John T. Bycraft > Vedder Price > Chicago, United States > Lawyer Profile
Vedder Price Offices
222 NORTH LASALLE STREET, SUITE 2600
CHICAGO, IL 60601-1003
ILLINOIS
United States
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John T. Bycraft
Work Department
Global Transportation Finance
Position
Shareholder
Career
Mr. Bycraft has extensive experience representing borrowers, issuers, servicers, lenders and underwriters in structured finance transactions relating to portfolios of rolling stock and commercial aircraft.
Additionally, Mr. Bycraft represents equity investors, private placement lenders and lessees in U.S. and cross-border leveraged and single-investor lease financings involving rolling stock, aircraft, telecommunications equipment and other machinery and equipment. He has significant experience in a variety of other loan and lease structures.
Mr. Bycraft authored “Single-Purpose Entities and Independent Directors: Does the General Growth Ruling Change Structured Finance?,” which appeared in National Law Review.
Education
- University of Notre Dame Law School, J.D., 1992
- Santa Clara University, B.S., 1989, cum laude
Lawyer Rankings
United States > Transport > Rail and road: finance
(Hall of Fame)Vedder Price‘s ‘experience and expertise are unmatched’. The firm’s global transportation finance team fields asset finance and securitization specialists from Chicago, New York, DC, Dallas, San Francisco and Los Angeles, as well as from London and Singapore. Representing lessors, lenders, manufacturers, government agencies, equity investors and operators, the team acts on rail asset-related domestic and international leasings as well as on debt financing, and its transactional experience ranges from railcar purchases and sales to complex securitizations of railcar portfolios. The team additionally assists equity investors with acquiring and establishing new railcar leasing platforms as well as with structuring strategic joint ventures with railcar lessors and manufacturers. Michael Draz is a specialist in rail financing structures involving securitizations, warehouse loan facilities, cross-border operating and leveraged leases, and portfolio acquisitions and divestitures. John Bycraft, Clay Thomas in Los Angeles, and Jillian Greenwald ‘have probably done more railcar financing transactions than any other team in the country’. The practice also includes New York-based transportation finance expert Jeffrey Veber, while Geoffrey Kass is global transportation finance practice chair. In a boost to the team, railcar financing structure specialist Joel Thielen was promoted to shareholder in March 2023. All attorneys named are based in Chicago unless otherwise mentioned.
Lawyer Rankings
- Hall of Fame United States > Transport > Rail and road: finance
- Rail and road: finance United States > Transport
Top Tier Firm Rankings
- Transport > Aviation and air travel: finance
- M&A/corporate and commercial > M&A: middle-market (sub-$500m)
- M&A/corporate and commercial > M&A: middle-market (sub-$500m)
- Transport > Rail and road: finance
Firm Rankings
- Transport > Shipping: finance
- Labor and employment > Labor-management relations
- Investment fund formation and management > Mutual/registered/exchange-traded funds
- Labor and employment > Workplace and employment counseling
- Labor and employment > Employee benefits, executive compensation and retirement plans: design
- Labor and employment > Labor and employment disputes (including collective actions)
- Dispute resolution > Securities litigation: defense
- Investment fund formation and management > Private equity funds (including venture capital)
- Dispute resolution > Corporate investigations and white-collar criminal defense