Overview
Our cross-disciplinary team leverages decades of experience to provide counsel in the areas of bilateral and syndicated loans, structured finance, securitizations, swaps, and other derivatives (including OTC and exchange traded and cleared and non-cleared) and litigation. We regularly advise clients on the latest market practices and current fallback language, developments related to the ISDA 2020 IBOR Fallbacks Protocol, preparation of client and market communications, management of the transition of legacy contracts, and preparation for coming litigation. Our attorneys have experience advising the broad spectrum of clients impacted by LIBOR transition, including banks (ranging from community/regional banks to international/investment banks), corporate end-users, funds, and non-traditional lenders.
LIBOR or the London Interbank Offered Rate serves as a reference rate for more than $200 trillion in financial contracts. Its demise has been promised since 2017, when the U.K. Financial Conduct Authority announced that it would cease supporting the publication of the benchmark at the end of 2021. That deadline has proved to be somewhat premature, at least for U.S. dollar LIBOR, but the end of LIBOR is not far.
We have been focused on LIBOR-related issues from the beginning of the global investigations in 2008, when we represented a LIBOR panel bank. We helped our clients navigate through the market changes that followed from the Wheatley Review and its implementation to the actions of the Alternative Reference Rates Committee (ARRC). We also participate in the working group of the Loan Syndications & Trading Association developing form credit agreement amendments related to the LIBOR transition.
Throughout the LIBOR transition, we have advised clients with the drafting and incorporation of LIBOR fallback and successor rate provisions, including the Secured Overnight Financing Rate (SOFR), in their agreements, plans for internal and external education efforts and providing general market updates so that our clients stay current and consistent with the rapidly developing market practices. On an ongoing basis, our attorneys help clients develop and implement wholistic transition plans that address: (i) transaction and contractual issues, (ii) compliance and litigation risks, (iii) treasury, operations, and risk management, and (iv) client/counterparty communications.
Additionally, we advise clients on the implication of using reference rates that have been proposed as an alternative to the SOFR in the U.S. Dollar market (e.g., Ameribor and the Bank Yield Index).
