Steptoe Launches Troubled Asset Task Force

For more information, contact Jamie Moss, newsPRos, 201-493-1027

October 3, 2008, Washington, DC – Steptoe & Johnson LLP, a leading international law firm, today announced the launch of its Troubled Asset Task Force, which will advise financial institutions, sellers and purchasers of assets, asset managers, and program managers on the recently passed Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) of the US Department of the Treasury.

Steptoe’s Troubled Asset Task Force is led by three of the firm’s Washington, DC-based partners:  Scott A. Sinder, chair of the firm’s Government Affairs & Public Policy practice, who is General Counsel to the Commercial Mortgage Securities Association; John Collins, a member of the firm’s Corporate, Securities and Finance practice group and its Regulatory & Industry Affairs Department, who was formerly General Counsel to the US Senate Banking Committee, a Senior Attorney at the Federal Reserve Board in Washington and a Staff Attorney with the Securities & Exchange Commission; and Scott H. Katzman, head of Steptoe’s Corporate, Securities and Finance practice.

“Steptoe has assembled a highly skilled team to help market participants navigate wisely in the wake of the current tumult in capital markets,” said Mr. Sinder. “With the firm’s headquarters in Washington, DC, and its legacy practices in federal regulatory matters, this Task Force is extremely well positioned to advise clients in the post-bail out economy and the new regulatory landscape.”

The firm represents a diverse group of financial services firms.  Its corporate attorneys have a breadth of experience and expertise for guiding financial services clients through the corporate governance, stock transfer, recapitalization, proxy and executive compensation issues expected to arise under TARP. Steptoe attorneys have represented clients before the US Congress, the Department of the  Treasury, Federal Reserve Board, the Federal Direct Insurance Corporation, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, the Office of Thrift Supervision, the Federal Home Loan Bank Board, FinCen, the IRS, the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Department of Labor, the NASD and NYSE.

During the savings and loan crisis during the late 1980s and early 1990s Steptoe represented asset management firms in connection with asset management contracts with government agencies, and later represented the FDIC and RTC for many years in complex transactions and contracting activities relating to their real estate and loan assets from failing and failed financial institutions.  Steptoe acted as lead counsel for the RTC in the formation of several first-of-a-kind public/private sector limited partnerships and in the negotiation/documentation of the partnerships' acquisitions of portfolios of complex loans and real estate interests with market values of $450 million and $1.28 billion, respectively.

 “This firm has done an excellent job helping businesses in the financial services sector prosper under the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, which modernized the delivery of financial services in this country nearly a decade ago,” said Thomas J. “Tom” Bliley, Jr., a senior government affairs advisor in Steptoe’s Washington office, where he is a member of the Government Affairs & Public Policy practice, focusing on government relations. “Everything is in place for us to help these essential institutions meet whatever challenges they may face under the new federal safeguards of TARP, including increased scrutiny of their business operations”

Steptoe has represented institutions and individuals in every major Congressional oversight investigation of the last decade.  It counts among its attorneys and advisors many of the individuals who conducted these investigations on Capitol Hill.  Steptoe’s lawyers, including its former Congressional staffers, are accustomed to working in cross-disciplinary teams to achieve success in the Congressional arena, always preserving the rights and interests of its clients in related civil, administrative or criminal proceedings.

TARP contemplates awards of federal contracts for asset managers, servicers, property managers, other service providers.  Steptoe’s Government contracts attorneys, who have experience with the contracting process used by the former RTC, will counsel clients on the source selection and award of those contracts, as well as application of conflict of interest and other compliance issues that arise in connection with TARP’s rollout and implementation.

Steptoe’s tax, ERISA and executive compensation attorneys bring additional needed expertise to the Task Force, given that the executive compensation implications of TARP are projected to be broad and far-reaching. The firm’s tax, employee benefits and ERISA attorneys are actively involved in all aspects of executive compensation.

Steptoe’s mortgage and asset securitization and structured finance attorneys will play a strong role on the Task Force. For example, the firm presently represents a major Washington-based trade association involved in commercial mortgage asset securitization issues in public policy, legislative and amicus brief matters. It has represented a congressionally-chartered corporation on residential mortgage securitization-related issues and public policy and legislative matters. To date, Steptoe attorneys have represented issuers of over two billion dollars of asset backed securities collateralized by mortgage loans and a wide variety of other collateral.

The firm’s restructuring and distressed asset attorneys will also be involved. They formulate complex and innovative approaches to workouts and troubled real estate transactions, and counsel clients on the judicious sale and acquisition strategies and liquidation of distressed assets.

The Troubled Asset Task Force is aligned with and supports the firm’s national Subprime and Credit Crisis Team, organized 16 months ago in response to early concerns within the residential lending market. This team has experience with litigation, restructuring and insolvency matters arising from troubled real estate loans, mortgage backed securities, collateralized debt obligations, financial guarantees and mortgage insurance, as well as other real estate arrangements, structures and acquisitions, deploying lawyers firmwide from Steptoe’s litigation, restructuring and insolvency, corporate and real estate practices to meet clients’ needs.

About Steptoe & Johnson LLP
With more than 500 attorneys, Steptoe & Johnson LLP provides counsel and representation in a wide range of legal fields.  In more than 60 years of practice, the firm has gained a national and international reputation for vigorous representation of clients before governmental agencies, successful advocacy in litigation and arbitration, and creative and practical advice in guiding business transactions.  The firm has offices in Washington DC, New York, Chicago, Phoenix, Los Angeles, Century City, London, and Brussels.