Cadwalader Shortlisted for Financial Times Innovative Lawyers North America 2021 Awards for “Practice of Law” and “Sustainable Finance”

November 05, 2021

Cadwalader has been shortlisted by the Financial Times for its innovative work in three separate categories as part of the publication’s forthcoming FT Innovative Lawyers North America 2021 awards and report:

  • Innovation in Creating New Standards”: The Firm’s LIBOR Preparedness Team, led by Financial Services partner Lary Stromfeld, drafted new LIBOR legislation that was passed by the New York State Legislature and signed into law by then-Governor Cuomo on April 6, 2021. The statute is an innovative solution for financial transactions that must replace LIBOR because they mature after the mid-2023 cessation date of LIBOR and do not have effective fallbacks for its cessation.
  • Innovation in Digital Legal Practice”: Bank clients who are issuers of structured notes need deal offering documents at market speed. Traditional manual drafting and processes fall behind, and quality cannot be compromised, as this increases risk. A team from the firm’s Financial Services Group created ottoGen, an attorney-designed, attorney-coded and attorney-launched platform that automates structured notes offering documents, closing documents and the related issuance processes.
  • Innovation in Sustainability & ESG”: Cadwalader Fund Finance partner Wes Misson is a prolific advisor on ESG-linked fund finance loans, which incentivize funds to meet various ESG targets. Since January 2020, Wes has worked on a number of ESG fund finance facilities for various financial institutions, including the largest one ever closed and syndicated, this past February: advising Bank of America on a $4.1 billion ESG-linked credit facility to funds managed by The Carlyle Group tied to Board diversity.

In the Financial Times (FT) Innovative Lawyers Europe 2021 awards that were announced last month, Cadwalader was named the “Innovation in Sustainable Finance” winner for having advised MUFG Securities EMEA plc in its North Westerly VI B.V. (North Westerly VI) European cash flow CLO transaction, the first CLO to consider ESG factors across all its investments – in addition to other firm and individual attorney recognitions.

FT Innovative Lawyers is a unique program that assesses lawyers on their innovation for clients and in their own businesses. The program consists of rankings and awards, based on independent research from RSG Consulting and robust journalism from the FT. The North America 2021 results will be announced at a virtual awards event on December 9, 2021, and the rankings will be published in both print and online as an FT special report.