Insights

Washington – January 3, 2022: Crowell & Moring elected 13 lawyers to the firm’s partnership, effective January 1, 2022. The firm also promoted seven to the position of senior counsel and 19 associates to the position of counsel. The new partners have been promoted from within the ranks of the firm’s London, New York, and Washington, D.C. offices and from across several practice groups, including Advertising & Media; Antitrust & Competition; Corporate; Energy; Environment & Natural Resources; Government Contracts; Health Care; Technology & Intellectual Property; International Dispute Resolution; Litigation; Mass Tort, Product, and Consumer Litigation; and Privacy & Cybersecurity.

New York – April 1, 2021: Crowell & Moring and Kibbe & Orbe have joined forces effective today to provide expanded service offerings to clients in the financial services industry.  Twenty-four lawyers from the storied financial law firm are now part of Crowell & Moring’s New York, London, and Washington, D.C. offices, including Jennifer Grady, managing partner and chair of the firm’s executive committee, who will co-chair Crowell & Moring’s Corporate practice; three founding partners, Jonathan Kibbe, William Orbe, and Michael D. Mann, and the managing partner of the London office, Andrew M. Martin.

From the inception of the secondary market for syndicated bank loans some 35 years ago, we have seen continuous movement in the direction of increased liquidity for the asset, but recent developments in this market point toward a reversal of this trend.

On February 20, 2024, the Supreme Court finally brought the curtain down on the Kirschner v. JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A. et al., action when it denied Plaintiff’s petition for certiorari that challenged the Second Circuit Court of Appeal’s determination that syndicated bank loans were not “securities.” While the Second Circuit made that decision in August, fears of significant market disruption were raised again in December, when the plaintiff asked the Supreme Court to review the case. But, as a result of the denial of cert, the Second Circuit decision stands, and for the time being, syndicated term loans will not be subject to securities regulation.

Selling a “loan participation” is a common form of ownership transfer in the secondary loan market. What is being sold? The legal answer is that the seller (or “grantor”) sells, and the participant buys a “beneficial interest” in the loan. Who owns the loan? The answer is in two parts: the grantor continues to hold legal title to the loan, but the economics of the loan are now owned by the participant.