Stephen Whelan
Partner
BLANK ROME LLP
Stephen Whelan concentrates his practice in equipment leasing and financing,
secured lending, asset securitization, corporate trust, and energy finance.
He represents originators of financial assets, investment banks, credit
enhancers, trustees and investors in the securitization of:
-auto loans
-equipment leases
-export receivables
-franchise receivables
-health care receivables
-maritime containers and other transportation assets
-timeshare mortgage loans
-trade receivables
-various other financial assets
Mr. Whelan also represents lenders, lessors, trustees and arrangers in lease
financings for computers, aircraft, railcars, vehicles, maritime, medical, and
energy and telecommunications equipment. He is also involved in private and
government financing of industrial, housing and education projects.
In other structured finance areas, Stephen's work for many insurance and
banking clients includes handling note purchase agreements, term loans,
revolving credit facilities and letters of credit.
He also represents lessors and secured creditors in workouts or bankruptcy
reorganizations involving equipment leases and securitized portfolios.
Mr. Whelan has been recognized by The International Who’s Who of Business
Lawyers and International Financial Law Review’s 2007 Guide to the Leading
Structured Finance and Securitization Lawyers.
Since 1992, he has co-authored the American Bar Association's "Uniform
Commercial Code Annual Survey: Leases" for The Business Lawyer. He also
authored three books on UCC Article 2A, as well as the chapters on
securitization in the Matthew Bender treatises Commercial Finance and
Equipment Leasing.
Mr. Whelan frequently publishes and lectures on topics such as securitization,
leasing, municipal finance, and bankruptcy. He is a visiting lecturer on
constitutional law at Princeton University.
REPRESENTATIVE MATTERS
-Representation of investment bankers in structured financings of
transport equipment combining asset securitization and tax-advantaged
leveraged leases.
-Representation of institutional investors in financing governmentreceivables from installment sale of energy conservation measures.
-Counsel for a major equipment finance lessor in its transfer of servicing
as part of its exit strategy.
-Counsel for the merchant banker in structured financings of internet
service payments, motion picture revenues and casino vessels.
-Investor counsel in "future flow" securitizations of receivables generated
by Brazilian exporters.
-Representation of merchant banker in the securitization of leveraged
lease equity cash flows from a pool of project finance and aircraft
transactions that had been assembled several years earlier.
-Counsel for the Administrator and Collateral Agent in the project
financing of a new airport in Quito, Ecuador.
-Underwriter's counsel in a tax-exempt bond financing of a Midtown
Manhattan high-rise building to be used for apartments, a cancer patient
hotel and a Catholic rectory.
-Counseled Fortune 50 finance subsidiaries in sales of equipment finance
portfolios.
COMMUNITY SERVICE & AFFILIATIONS
Mr. Whelan is a fellow of American College of Investment Counsel and American
College of Commercial Finance Lawyers.
He serves on the board of trustees for Fraunces Tavern Museum and the
advisory council for Atlantic Legal Foundation. Mr. Whelan is chairman of The
Witherspoon Institute.
In 2006, Mr. Whelan received the first “Excellence in Leasing Award” from the
Equipment Leasing and Finance Association.