Stuart M. Litwin is a partner and co-head of the Global Finance Practice at Mayer Brown LLP. Mr. Litwin also co-heads Mayer Brown's Structured Finance and Capital Markets Practices.
Mr. Litwin is one of the leading lawyers in the United States in the representation of originators, investment banks, ABCP conduit sponsors, hedge funds, commercial banks and investors (including mutual funds) in structuring, negotiating and documenting U.S. and international asset-backed and other securities transactions. His experience has involved the securitization of virtually all asset types, and he is recognized as an expert in the securitization and financing of retail and commercial auto loan and leases, FFELP and private student loans, dealer floorplan receivables, equipment leases and loans, rental cars, commercial and residential mortgages, cross border transactions, synthetic risk transfers, money market fund investments and structured transactions in which banks and other clients seek advantageous treatment for accounting, regulatory capital or tax purposes. Mr. Litwin also regularly represents several hedge funds and reinsurance companies in their "alternative investments" (i.e., unusual assets or finance companies discovered by the hedge fund which are more difficult to fund in securitization or banking markets). He also has substantial experience representing lessees, equity investors and debt investors in leveraged and synthetic lease transactions and M&A transactions involving banks and finance companies.
Recent important engagements have included (1) the creation of Straight-A Funding, LLC, a $60 billion asset-backed commercial paper conduit to finance the student loan industry with support from the Department of Education and the Federal Financing Bank, (2) the creation of the form customer agreement documentation for the TALF program (and representing many of the primary dealers in their customer agreement negotiations), and working on several of the first TALF transactions, (3) several tender offers for and restructurings of student loan trusts with auction rate securities, (4) the first ABS offering in the US backed by Australian auto leases, (5) representing Goldman, Sachs & Co. in the financing of Cerberus's acquisition of Chrysler, the largest-ever use of asset-backed securities in any M&A transaction ($47 billion of the $60 billion financing), and (6) representation of a heavy equipment manufacturer in the securitization of its floorplan loans to dealers in "politically sensitive" countries in Latin America.
Mr. Litwin represents virtually every major bank and investment bank in at least some aspect of its business. He also has been involved in some aspect of the financing programs of virtually every large auto finance company.
Mr. Litwin is an Adjunct Professor of Law at the Northwestern University Law School, where he teaches "The Law of Securitization."