Mayer Brown

Andrea Zambrano is an associate in Mayer Brown's Chicago office and a member of the Banking and Finance practice. Fluent in Spanish and French, Andrea grew up in Colombia and studied abroad at the Rouen Business School in France. Andrea received her BS in Finance and Marketing from Indiana University's Kelley School of Business in 2012.

Christopher Erckert

Christopher has built an active practice representing sponsors and financial institutions in corporate financings, project financings, and other financing and restructuring transactions. Christopher also has significant experience in representing buyers, sellers, and financing parties in acquisition and divestiture transactions. Christopher’s experience includes a broad range of financing structures, including those provided by commercial banks, multilateral agencies, export and other official creditors, and capital markets. Christopher’s practice includes a particular emphasis on energy and infrastructure-related work – having advised on the financing, development, and restructuring of more than 10,000 MW of conventional and renewable power generation and groundbreaking transactions in water and transport sectors. His experience within the power sector includes generation, transmission and distribution, and he frequently provides counsel on a broad array of other infrastructure and industrial matters, including rigs, LNG facilities, gas pipelines, water treatment facilities, toll roads, port infrastructure, and manufacturing facilities.

Daniel Whitmore

Dan Whitmore has an extensive finance practice as counsel at Mayer Brown. Since joining the firm in 1996, he has focused on Latin American and Caribbean finance and capital markets. His primary focus is on the representation of US and foreign banks, institutional investors and corporate borrowers in secured and unsecured syndicated facilities, acquisition finance transactions, project finance transactions, debt restructurings and cross-border securities offerings. He has extensive experience across a broad range of industries, including transportation infrastructure, construction, telecommunications, financial services, manufacturing, petroleum services and power.

David Bakst

David Bakst is a partner in Mayer Brown's New York office and a member of the Corporate & Securities practice specializing in Capital Markets. His practice focuses on a wide variety of public and private securities offerings ranging from large New York Stock Exchange and NASDAQ listed IPOs and multibillion-dollar debt offerings to smaller private offerings. David has more than 20 years of capital markets experience with a particular focus on securities offerings involving non-US issuers. He has led securities offerings for a number of the most prominent issuers in Europe, Asia, Australia and Latin America. He advises clients from a broad range of industries, including life sciences, financial services, energy, telecommunications and technology. David regularly advises leading investment banking firms on domestic and international capital markets offerings. David also advises companies regarding Securities Act and Exchange Act compliance, NYSE and NASDAQ compliance, corporate governance, and Sarbanes-Oxley Act matters.

David Duffee

David Duffee is a finance partner in Mayer Brown’s New York office, and is the leader of the firm’s New York Banking & Finance practice. He advises financial institutions and borrowers in lending transactions – both for US-based borrowers and in cross-border financings. A significant part of David’s practice focuses on Latin American lending. Acquisition financings comprise a large part of David’s practice. He also works on lending transactions with insurance company borrowers. He has extensive experience with work-outs, debtor-in-possession financings and other distressed situations.

Douglas Doetsch

Douglas Doetsch serves as head of the firm’s Latin America/Caribbean practice and is a member of the firm's Banking & Finance practice. He advises clients on infrastructure financings in the port, airport and road sectors, acquisition and other leveraged lending transactions, and structured credit transactions. He is also a leader in cross-border securitization transactions, especially future cash flow securitizations.In his cross-border work, Doug also regularly advises on emerging market debt restructuring and debt exchange offers. In addition, his transactional work involves asset and stock acquisitions, real estate investments, and cross-border joint ventures.

Francisco Mendez

Managing Partner

Gabriela Sakamoto

Gabriela Sakamoto is a partner in Mayer Brown’s Washington DC office and a member of the Banking & Finance practice and Latin America and Global Projects groups. Gabriela’s practice focuses on advising commercial banks, multilateral agencies and other financial institutions, as arrangers, lenders and agents, on cross-border project finance, structured finance, capital markets and acquisition financing transactions, particularly in Latin America. Her Latin American experience is extensive and includes transactions in more than ten countries in the region and across a wide range of sectors, including energy, oil and gas, and infrastructure. In addition, Gabriela has significant experience with financial institution financing, having represented arrangers, investors and originators on numerous future flow financing transactions (e.g. diversified payment rights, credit card merchant vouchers). Gaby was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina and is fluent in Spanish.

George Miller

George Miller, a partner in the New York office, is a member of Mayer Brown’s Global Projects, Infrastructure and Asset Finance practices. In addition, he co-leads Mayer Brown’s Japan Client Initiative, aimed at strengthening and expanding outreach to Japanese clients. At a prior firm he helped open its Tokyo and Hong Kong offices and headed its Asia project finance practice for seven years. He concentrates his practice in international and domestic finance and leasing, in particular in the infrastructure, transportation and energy sectors. He has worked on numerous “Deals of the Year” and other high-profile transactions in the projects and infrastructure space. In recent years he has represented Morgan Stanley as underwriter in the issuance of $600 million principal amount of tax-exempt private activity bonds for the benefit of the first phase of the All Aboard Florida Brightline passenger rail project, the Port Authority of Jamaica in the $600 million concession and lease of the Kingston Container Terminal to an affiliate of CMA CGM (which was named 2016 North America Port Deal of the Year by IJGlobal), and lenders in refinancings of a private bulk cargo port terminal in Florida and of a long-term concession over 23 service plazas on Interstates 95 and 395 and the Merritt and Wilbur Cross Parkways in Connecticut, and in the restructuring of project finance loans for four advanced proton cancer therapy centers across the United States. In 2011 he headed our lenders’ counsel engagements for Puerto Rico’s first toll road concession. In 2010, he led our Denver FasTracks Eagle P3 engagement, the 34-year concession to build and operate a portion of a commuter rail line in Denver, Colorado, in which we acted as designated financing parties’ counsel. This project was named 2010 North American Transport Deal of the Year by Project Finance Magazine and a Regional Deal of the Year by The Bond Buyer.

Ian Lindsay

Ian Lindsay is an associate in Mayer Brown’s Chicago office and a member of the Banking & Finance practice and Latin America group. He has experience with domestic and cross-border financing transactions in the US, Mexico, Brazil, Peru, Australia, and other countries. Ian advises clients in a variety of roles, including as administrative agent, lender, commercial borrower, and/or issuer.

Joanne De Silva

Partner

Jose Valera

Jose L. Valera is a partner in the Houston office of Mayer Brown and co-head of the firm’s oil and gas practice. He focuses his practice on domestic and international energy transactions and project development, with more than 25 years of legal experience representing oil, gas and electric energy companies throughout the United States, Latin America, Africa, Asia and the Caribbean. He represents oil and gas companies on exploration and production contracts, investment agreements, upstream development projects, mergers and acquisitions, and joint ventures. His practice also includes the representation of electric companies in the development of thermal and renewable generation projects, financing, mergers and acquisitions. Jose’s LNG practice includes liquefaction services, regasification services, development of regasification terminals, and purchase and sale of LNG. Jose has counseled the governments of Argentina, Bolivia, Honduras, Peru and Iraq on energy legislative reform matters, development of shared hydrocarbon resources, and privatization transactions related to the electric and oil and gas industries.

Juan Pablo Moreno

Juan Pablo Moreno is a Finance and Capital Markets associate in the Leveraged Finance, Global Project Finance and Latin America groups. Juan Pablo represents lenders in various deal roles in the preparation and negotiation of complex financial documents. He also has extensive experience in capital markets, particularly in transactions involving Latin American issuers of securities under Regulation S and Rule 144A. Juan Pablo has a unique background in having been admitted to practice both in the US (Illinois) and Colombia and having practiced as a lawyer in France, Colombia and the US in a variety of financial and capital markets matters. He is recognized as an Expert in Banking & Finance based in the US for Colombian law by Chambers & Partners Global (2014).Juan Pablo joined Mayer Brown in 2010. Prior to joining Mayer Brown, Juan Pablo worked for Shearman & Sterling LLP, the Inter-American Development Bank and Brigard & Urrutia Abogados in Colombia. He is a member of the Associate Diversity Committee and the Recruiting Committee at Mayer Brown. He is fluent in Spanish and French.

Kaleb Sanchez

Kaleb Sanchez is counsel in the Banking & Finance practice of Mayer Brown's New York office. His practice focuses on structured finance and commercial lending transactions. Kaleb has extensive experience representing financial institutions, including commercial and investment banks, monoline insurers, and leasing and finance companies, in a broad range of complex finance transactions, including US and non-US lending, securitizations, lease finance and other commercial finance transactions, and in workouts and restructurings. Kaleb also has experience in the area of project finance, having worked on various transactions involving mining and energy projects.

Kara Baysinger

Kara Baysinger is co-leader of Mayer Brown's US Insurance Regulatory & Enforcement Group. She has vast experience representing national and international insurance and reinsurance companies, insurance-related service companies, insurtech companies and other financial services entities, e-business enterprises and state governments in market conduct and sales practices, including multistate examinations and investigations and enforcement. Additionally, she advises clients on regulatory relations and strategy, innovation and digital transformation licensing, regulatory approvals, electronic commerce, transactional matters, reinsurance, cybersecurity, and product and market development issues. Kara began her career working in-house for insurance companies. Kara is the co-author of Courageous Counsel: Conversations with Women General Counsel in the Fortune 500, a groundbreaking look at the paths of women into the ranks of General Counsel.

Lucas Giardelli

Lucas Giardelli is a Tax Transactions & Consulting associate in Mayer Brown’s New York office. His practice is focused on international tax planning (including controlled foreign corporations/Subpart F income, tax-efficient reorganizations, cross-border financing, IP planning, individual tax planning) and corporate tax matters, advising clients on the tax aspects of mergers, acquisitions, financing arrangements and other transactions. Prior to joining Mayer Brown in 2012, Lucas practiced tax law at a leading law firm in Argentina.

Maria Alevras-Chen

Maria Alevras-Chen is a corporate finance associate in the Banking & Finance, Projects, and Latin America & Caribbean groups. She focuses on complex international and domestic financings, including bond and equity issuances, leveraged finance, project finance and structured finance. Maria also has experience with real estate fund formation and restructurings. Maria represents lenders (whether they be financial institutions, private equity funds, multilateral agencies or export credit agencies) in various deal roles, such as arranger, administrative agent, underwriter and/or placement agent as well as borrowers. Maria's practice focuses on Latin America, including transactions in Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Honduras, Mexico, Peru, Panama and Uruguay. Maria has also structured and executed transactions in several other emerging markets jurisdictions including Russia, Turkey, Indonesia and Zimbabwe during her time at Mayer Brown.

Pablo Puente

Pablo Puente is an associate in the Banking & Finance practice of Mayer Brown’s Chicago office. His practice focuses primarily in the areas of securitization and structured finance. Pablo has represented issuers, sponsors and underwriters in public and private offerings of securities in domestic and cross-border transactions. He has advised clients on asset-backed securitization transactions involving various asset classes, including auto loans, equipment loans and leases and credit card receivables. Pablo has also advised borrowers in warehouse loan and asset-backed conduit facilities.Pablo was born in Bolivia and is fluent in Spanish. He also worked as an associate at a leading law firm in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Paul Meyer

Paul Meyer is a partner in Mayer Brown’s Real Estate group, is one of the co-chairs of the Real Estate group’s cross border practice and former head of the Chicago Real Estate practice. In his more than 30 years of practice, Paul has obtained substantial experience in virtually every aspect of the real estate industry. Paul’s widely diversified practice includes the representation of real estate investors and developers in all types of domestic and international equity and debt real estate transactions, including complex tax structured joint ventures, acquisitions, dispositions and financing involving office buildings, apartment complexes, retail centers, industrial and logistics facilities, hotels, storage facilities, condominiums, medical office buildings and assisted-living facilities as well as senior loans, construction loans, mezzanine loans and preferred equity investments. In recent years his practice has focused on cross border investments that utilize complex tax structures. Paul’s clients include US and non-US insurance companies, US and non-US fund sponsors, pension funds advisors, REITs, institutional investors, developers, asset managers and other capital providers.

Sean Kulkarni

Sean G. Kulkarni is a senior associate in Mayer Brown’s New York office and a member of the Banking & Finance and Latin America and Global Projects groups. His practice focuses on the representation of sponsors, owners, lenders (including commercial banks, investment funds and development finance institutions), underwriters and investors in connection with the development, construction, financing, acquisition and/or sale of high-profile, capital-intensive energy and infrastructure projects. Sean's experience includes the preparation and negotiation of financing documentation for syndicated loan and capital markets transactions, project agreements (including engineering, procurement and construction (EPC), operation and maintenance (O&M), and power purchase (PPA) and other offtake agreements), and various classes of offshore and onshore collateral agreements. His recent experience has focused on Latin America, where his fluency in Spanish enables him to draft, negotiate and review documents in that language in addition to English.Sean has represented clients in several of the most innovative and noteworthy Latin American project financings in recent years, including multiple “Deal of the Year” award winners and honorees. In addition to his global projects experience, Sean has advised clients on a wide range of corporate, structured and leveraged lending transactions in Latin America and elsewhere around the globe.

Tyler Garvey

Tyler Garvey is an associate in Mayer Brown's New York office and a member of the Banking & Finance practice and Global Projects group. He serves as Co-Chair of the firm’s Committee on Finance Associates and represents lenders and investors in connection with equity investments and both international and domestic infrastructure and project finance transactions. Prior to joining the firm, Tyler was a legal fellow at the New Jersey Bureau of Securities, where he gained experience working on matters involving securities registration, regulation and enforcement.He received his undergraduate degree magna cum laude from John Jay College of Criminal Justice where he was a Thurgood Marshall Scholar, Ron Brown Scholar, Steamboat Scholar, Scholarship and Service Recipient and the Graduation Commencement Speaker.

Valentina Castillo

Valentina Castillo is an associate in Mayer Brown's Washington DC office and a member of the Banking & Finance practice and Emerging Markets, Projects and Latin American groups. Valentina advises both lenders and sponsors in the areas of project finance, structured finance and acquisition financing, particularly in Latin America. Her Latin American experience includes transactions in Chile, Ecuador, El Salvador, Panama and Honduras. Valentina has experience representing commercial banks and multilateral organizations in connection with international project finance and development transactions, including power projects.

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