We serve financial institutions that provide corporate trust services across a spectrum of asset classes and roles, in both the primary and secondary markets. Their needs are numerous and varied throughout the transaction lifecycle, from initial transaction documentation to post-closing administration, regulatory compliance, risk and control, investor inquiries, litigation, defaults, workout and restructuring, termination, successorships, investigations, and insolvency. Ballard Spahr has the experience and multidisciplinary bench strength required to fully partner with financial institutions and thoughtfully, strategically, and holistically manage these undertakings at each step along the way.
We provide corporate trust and agency legal services in, public finance, project finance, corporate debt, syndicated lending, structured finance (such as energy prepay transactions), custodial arrangements, tax-exempt tender option bond (TOB) programs, taxable and tax-exempt secondary market leverage structures, and CMBS and RMBS securitizations and other capital markets transactions. Our clients serve in varied roles, including in the primary market: indenture trustee, collateral agent, depositary, master servicer, paying agent, loan agent, escrow agent, and securities depository/administrator/intermediary; and in the secondary market, custodian and indenture/agreement/trustee. We are familiar with the documentation standards and policies for all of the major corporate trustees, and we render enforceability opinions with respect to trust documents under the laws of New York, Delaware, California and various other states. Our corporate trust litigators have extensive experience litigating cases in state and federal courts across the country, and they frequently draft and litigate Trust Instruction Petitions under the Minnesota Trust Code to obtain court-ordered direction, liability protection, and finality for all parties involved.
