McKee Nelson is showing no slowdown in its push into the ABS/MBS market, the firm says. In June, the company was counsel on 47 deals in the public and 144A markets, with a total value of roughly $22 billion.
Of the 47 deals, 31 of them were done out of McKee’s New York branch office , which opened June 1 following the hire of New York Managing Partner Reed Auerbach and two other senior partners from Stroock Stroock & Lavan (see ASR 6/03). “June was an incredibly successful first month,” Auerbach said. “It ought to show you a trend, in any event, of where we’ll be going.”
Last week, McKee added tax partner James A. Gouwar, hired over from Sidley Austin Brown & Wood. As of today, the New York office is 21 strong, with seven partners, two counsel, nine associates, and three legal assistants (plus 18 additional staffers in the Washington office, whose structure finance practice was opened in 2001). McKee is allied with accounting firm Ernst & Young.
