of middle-market loans
Represented C&W Facility Services Inc. and its affiliates in a sale of $138 million of commercial facility services receivables to ING Luxembourg S.A.
Represented Crescent Capital in obtaining a significant no-action letter from the US Securities and Exchange Commission establishing the conditions for exempting from the US risk retention rules refinancings of CLO debt that occur following the effective date of those rules
Represented numerous leading international banks on the Volcker Rule and risk retention requirements in the United States and the European Union and their implications for structuring of asset-backed securities
Represented lenders and borrowers under secured financing facilities for the acquisition of a variety of financial instruments including non-performing residential mortgage loans, consumer receivables, middle-market and broadly syndicated bank loans and other asset-backed securities
Represented the creditors of MF Global, Lehman Brothers, and Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC in connection with the close out of derivatives and securities transactions and related matters
Represented the Loan Trading and Syndication Association on matters related to US risk retention regulations affecting CLOs
Represented the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association on a variety of matters, including the revision to the industry-standard Master Securities Forward Transaction Agreement
Represented a major financial institution in connection with novel arrangements entered into with a specialty broker-dealer under which the financial institution will refer repo customers to the broker-dealer and an affiliate will purchase the broker-dealer’s senior debt securities to provide additional capital to support repos entered into with referred customers