Ms Sabah Nawaz > Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft LLP > London, England > Lawyer Profile

Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft LLP is known for being ‘very responsive, professional, collaborative, and good at helping clients navigate tricky topics‘. It has one of the leading CLO practices, as well as being a prominent adviser on a broad range of ABS transactions and securitisations, particularly those involving niche and novel asset classes. The firm has a deep bench of nine securitisation and structured finance partners, who are ‘approachable as well as knowledgeable, and sensitive to clients’ commercial pressures‘. Among them are CLO guru David Quirolo; Suzanne Bell, who advised the originator on the issuance of £450m in notes under a master trust  programme; Robert Cannon, who handles mortgage securitisation and commercial paper conduits;  RMBS innovator Matthew Duncan; Nick Shiren, who handles residential and commercial mortgage transactions; and CLO specialists Daniel Tobias, Alexander Collins and Claire Puddicombe. Sabah Nawaz, who advises private equity funds, banks and corporate borrowers on securitisation and debt issuance, is also recommended. Stephen Day left the firm in late 2023.

Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft LLP is ‘very commercial and solution-oriented‘, and clients praise the team’s ‘excellent availability’ and ‘excellent tier of associates‘. The capital markets group, which is best known for its securitisation work, also has significant expertise in derivatives and structured products, including synthetic securitisations, ESG-compliant transactions, credit default swaps, credit-linked notes, total return swaps, currency and interest rate swaps, repos and more. Robert Cannon and recognised derivatives expert Nick Shiren are standout practitioners. Sabah Nawaz advises banks, private equity funds, pension funds and corporate borrowers on cross-border structured finance transactions. Claire Puddicombe and Daniel Tobias also play key roles in the practice.