AMO and Kilpatrick Stockton Team Together for Potential Legal Work under the EESA.
Anderson, McCoy & Orta, P.C. (AMO) and Kilpatrick Stockton LLP (KS) have joined forces for purposes of responding to Requests For Proposals (RFP) for legal services under the EESA to the U.S. Department of Treasury. Most recently, the AMO/KS team responded to a RFP for legal services under the Public Private Investment Program.
In the RFP, AMO relied almost entirely on KS’s investment practice expertise and then leveraged its own exclusive Capital Markets practice with that of KS’s to provide the Treasury with the requisite legal expertise. AMO teamed with KS, not only because of their expertise and resources, but equally as important was their minimal conflicts of interests – an issue that has plagued so many of the leading Wall Street firms.
A critical factor to the relationship is KS’s respect for AMO’s role in the Capital Markets industry. While AMO is a small firm, it has a big role in the industry. Indeed, AMO’s 30 person firm is peerless among small law firms in that it has also been involved in hundreds of billions of dollars of transactions over the last 15 years exclusively in the CMBS industry often under intense time pressures. Managing Directors, J. Michael McCoy and Michael A. Anderson have worked closely with Tom Biafore and others at KS over the past 10 years as our REMIC counsel which played a key role in the selection of KS as AMO’s partner.
AMO also sought out a partner for the EESA work who was dedicated to diversity. AMO is considered a Small Minority and Woman Owned Law Firm and if selected to represent the Treasury, the award supports the Treasury’s goals to utilize small qualified law firms under the legal services contracts.
Key Players:
Mr. Rex Veal, is partner and the chair of KS’s Corporate, Finance and Real Estate department. Mr. Veal held a number of senior positions with the FDIC and the RTC including Associate General Counsel for the FDIC and Special Counsel (General Counsel) to the RTC. Rex Veal represents investors in CMBS and CDOs and servicers in the servicing-related aspects of structured finance transactions, as well as the purchase and sale of servicing rights. He has experience in the restructuring, pooling and servicing of non-performing financial assets. He also has substantial experience representing investors in both initial and secondary market transactions as well as terminating securitization trusts.
Michael Halloran, is a partner in the KS Corporate, Finance and Real Estate Department. From 2006 – May, 2008, Mr. Halloran served as Counselor to the Chairman and Deputy Chief of Staff of the SEC. From 1990-1996, Mr. Halloran served as Group Executive Vice President and General Counsel with Bank of America Corporation. In that role, he served as Chief Worldwide Legal Officer for Bank of America and was advisor to the Board and senior management. He negotiated, closed and implemented more than 30 acquisitions, including some of the then largest and most complex in the banking industry, resulting in Bank of America becoming one of the largest financial institutions in the world.
Jeffrey Skinner, is a partner in the KS Corporate, Finance and Real Estate Department, where he leads the firm’s Investment Management Practice Group. His practice includes particular emphasis on fund formation, investment companies and investment advisers. Mr. Skinner’s funds practice includes registered and unregistered funds, hedge funds, private equity funds, real estate funds and funds of funds.
J. Michael McCoy, is the head of AMO’s Real Estate Finance Department with an exclusive CMBS practice. He has represented major investment banks in secured lending transactions and represents the 2 largest CMBS loan servicers in a variety of commercial loan transactions.
Vanessa A. Orta, is the President of AMO and in charge of the Securitization Department. Her primary role under the various RFPs is one of management. She will be dedicated to establishing a management structure that provides transparency, oversight and accountability of the team’s legal services.
