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Colleen is a member of the Financial Industry Group, specializing in securitization, structured finance, commercial finance transactions and complex financial products.  Her securitization expertise involves U.S. and Canadian securitization of motor vehicle loans and leases (including titling trusts), equipment leases, credit cards receivables, trade receivables and consumer loans.  She also has expertise in whole loan sales including flow programs for mortgage loans and automobile loans.

In the structured finance area, Colleen’s experience includes asset-based lending arrangements such as charged-off receivables, copyrights, patents and royalties, film financings, and future-flow transactions as well as cash-flow facilities.  In addition, Colleen has worked on a number of commercial finance transactions including domestic and cross-border secured facilities, senior/secured and subordinated debt facilities, note purchase facilities, syndicated loan facilities, commercial paper and medium-term note programs, warehouse facilities, liquidity facilities, swap and derivative transactions and synthetic lease transactions.

Colleen represents commercial lenders and corporate borrowers as well as underwriters and issuers in public offerings, private placements, asset-backed commercial paper programs, and medium-term note programs.  In addition, she has advised a variety of investment banks, private equity funds and hedge funds in utilizing securitization in a number of financing transactions including acquisition financings.  One such transaction on which Colleen played a key role was named by Investment Dealers as "2006 Deal of the Year."

Colleen has also advised clients regarding the sale and acquisition of a variety of assets including mortgage pools, mortgage-backed securities, and securitization facilities including credit card master trusts, titling trusts, student loan residuals and various other securitization vehicles and related asset pools.

Representative Matters

• Represented underwriters in private placement and public offerings of a variety of asset-backed securities.

• Represented lenders and borrowers in syndicated loan facilities.

• Represented credit card bank in multiple issuances of credit card backed notes (both term and variable facilities).

• Represented private equity investors and hedge funds in the acquisition of distressed loans, student loan residuals and mortgage pools.

• Represented investment bank in joint venture investments in portfolios of charged-off receivables for proprietary trades.

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Publications

• "TALF: Another Step in Unlocking the Credit Freeze", Reed Smith Client Bulletin 2008-214, December 4, 2008.
• "Federal Reserve Announces Commercial Paper Liquidity Program", Reed Smith Client Bulletin 2008-176, October 9, 2008.
• "Opportunities for U.S. Investors in the Canadian Securitization Market", Structured Finance News, July 14, 2008.

Speeches / Presentations

• Colleen lectures and writes on securitization and secured financing related topics.

Experience

Legal Education

Undergraduate Education

Professional Admissions / Qualifications

• California
• Ontario