Community Banking
Contact: Keith S. Varian, Chair
In response to the increasingly complex, competitive and uncertain business climate within the banking industry, Murtha Cullina has built an interdisciplinary practice group that focuses on the particular needs of multi-bank holding companies and community banks. Our team includes professionals who concentrate in bank regulatory work; commercial and real estate lending; workouts and restructurings; sale of bank assets and loans; creditors’ rights and bankruptcy; mergers and acquisitions; product development and expansion; and general corporate and securities law. In addition, we assist banking clients in establishing, capitalizing and restructuring banks and bank holding companies to meet the changing regulations in the industry. Together, the Community Banking attorneys provide banks, thrifts and other financial institutions with a comprehensive spectrum of specialized legal services.
In recent years the number of defaults of both commercial and residential loans has multiplied exponentially. In this current economic climate, lenders and counsel are becoming “creative” in approaching workout situations. The procedure is technically the same as it was “pre-recession”, that is, default, demand, then litigation. The difference is ultimate collectability. Default litigation must be handled with care and knowledge of the remedies afforded by the loan documents. Each lender relies upon its own documents. A seasoned litigator in Murtha Cullina’s Community Banking Group will review the terms contained in the loan documents to assess the value of collateral and the potential for recovery from sources other than the secured collateral. For example, is there a better source of recovery via a guarantor, does a receiver of rents make sense? Can a lender structure a settlement wherein terms are modified and additional security is provided? Today’s workouts involve creative thinking, i.e. modifying loans to extend maturity dates, restructuring interest rates, and “back-ending” past-due interest payments. Utilizing our extensive familiarity with the FDIC’s Prudent Commercial Real Estate Loan Workouts Policy, our bank litigation attorneys assist lenders in reviewing all angles and in undertaking strategic business tactics to maximize recovery via workout or eventual litigation. If litigation is unavoidable, we begin by undertaking an analysis of the ultimate collectability of a defaulted loan and then build the strategy from there.
We represent community banks – as well as regional and national banks – in structuring, negotiating and closing financial transactions of many kinds and sizes, including secured and unsecured loans, receivable backed, real estate financings and other asset-based transactions. We assist at every stage, providing advice regarding transaction structures, term sheets and covenants, handling due diligence, participating in negotiations and documenting transactions. Our lawyers regularly assist on transactions relating to housing developments (including both market rate and affordable rental housing utilizing low income housing tax credits and tax exempt financing) that involve state housing finance and other sources of specialized financing such as the Connecticut Development Authority, the Connecticut Housing Finance Authority, the Connecticut Health and Education Facilities Financing Authority, MassHousing and MassDevelopment. In addition, we represent clients in connection with a variety of real estate-based loan transactions, including construction mortgage loans, mortgage loans involving New York Industrial Development Agency (IDA) structures, permanent mortgage loans, credit mortgage loans, New York building loans and the unique issues associated there with and open-end mortgage transactions involving revolving and multiple tranche credit facilities and letter of credit reimbursement agreements for office, regional retail mall and strip center, hotel, resort, warehouse, industrial, golf course, and assisted living and healthcare facilities.
- Murtha Addresses Coronavirus/COVID-19
- Extension of the Subchapter V Aggregate Debt Limit Under the Bankruptcy Threshold Adjustment and Technical Corrections Act
- November 10, 2020 - Jodie L. Driscoll Joins Junior Achievement Board of Directors
- October 23, 2020 - Robert E. Kaelin Now Serves As American Arbitration Association Panel Commercial Arbitrator
- April 3, 2020 - Community Banking Group News: Covid-19 Impact On Commercial Foreclosures In Massachusetts And Connecticut
- January 30, 2018 - Keith S. Varian and Robert E. Kaelin Named Co-Chairs of Community Banking Practice Group
- February 3, 2017 - CommunityBankingInsights.com: So What Does a Bankruptcy Carve-Out Clause Really Mean? Delaware Bankruptcy Court Concludes It is Not a Cap on Fees After All
- January 26, 2017 - CommunityBankingInsights.com: Transfer Act for Lenders
- January 12, 2017 - CommunityBankingInsights.com: Ninth Circuit Holds Debtor Must Pay Default Interest Rate in Order to Cure Under Bankruptcy Plan
- December 19, 2016 - CommunityBankingInsights.com: The Bond Bandwagon
- December 14, 2016 - CommunityBankingInsights.com: New Forms May Alleviate Some Concerns About Massachusetts Notarizations
- November 1, 2016 - CommunityBankingInsights.com: Protecting Lenders from Environmental Liability for Foreclosed Properties
- October 13, 2016 - CommunityBankingInsights.com: Title Insurance: What is its Value?
- September 27, 2016 - CommunityBankingInsights.com: Unitranche Financing - is it for you?
- September 20, 2016 - CommunityBankingInsights.com: TIMBER! Liability for damage to private property caused from a fallen tree?
- September 13, 2016 - CommunityBankingInsights.com: CT Unfair Trade Practices Act is Only a Sword - Not a Shield in Foreclosure Actions
- September 8, 2016 - CommunityBankingInsights.com: The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court Lends a Helping Hand to Inadvertent Lender Omissions in the Execution of Mortgage Acknowledgements
- August 24, 2016 - CommunityBankingInsights.com: Password (Sharing) Risks Persist for Fiduciaries and Family Members
- August 16, 2016 - CommunityBankingInsights.com: What Community Bank Board Members Need to Know About D&O
- August 12, 2016 - CommunityBankingInsights.com: Amendment to Connecticut's Foreclosure By Market Sale Statute
- July 27, 2016 - CommunityBankingInsights.com: Connecticut Foreclosures: Judgment of Loss Mitigation - Good, Bad or Unnecessary?
- July 20, 2016 - CommunityBankingInsights.com: Enforcing Personal Guaranties
- July 14, 2016 - CommunityBankingInsights.com: Collateral 101: Perfecting Security Interests in Common and Uncommon Collateral
- July 6, 2016 - CommunityBankingInsights.com: Super Priority Municipal Liens: When Is Your First Mortgage Not First In Line?
- June 29, 2016 - CommunityBankingInsights.com: U. S. Court of Appeals 2nd Circuit Decision: National Bank is a Citizen Only of the State in Which its Main Office is Located
- June 23, 2016 - CommunityBankingInsights.com: It's Insurance: The Financial Institution Bond
- June 16, 2016 - CommunityBankingInsights.com: Connecticut's New Power of Attorney Law
- June 14, 2016 - CommunityBankingInsights.com: Death of Defendant During Pendency of a Foreclosure - Connecticut Appellate Case Update
- June 8, 2016 - CommunityBankingInsights.com: Moved to Massachusetts! Deposing a Relocated Borrower
- June 2, 2016 - CommunityBankingInsights.com: The Art of Post-Judgment Collection in Connecticut
- May 31, 2016 - CommunityBankingInsights.com: Objecting to the Dischargeability of Debt: How a Creditor May Protect its Debt in Bankruptcy
- May 26, 2016 - CommunityBankingInsights.com: Compliance Audits as part of Environmental Due Diligence- It's more than just a Phase
- May 24, 2016 - CommunityBankingInsights.com: Swimming with the “Fintechs”an insight into the future of Financial Technology Companies
- May 19, 2016 - CommunityBankingInsights.com: New Wage & Hour Salary Threshold for Exempt Positions ANNOUNCED
- May 19, 2016 - CommunityBankingInsights.com: When and How Can a Chapter 7 Bankruptcy Trustee Liquidate Your Collateral?
- May 17, 2016 - CommunityBankingInsights.com: New Wage & Hour Salary Threshold for Exempt Positions Imminent
- May 13, 2016 - CommunityBankingInsights.com: READER ALERT: A New and Improved Act Concerning Banking and Consumer Protection in Connecticut
- May 12, 2016 - CommunityBankingInsights.com: Risks of Withdrawing a Case: Reciprocity of Attorneys Fees in Connecticut Consumer Contract Default Actions
- May 10, 2016 - CommunityBankingInsights.com: Construction Financing and Mechanics Liens in Connecticut
- April 27, 2016 - CommunityBankingInsights.com: Deposit Account Control Agreements. Who Needs Em?
- April 26, 2016 - CommunityBankingInsights.com: Securing the deposition of a Massachusetts resident for use in a Connecticut action
- April 21, 2016 - CommunityBankingInsights.com: Difficulties Foreclosing in Massachusetts
- April 19, 2016 - CommunityBankingInsights.com: Borrower Out of Business? Using the Internet to Identify Successor Liability
- April 14, 2016 - CommunityBankingInsights.com: Waive Goodbye to Juries
- April 13, 2016 - CommunityBankingInsights.com: The District of Massachusetts Calls for Review of Practice of “Surrendering” Underwater Property
- April 8, 2016 - Community Banking Group Launches CommunityBankingInsights.com
- April 7, 2016 - CommunityBankingInsights.com: State Statutes Requiring MERS To Pay Higher Recording Fees Declared Constitutional
- April 1, 2016 - CommunityBankingInsights.com: How Much Is A Lease Worth?
- March 30, 2016 - CommunityBankingInsights.com: Dot Your “I”s and Cross your “T”s: When It Comes to Perfecting Your Security Interest
- March 29, 2016 - CommunityBankingInsights.com: Lender Beware: The Tragic Consequences of Defective Mortgage Acknowledgments in Massachusetts
- March 28, 2016 - CommunityBankingInsights.com: Negative Pledge Pros and Cons
Contact: Keith S. Varian, Chair
In response to the increasingly complex, competitive and uncertain business climate within the banking industry, Murtha Cullina has built an interdisciplinary practice group that focuses on the particular needs of multi-bank holding companies and community banks. Our team includes professionals who concentrate in bank regulatory work; commercial and real estate lending; workouts and restructurings; sale of bank assets and loans; creditors’ rights and bankruptcy; mergers and acquisitions; product development and expansion; and general corporate and securities law. In addition, we assist banking clients in establishing, capitalizing and restructuring banks and bank holding companies to meet the changing regulations in the industry. Together, the Community Banking attorneys provide banks, thrifts and other financial institutions with a comprehensive spectrum of specialized legal services.
In recent years the number of defaults of both commercial and residential loans has multiplied exponentially. In this current economic climate, lenders and counsel are becoming “creative” in approaching workout situations. The procedure is technically the same as it was “pre-recession”, that is, default, demand, then litigation. The difference is ultimate collectability. Default litigation must be handled with care and knowledge of the remedies afforded by the loan documents. Each lender relies upon its own documents. A seasoned litigator in Murtha Cullina’s Community Banking Group will review the terms contained in the loan documents to assess the value of collateral and the potential for recovery from sources other than the secured collateral. For example, is there a better source of recovery via a guarantor, does a receiver of rents make sense? Can a lender structure a settlement wherein terms are modified and additional security is provided? Today’s workouts involve creative thinking, i.e. modifying loans to extend maturity dates, restructuring interest rates, and “back-ending” past-due interest payments. Utilizing our extensive familiarity with the FDIC’s Prudent Commercial Real Estate Loan Workouts Policy, our bank litigation attorneys assist lenders in reviewing all angles and in undertaking strategic business tactics to maximize recovery via workout or eventual litigation. If litigation is unavoidable, we begin by undertaking an analysis of the ultimate collectability of a defaulted loan and then build the strategy from there.
We represent community banks – as well as regional and national banks – in structuring, negotiating and closing financial transactions of many kinds and sizes, including secured and unsecured loans, receivable backed, real estate financings and other asset-based transactions. We assist at every stage, providing advice regarding transaction structures, term sheets and covenants, handling due diligence, participating in negotiations and documenting transactions. Our lawyers regularly assist on transactions relating to housing developments (including both market rate and affordable rental housing utilizing low income housing tax credits and tax exempt financing) that involve state housing finance and other sources of specialized financing such as the Connecticut Development Authority, the Connecticut Housing Finance Authority, the Connecticut Health and Education Facilities Financing Authority, MassHousing and MassDevelopment. In addition, we represent clients in connection with a variety of real estate-based loan transactions, including construction mortgage loans, mortgage loans involving New York Industrial Development Agency (IDA) structures, permanent mortgage loans, credit mortgage loans, New York building loans and the unique issues associated there with and open-end mortgage transactions involving revolving and multiple tranche credit facilities and letter of credit reimbursement agreements for office, regional retail mall and strip center, hotel, resort, warehouse, industrial, golf course, and assisted living and healthcare facilities.
- Murtha Addresses Coronavirus/COVID-19
- Extension of the Subchapter V Aggregate Debt Limit Under the Bankruptcy Threshold Adjustment and Technical Corrections Act
- November 10, 2020 - Jodie L. Driscoll Joins Junior Achievement Board of Directors
- October 23, 2020 - Robert E. Kaelin Now Serves As American Arbitration Association Panel Commercial Arbitrator
- April 3, 2020 - Community Banking Group News: Covid-19 Impact On Commercial Foreclosures In Massachusetts And Connecticut
- January 30, 2018 - Keith S. Varian and Robert E. Kaelin Named Co-Chairs of Community Banking Practice Group
- February 3, 2017 - CommunityBankingInsights.com: So What Does a Bankruptcy Carve-Out Clause Really Mean? Delaware Bankruptcy Court Concludes It is Not a Cap on Fees After All
- January 26, 2017 - CommunityBankingInsights.com: Transfer Act for Lenders
- January 12, 2017 - CommunityBankingInsights.com: Ninth Circuit Holds Debtor Must Pay Default Interest Rate in Order to Cure Under Bankruptcy Plan
- December 19, 2016 - CommunityBankingInsights.com: The Bond Bandwagon
- December 14, 2016 - CommunityBankingInsights.com: New Forms May Alleviate Some Concerns About Massachusetts Notarizations
- November 1, 2016 - CommunityBankingInsights.com: Protecting Lenders from Environmental Liability for Foreclosed Properties
- October 13, 2016 - CommunityBankingInsights.com: Title Insurance: What is its Value?
- September 27, 2016 - CommunityBankingInsights.com: Unitranche Financing - is it for you?
- September 20, 2016 - CommunityBankingInsights.com: TIMBER! Liability for damage to private property caused from a fallen tree?
- September 13, 2016 - CommunityBankingInsights.com: CT Unfair Trade Practices Act is Only a Sword - Not a Shield in Foreclosure Actions
- September 8, 2016 - CommunityBankingInsights.com: The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court Lends a Helping Hand to Inadvertent Lender Omissions in the Execution of Mortgage Acknowledgements
- August 24, 2016 - CommunityBankingInsights.com: Password (Sharing) Risks Persist for Fiduciaries and Family Members
- August 16, 2016 - CommunityBankingInsights.com: What Community Bank Board Members Need to Know About D&O
- August 12, 2016 - CommunityBankingInsights.com: Amendment to Connecticut's Foreclosure By Market Sale Statute
- July 27, 2016 - CommunityBankingInsights.com: Connecticut Foreclosures: Judgment of Loss Mitigation - Good, Bad or Unnecessary?
- July 20, 2016 - CommunityBankingInsights.com: Enforcing Personal Guaranties
- July 14, 2016 - CommunityBankingInsights.com: Collateral 101: Perfecting Security Interests in Common and Uncommon Collateral
- July 6, 2016 - CommunityBankingInsights.com: Super Priority Municipal Liens: When Is Your First Mortgage Not First In Line?
- June 29, 2016 - CommunityBankingInsights.com: U. S. Court of Appeals 2nd Circuit Decision: National Bank is a Citizen Only of the State in Which its Main Office is Located
- June 23, 2016 - CommunityBankingInsights.com: It's Insurance: The Financial Institution Bond
- June 16, 2016 - CommunityBankingInsights.com: Connecticut's New Power of Attorney Law
- June 14, 2016 - CommunityBankingInsights.com: Death of Defendant During Pendency of a Foreclosure - Connecticut Appellate Case Update
- June 8, 2016 - CommunityBankingInsights.com: Moved to Massachusetts! Deposing a Relocated Borrower
- June 2, 2016 - CommunityBankingInsights.com: The Art of Post-Judgment Collection in Connecticut
- May 31, 2016 - CommunityBankingInsights.com: Objecting to the Dischargeability of Debt: How a Creditor May Protect its Debt in Bankruptcy
- May 26, 2016 - CommunityBankingInsights.com: Compliance Audits as part of Environmental Due Diligence- It's more than just a Phase
- May 24, 2016 - CommunityBankingInsights.com: Swimming with the “Fintechs”an insight into the future of Financial Technology Companies
- May 19, 2016 - CommunityBankingInsights.com: New Wage & Hour Salary Threshold for Exempt Positions ANNOUNCED
- May 19, 2016 - CommunityBankingInsights.com: When and How Can a Chapter 7 Bankruptcy Trustee Liquidate Your Collateral?
- May 17, 2016 - CommunityBankingInsights.com: New Wage & Hour Salary Threshold for Exempt Positions Imminent
- May 13, 2016 - CommunityBankingInsights.com: READER ALERT: A New and Improved Act Concerning Banking and Consumer Protection in Connecticut
- May 12, 2016 - CommunityBankingInsights.com: Risks of Withdrawing a Case: Reciprocity of Attorneys Fees in Connecticut Consumer Contract Default Actions
- May 10, 2016 - CommunityBankingInsights.com: Construction Financing and Mechanics Liens in Connecticut
- April 27, 2016 - CommunityBankingInsights.com: Deposit Account Control Agreements. Who Needs Em?
- April 26, 2016 - CommunityBankingInsights.com: Securing the deposition of a Massachusetts resident for use in a Connecticut action
- April 21, 2016 - CommunityBankingInsights.com: Difficulties Foreclosing in Massachusetts
- April 19, 2016 - CommunityBankingInsights.com: Borrower Out of Business? Using the Internet to Identify Successor Liability
- April 14, 2016 - CommunityBankingInsights.com: Waive Goodbye to Juries
- April 13, 2016 - CommunityBankingInsights.com: The District of Massachusetts Calls for Review of Practice of “Surrendering” Underwater Property
- April 8, 2016 - Community Banking Group Launches CommunityBankingInsights.com
- April 7, 2016 - CommunityBankingInsights.com: State Statutes Requiring MERS To Pay Higher Recording Fees Declared Constitutional
- April 1, 2016 - CommunityBankingInsights.com: How Much Is A Lease Worth?
- March 30, 2016 - CommunityBankingInsights.com: Dot Your “I”s and Cross your “T”s: When It Comes to Perfecting Your Security Interest
- March 29, 2016 - CommunityBankingInsights.com: Lender Beware: The Tragic Consequences of Defective Mortgage Acknowledgments in Massachusetts
- March 28, 2016 - CommunityBankingInsights.com: Negative Pledge Pros and Cons