Finance

The Finance Practice Group provides lenders of every nature with a full range of sophisticated legal services required for the extension of credit and the enforcement of obligations. Our experience includes transactions involving asset-based lending, real estate financing, syndicated credits, public finance and bankruptcy and creditors’ rights. Our wide range of experience enables us to effectively and efficiently structure and, when necessary, restructure transactions.

We provide our clients with more than legal counseling. Because of the depth of our understanding of the markets and industries in which our clients lend, we are able to create potential business connections and encourage network opportunities for our clients. We provide value-added service by allowing our business, community and government contacts to be available to our clients and by bringing business alternatives to the table.

Real Estate Financing

Schnader is recognized as one of the preeminent national firms in the area of real estate financing. We represent both regional and national banks, insurance companies and other real estate lenders in construction loans, revolving credit facilities, permanent mortgages and leasehold financings involving all types of properties.

Our clients value not only our legal abilities, but also our more than 70 years of real world, practical experience in the field. As a result, we tend to develop long-standing relationships with our clients.

The Real Estate Financing Group is best known for its extensive experience in construction lending, having made possible the construction of homes, shopping centers, hotels, office buildings, industrial facilities, golf courses and related facilities across the country. During the loan documentation process, we focus on those issues where disputes most frequently arise during construction, whether involving the lender, borrower, contractors, tenants or local governments, thereby minimizing the likelihood that problems will develop that may affect the progress of construction and the repayment of the loan. The credibility we have earned from developers’ counsel throughout the country enables us to negotiate, document and close construction loans on a timely basis and for fees that are within development budgets.

Commercial Lending

Industry knowledge and familiarity characterize and distinguish our asset-based lending practice. Over the years, our knowledge and experience have grown with our clients as they have targeted borrowers in the information technology, transportation, communications, construction services, health care and nonprofit sectors. Whether documenting large multilender syndicates or credits for an individual lender, we recognize the tension between the lender’s desire to place funds and the lender’s need to protect its interests, as we focus the parties on the significant issues. We pride ourselves on our ability to meet or exceed our clients’ expectations for efficiency and turnaround time.

Whether it is traditional asset-based loans, mezzanine financing, securitized loan financing, leveraged buyouts or recaps, Schnader has been in the forefront of helping lenders and borrowers identify and structure the most advantageous financing arrangements.

Bankruptcy and Creditors’ Rights

Our experience representing lenders and borrowers encompasses all aspects of debt restructuring and asset recovery, both in and out of bankruptcy. Our clients include secured creditors, equipment lessors, landlords, creditors’ committees and trustees.

We have significant experience representing lenders and other creditors. In that regard, we have a great track record for maximizing opportunities created by quickly accessing the creditor’s goals and debtor’s circumstances, immediately taking control of a generally unstable situation, recommending a positive course of action for the creditor and aggressively implementing a plan. The attorneys in this group add value to the representation of our clients through their business perspective, industry knowledge, experience in restructuring sophisticated financial products and multidisciplinary transactional proficiency.

Outside of the bankruptcy arena, we represent lenders and borrowers in the development and implementation of sophisticated workout strategies and in litigation of complex commercial loan disputes. We have represented countless lenders in commercial foreclosures involving office and apartment buildings, shopping centers, condominiums and construction projects. Our attorneys are experienced in obtaining, often on a time-sensitive basis, possession and control of distressed real estate and other collateral through court-appointed receivers and others. We also help our clients recover inventory, equipment and other collateral through personal property foreclosures and replevin/repossession actions.

Public Finance

The Firm’s public finance practice is varied, with members of the Public Finance Group prepared to serve as bond counsel and counsel to underwriters, issuers, credit enhancement providers and trustees, as well as counsel to underlying borrowers in connection with all types of tax-exempt financings or the refunding of tax-exempt transactions, including general obligation issues, school issues, higher education issues, housing issues, infrastructure issues, health care issues, and tax and bond anticipation note issues. The Firm is listed in The Bond Buyer’s Municipal Marketplace (“The Red Book”) and enjoys an excellent reputation with both regional and national investment banking firms. Schnader has participated in public finance transactions with a volume in excess of $1 billion.

As a result of the Firm’s ongoing involvement in public finance, our attorneys are thoroughly conversant with applicable state law as well as with the provisions of the Internal Revenue Code that relate to tax-exempt indebtedness, including, but not limited to, spending requirements, rebate issues and arbitrage issues. The Firm also has substantial experience in the area of derivative products such as interest rate swap agreements and other similar types of transactions.