International law firm McDermott Will & Emery today announced that Perry Sayles, a leading structured finance attorney, has joined the Firm’s New York office as a partner in its Financial Institutions Advisory Practice Group. Mr. Sayles was formerly a partner in the New York office of another international law firm and spent considerable time in that firm’s London and Hong Kong offices.
In addition to his work in traditional corporate finance, project finance and acquisition finance, Mr. Sayles has extensive experience advising clients on derivatives, securitization and structured product transactions. He is an acknowledged authority on collateralized loan obligations (CLOs) and collateralized debt obligations (CDOs). In addition, Mr. Sayles provides regulatory and transactional advice to investment funds on a range of investment strategies.
Mr. Sayles regularly advises banks, asset managers, broker dealers, private equity firms, hedge funds and corporate clients.
“We are delighted to welcome Perry to McDermott,” said David L. Taub, head of the Firm’s Financial Institutions Advisory Practice Group. “There are few attorneys with Perry’s level of knowledge and sophistication in international finance. He is held in the highest regard by his clients and is widely seen as a go-to attorney for the most complex financial transactions. With Perry now onboard, we will be better able to advise our clients on creative ways to finance their operations in today’s uncertain economy and regulatory environment.”
“With his intricate knowledge of structured finance, Perry will play a key role in helping McDermott expand our service offerings and market reach in the New York area and beyond,” said Keith M. Pattiz, partner-in-charge of McDermott’s New York office. “We look forward to working with him to serve our expanding client base that already includes some of the world’s leading banks and financial institutions.”
Commenting on his move, Mr. Sayles said, “I am excited to join the team of exceptionally talented lawyers McDermott has assembled around the world. I was drawn to the Firm because of the many synergies that exist between my practice and McDermott’s growing Financial Institutions Advisory Practice Group. I look forward to working closely with my new colleagues to build one of the most innovative financial practices in the legal world today.”
Mr. Sayles is a graduate of Columbia School of Law where he was a Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar and Book Review Editor for The Columbia Journal of Transnational Law. He is a summa cum laude graduate of Yale College.
McDermott’s highly regarded Financial Institutions Advisory Practice Group focuses on such key areas as derivatives; structured finance and securitization; the representation of investment funds; and financial institution proprietary investment strategies.
