Financial Services
JKW’s financial services practice serves the broad and evolving needs of clients in Arizona, New Mexico, and across the Southwest.
Our transactional and litigation attorneys advise financial institutions ranging from banks to sureties, bond servicing agencies, insurance companies, equipment lessors, commercial developers, and investors in their agreements and, when they arise, their disputes.
We understand that each financial institution’s legal matters vary from routine to complex. Our financial services lawyers are experienced in providing counsel that takes into consideration the goals and objectives of our clients, as well as noting any potential pitfalls to mitigate the risk of loss or litigation.
JKW’s financial services attorneys serve clients in the following areas:
Financial Services
Banking Law
- Preparing loan documents
- Drafting and preparing opinion letters for lenders
- Drafting commercial leasing agreements and assisting in lease negotiations
- Advising clients in real estate acquisition, development, construction, and renovation financings
Business Bankruptcy and Creditors’ Rights
- Pre-bankruptcy analysis and financial restructuring of loans and portfolios
- Workouts and recoveries
- Advising on receivership actions
- Initiating and handling foreclosure actions, asset sales and liquidations
- Cash collateral disputes, stay relief matters, non-dischargeability of debts, lien priority issues, assumption or rejection of leases, and Section 363 sales
- Litigating fraudulent transfers
- Negotiating debtor-in-possession financing and plan treatment
- Judgment enforcement
- Chapter 7, chapter 11, and chapter 13 bankruptcy filings
Commercial Finance
- Drafting purchase and sale agreements
- Drafting or analyzing commercial construction contracts
- Negotiating and drafting commercial leasing agreements
- Negotiating the terms of transactions
- Advising on real estate financing for acquisition, construction, transitional financing and secondary financing
- Evaluating documents as required to demonstrate “due diligence”
- Evaluating the condition of title for real property and assisting in resolving title disputes
- Preparing and assembling documents required to complete a transaction
Equipment Leasing
- Representing creditors or lessors of equipment, including independent and captive leasing and finance companies, banks and their subsidiaries, as well as brokers, financial services corporations and funders.
- Evaluating recourse and non-recourse discounting of lease receivables
- Handling municipal and federal government leases
- Drafting and advising on lease-backed securitization agreements
- Advising on and drafting dale-leasebacks and residual financing
- Drafting single investor commercial and consumer leases
- Advising on and drafting purchase and sale of lease portfolios
- Evaluating warehouse, barn and large facility lease finance credit facilities
- Handling bankruptcy aspects of leasing, including assumption and rejection issues, Section 365(d)(5) rights, and lease recharacterization analysis
Fidelity & Surety Law
- Interpreting the scope of bond coverage and determining whether a particular claim is covered
- Evaluating fidelity claims, including investigation and claims handling
- Defending fidelity claims that cannot be resolved through investigation and claims handling procedures
- Evaluating construction surety claims and defaults, including investigating and coordinating multi-project bond losses and claims
- Defending performance and payment bond claims
- Defending license and miscellaneous bond claims
- Assisting with subrogation and salvage matters, including lawsuits to enforce indemnity obligations
- Representing surety client interests in bankruptcy proceedings
- Defending bad faith and extracontractual liability claims
Litigation
- Providing comprehensive litigation representation from initial filing through appeals
- Handling post-trial motion work to ensure relevant issues and documents are included in the official record of the trial court, including motions for new trial and motions for judgment notwithstanding the verdict
- Handling trial proceedings, for cases likely to result in an appeal, in areas such as preservation, jury instructions, and substantive motion practice to posture the case ideally for appeal
- Representation in administrative appeals litigated in district courts
- Providing case assessments and appeals evaluations, including recommendations on whether to appeal particular issues
- Providing full-service appellate work, handling the entire appellate case or serving as co-counsel with the attorneys who appeared before the trial court
- Handling special actions and interlocutory appeals, involving requests for appellate relief prior to the conclusion of trial court proceedings
- Drafting extraordinary writ proceedings in appellate courts
- Drafting petitions for review by certiorari
- Drafting amicus briefs
- Securities Litigation
- Securities litigation, arbitration and mediation
- Securities investigations and enforcement proceedings involving the SEC, FINRA and/or state securities agencies
- Complex commercial litigation
- Bet-The-Company litigation
- Broker-Dealer and investment adviser examinations, litigation, arbitration and mediation
- Director and officer liability
- Government investigations and regulatory proceedings
Financial Services Attorneys
Alternative Dispute Resolution
Sometimes the best outcome for our client requires a non-litigation approach to a dispute. The financial services attorneys with Jennings Haug Keleher McLeod Waterfall are also experienced in providing representation in private arbitrations and mediation services to resolve conflicts arising from disputes between parties in the financial services sector.
Our Mediation and Conference Center in the Arizona office is equipped with digital audio and video technology and wireless, high-speed internet and intranet connections to support the alternative dispute resolution processes of mediation and arbitration.
Contact the Banking attorneys of Jennings Haug Keleher McLeod Waterfall. We serve business and banking clients in Arizona and New Mexico, as well as select cases elsewhere in the United States.
