Press Release

08/14/06 - Vedder Price Opens Washington Office; Expands Equipment Finance Practice

[Chicago, Aug. 14] The law firm of Vedder Price will open a Washington, D. C. office effective August 15. Edward K. Gross, formerly a principal at Ober Kaler and a former Chair of that firm’s Lending and Leasing Group, will join Vedder Price’s world-class Equipment Finance Group. Mr. Gross represents bank-affiliated and large independent equipment financing companies in all aspects of equipment finance, especially business aircraft financings. This representation includes documenting, structuring, negotiating, syndicating, and enforcing equipment finance transactions for more than 20 years. Many clients rely on Mr. Gross in syndication transactions, including large portfolio purchases, “one-off” sale and assignments, discounting, back-leveraging and participation transactions. He has prepared middle and capital markets lease, loan and syndication forms for some of the largest equipment finance companies in the industry. Mr. Gross has been involved in hundreds of such transactions totaling billions of dollars.

He counsels clients regarding the financing of all types of business aircraft, including large and small jets, turbo prop and smaller aircraft and helicopters. These transactions vary in structure, including managed and/or chartered aircraft, fractional and “pay card” arrangements, tax-motivated or synthetic structures and foreign registered aircraft, used by businesses, governmental entities or high net-worth individual users. Mr. Gross has worked on financings, syndications and portfolio sales involving aircraft having an aggregate value of billions of dollars.

Dean N. Gerber, who chairs Vedder Price’s Equipment and Aviation Finance Practice. said: “we are indeed fortunate to be able to open in Washington with someone like Ed Gross. He is a leading light in the business aviation market and his skills and experience add significant depth and dimension to our existing equipment finance and aircraft and finance practices.”

“This represents an important expansion for Vedder Price,” commented Michael A. Nemeroff, firm President. “A Washington presence is important for our clients and the addition of Ed Gross provides additional expertise that can be made available to all of the firm’s equipment finance, leasing and lending clients.”

Mr. Gross is a graduate of the University of Maryland (B.A., 1978) and the University of Baltimore School of Law (J.D., 1981). He is a long-term and active member of the Equipment Leasing Association, having served on the Board of Directors (2000-2003) and the Legal Committee, and he presently serves on the Government Affairs Committee and as chair of the newly formed Cape Town Convention Subcommittee. He is a member of the District of Columbia and American Bar Associations and is admitted to practice in Maryland and the District of Columbia.

Mr. Gross is a prolific writer and commentator, having contributed numerous articles in the Journal of Equipment Lease Financing, Leader’s Equipment Leasing Newsletter and other related journals. He has also contributed to treatises, including Chapter 28, “Middle-Market Leasing and Syndication,” Equipment Leasing–Leveraged Leasing, Volume 2, Practicing Law Institute, 1999, Updated 2005 and co-authored Chapter 3A, “Equipment Finance Leasing Documents and Article 9 of the Uniform Commercial Code” Equipment Leasing–Leveraged Leasing, Volume 1, Practicing Law Institute, 2004; and Lecturer at numerous seminars, including, ALI-ABA Conference: “the New Uniform Commercial Code,” 2004 and 2005; WebCredenza Article 2A Update Seminar 2005; Lessors Network Funding Conference, 2005 and 2006; the Strategic Research Institute: FAA Aircraft Registration, Lien & Security Interests Seminars in 2003 and 2004, and Cape Town Convention & Aircraft Protocol, 2006, ABA Aircraft Financing Subcommittee, Business Aircraft Financing, 2005, and the Equipment Leasing Association Legal Forum, 1990-1997, 1999, 2000, 2002, 2004 and 2005.

Vedder Price is one of the premier aircraft finance law firms in the world. Members of the Vedder Price Equipment Finance Group represent lessees, lessors, financiers and related parties, both domestic and international, in a broad range of aircraft finance transactions. Vedder Price attorneys have extensive experience in structuring and negotiating:

leveraged leases (both on- and off-balance sheet)
operating leases
mortgage financings
cross-border and municipal leases
export finance leases
subleases
conditional sales
sale/leasebacks
securitizations (including equipment trust and pass-through certificates)
multiple-layered debt financings
manufacturer-supported financings
government-supported financings

Vedder Price attorneys are recognized leaders in the aircraft finance field, regularly speaking at industry seminars and authoring treatise chapters and trade journal articles. Our prominence in the area has enabled us to develop valuable relationships with a wide variety of industry participants. In 2004, Euromoney Publications ranked Vedder Price as one of the top aviation law firms in the world, with eight of our aircraft finance attorneys included in its Guide to World’s Leading Aviation Lawyers. In 2003, Aircraft Economics ranked Vedder Price the second best aviation finance law firm worldwide (tied with three other firms).

In 2004, the firm’s work on behalf of Jet Blue’s $431 million EETC financing was recognized by the AirFinance Journal as the “Most Innovative Deal of the Year.” In 2005 and again in 2006, Chambers & Partners (America’s Leading Lawyers for Business) ranked Vedder Price as the leading aviation law firm in the United States (tied with two other firms)