Clifford Chance hired structured finance attorney Leah Feldman as counsel in its U.S. structured finance team. Feldman will focus her work on commercial mortgage-backed securities (CMBS), residential mortgage-backed securities (RMBS), collateralized loan obligations and asset-backed securities.
Feldman has more than 10 years of experience advising on structured finance and securitization matters. She has worked with issuers, underwriters, placement agents and mortgage loan sellers in public and private offerings of mortgage-backed securities.
Feldman’s arrival follows the promotion of Kevin Fernandez and Rebecca O’Brien to counsel in 2021, the hire of counsel Michael Welch and the promotion of Alistair Dunlop to partner in 2020, and the lateral hires of partners Jim Cotins and Matt Lyons in 2019.
“Our strategy of pursuing targeted, organic growth has been very effective in supporting our clients,” Lee Askenazi, co-head of the Americas global financial markets unit at Clifford Chance, said. “Leah’s appointment reflects the steady growth of our Structured Finance practice over the past few years. Her deep experience in pooled conduits, single-asset and large loans, and public and private offerings of mortgaged-backed securities further strengthens our market-leading expertise in the RMBS and CMBS space.”
“Leah is a valuable addition to our practice and an asset in helping us meet the growing demand for our structured finance expertise,” Cotins said. “She is an experienced, well-established attorney who possesses breadth in the various sub-sectors we serve.”
“Clifford Chance has become a market leader in structured finance in the U.S. I am delighted to join this team and contribute to the growth of the practice and to the firm’s vision and ambitions in the U.S. market,” Feldman said.
