Press Release

Morgan Lewis Expands Structured Transactions Practice with New Partners in Chicago

Monday, August 27, 2018

CHICAGO, August 27, 2018: Morgan Lewis today expands its top-tier structured transactions capabilities with the addition of partners Jeff Weinstein and Patrick Lampe, who will be resident in Chicago. Both Mr. Weinstein and Mr. Lampe arrive from another global firm, and they are joined in Chicago by Philip Russell, who has been with Morgan Lewis since 2014 and is relocating from the firm’s New York office.

All three partners work with a diverse range of clients. Among the services they offer are representations of arrangers, banks, investors, and issuers and underwriters in connection with securitizations, structured finance, and commercial finance transactions.

“Strengthening our elite structured transactions team reflects our commitment to providing clients the best possible talent throughout the United States and globally,” said Firm Chair Jami McKeon. “These partners working together in Chicago will be ideally positioned to serve a wide variety of clients in a comprehensive range of asset classes.”

Mr. Weinstein and Mr. Lampe have worked with a broad assortment of asset classes, among them residential mortgage loans, vehicle and equipment loans and leases, credit card receivables, floorplan loans and trade receivables, and timeshare loans. They also have represented clients regarding nontraditional asset classes, including collateralized fund obligations, servicer advances, sports and stadium-related revenues, royalty rights, online marketplace loans, whole business securitizations, and media, sports, and entertainment rights.   

Mr. Russell represents a wide variety of clients, including issuers, underwriters, lenders, borrowers, asset managers, buyers, sellers, and sponsors, in a variety of corporate and structured finance transactions. He regularly represents clients engaged in public and private offerings of debt and equity securities secured by auto loans and leases, marketplace and unsecured consumer loans, private and federally guaranteed student loans, mortgage loans, equipment, trade receivables, and other assets.

“We are tremendously excited to both broaden and deepen our services to clients with the addition of these market-leading practitioners,” said Reed Auerbach, leader of Morgan Lewis’s structured transactions practice. “Jeff, Pat, and Phil are well known to each other and within the industry, so we anticipate a seamless transition resulting in immediate benefits for our clients.”

The group’s presence in Chicago complements Morgan Lewis’s recent expansions there, including the firm’s recent welcoming of five new intellectual property litigators to the office and the completion earlier this year of the addition of a six-partner team of tax lawyers. The Chicago office provides regional and global clients with advice on a broad range of services in addition to structured transactions, including litigation, labor, employment, intellectual property, securities enforcement, investment management, and corporate transactions.