BSF’s lawyers blend a deep understanding of all types of financial instruments, including complex securitizations, with a trial lawyer’s instincts, offering clients a unique perspective in financial services-related litigation. Instead of following the standard playbook of shepherding clients toward a “market” settlement, we leverage our unparalleled reputation as trial lawyers, exacting legal analysis, and commercial problem-solving to create leverage, drive value, and protect downside risk.
We frequently advise financial institutions, private equity houses, and investment funds in all types of litigation, designing and implementing strategies to maximize value and mitigate risk. These cases are invariably complex, high-profile, and cross-jurisdictional.
Our team has litigated the most important financial services cases across the world, acting both for plaintiffs/claimants and defendants. This diversity of experience gives us insights and relationships that most other firms and lawyers cannot match. Additionally, as a disputes-focused firm, we are free of the conflicts that prevent “deal counsel” from pursuing litigation. We are also able to bring a fresh perspective to documents, clean from the inherent difficulties that arise when law firms are asked to review and defend their own transactional documents. Among other experience, our lawyers have litigated early redemption clauses in loan and bond documentation, guarantee and sponsor obligations under project and debt finance structures, complex default provisions in CLOs and other complex securitization structures, and conspiracy/fraud claims against debtors, guarantors and arranger/agent third parties. We also have extensive experience in the often-related area of insolvency and restructuring.
Our attorneys frequently advise financial institution clients in regulatory and enforcement matters, having handled high-profile matters where litigation and government investigations often overlap, including cases involving benchmark rate-setting and the issuance of residential mortgage-backed securities; antitrust and RICO cases relating to the London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR); and multibillion-dollar securities class actions. We have defended large financial institutions in government investigations in the United States and the United Kingdom, and frequently represent clients facing regulators and enforcement agencies around the world. Several of our attorneys served as federal prosecutors on significant financial services-related matters, including the “London Whale” trades and the Bernie Madoff scandal.
In addition to our litigation work, we regularly provide financial institutions with strategic advice on a range of issues, including pre-litigation strategy, regulatory risk, compliance programs, and self-monitoring.