Mr Howard Schickler > Katten > New York, United States > Lawyer Profile

Katten
575 MADISON AVENUE
NEW YORK, NY 10022-2585
NEW YORK
United States

Work Department

Structured Finance and Securitization

Position

As co-head of Katten’s highly ranked structured finance and securitization practice, Howard Schickler offers clients insights formed from more than 25 years of experience representing private equity funds, special situation funds, specialty finance companies and the full range of players in structured finance transactions. Howie takes care to understand his clients’ businesses, having worked with some all the way from the launch of their businesses through their growth cycle, including mergers and acquisitions, public offerings and restructurings and liquidations. Understanding the full life cycle of client enterprises is part of the wide perspective that he maintains in his work.

Practices evolve quickly in the highly competitive and heavily regulated world of structured finance and securitization. Howie helps clients stay on top of new regulations and investor requirements, as well as the latest strategies for structuring deals. His familiarity with industry standards allows him to alert clients to deal terms they should be considering and also avoiding. Private equity funds, special situation funds and specialty finance companies frequently turn to him for advice on complex lending and portfolio acquisition transactions, knowing that he avoids unnecessary conflict in difficult negotiations.

In the specialty finance arena, Howie has worked with mortgage originators, auto loan originators, equipment lease originators and firms that finance litigation and medical receivables, and fintech companies. At times, these transactions span multiple jurisdictions, which demands compliance with varying regulatory and security interest rules. Howie has also advised clients on strategies to deal with borrowers in distress. In one matter, he assisted a private equity fund that had made a large loan to a specialty finance company in financial trouble. Working with Katten’s restructuring and insolvency team, he helped devise a plan that allowed the borrower to restructure under a consensual plan and avoid protracted court proceedings.

Education

JD, New York University School of Law; BA, The George Washington University, magna cum laude

Lawyer Rankings

United States > Finance > Structured finance: securitization

With deep experience across a myriad of asset classes and structures’, Katten’s workload includes consumer and commercial finance mandates, in addition to esoteric and one-off transactions, including electric vehicle lease securitizations, capital market-based carbon offset credits and agricultural receivables. Housing a ‘deep bench of experienced partners and diligent associates’, the team is well-placed to advise on the regulatory and tax aspects of structured finance transactions. In the firm’s New York office, Chris DiAngelo acts as principal counsel to the Structured Finance Association (SFA) and is noted for his expertise in ABS and residential mortgage-backed securities. Washington DC’s Anna-Liza Harris, who focuses on the tax aspects of asset- and mortgage-backed securitizations, jointly leads the team alongside New York-based Howard Schickler, whose practice covers a range of asset classes, including esoteric assets. The New York office is also home to John Keiserman, who handles transactions involving motor vehicle collateral, while Washington DC-based Seth Messner is praised as ‘knowledgeable, practical and commercial’.