Shumaker, Loop & Kendrick, LLP

Shumaker knows how to meet the needs of lenders, investors and borrowers in sophisticated credit arrangements.  With experience in a full range of deal structures, our lawyers can quickly grasp the basics of a financing transaction, develop the most cost-effective approach and solve any problems along the way.  We advise our financial institution clients as lenders, issuers, underwriters, credit enhancers and servicers, and have a proven ability to handle complex, innovative transactions, as well as the routine transactions where controlling cost is essential.  On the borrower side we have helped companies from a wide range of business sectors (including healthcare, manufacturing, services, aviation, professional sports, hospitality and utilities) in securing on- and off-balance sheet loans, recapitalizations and credit facilities.  Additionally, we are there to help in workouts and restructures, asset recoveries and foreclosures, and asset dispositions.

What Makes Us Different

As advisers on transactional work, our lawyers routinely work with clients to handle the documentation and negotiation of loans, letters of credit, asset-based financing, syndications, special purpose financing, real estate financing, and all other commercial finance lending.  We offer advice on all aspects of lender due diligence to evaluate risks and balance business, operational and legal needs.  Our ability to close deals is strengthened by access to the firm’s full resources in tax, securities, employee benefits, real estate, environmental and corporate law.

Because we have worked on so many different financing transactions, our firm has the ability to assist with unique client needs, such as:

• International financing arrangements, including multi-jurisdictional transactions.
• Focused business sector needs, illustrated by our representation of the country’s first real estate investment trust that specializes in financing nursing and assisted living facilities, specialty hospitals and primary care facilities throughout the country.
• Complex deal structures, such as “master lease” programs that allow loans to be collateralized by a number of separate lease arrangements that may change from time to time.
• We also work with clients to expeditiously and efficiently restructure, workout, collect, and foreclose troubled assets.

Our Clients

• Commercial banks
• Insurance companies
• Real estate investment trusts
• Investment, equity and venture funds
• Private and public companies seeking credit facilities and investment capital

Why You Benefit

Clients appreciate our efforts to minimize legal cost by staffing deals with partners, associates and legal assistants from various Shumaker offices as needed.  Our development of standardized procedures and forms for our clients’ transactions is another value-added advantage.  We routinely handle closings of large transactions by escrow to protect clients, while avoiding the cost and inconvenience of a formal closing.  Senior management, senior leaders, credit committee members and in-house counsel seem equally comfortable working with our lawyers because of our ability to handle so many different deal structures and strategies.

Core Services

• Development of financing transaction structures
• Negotiation and preparation of loan and security documentation
• Resolution of covenant, collateral, guaranty and other credit enhancement issues
• Handling title, survey, environmental and zoning issues with respect to real estate collateral
• Offering regulatory guidance on public and private debt and equity issues
• Anticipating issues that arise when credit transactions fail
• Restructuring of troubled loans
• Collection and foreclosure of defaulted loans

What you can expect from Shumaker

Having sat on both sides of the table, our lawyers have a clear understanding of how to protect the lender’s interests within a borrower’s comfort level on a wide range of transactions.  Because these transactions can be used for a wide range of purposes – merger and acquisition funding, recapitalization, investment syndication, asset purchases and leases, standby letters of credit, and more – we make sure that they meet all the requirements of the Uniform Commercial Code (UCC) and proper collateral protection in the event of default or bankruptcy.  Typical transactions include:

• Secured, term and revolving commercial credit facilities
• Credit transactions secured by assets (including loans secured by tangible and intangible personal property and acquisition-related financings), as well as unsecured loans
• Commercial real estate-related credit transactions (mortgage financings, sale leasebacks, leveraged leases and participation mortgages)
• Syndicated and club loans and other capital market transactions including revolving credit facilities and term loan A and B structures
• Specially structured financing transactions, including complex collateral arrangements and equity participations
• Loan participation arrangements
• Loan restructurings and work-outs

Our Commitment to Diversity

Shumaker, Loop & Kendrick, LLP is committed to attracting, retaining, and promoting individuals of diverse backgrounds to ensure that our firm reflects the clients we represent and our values of inclusion.  We believe that embracing differences in ethnicity, race, sexual orientation, age, socio-economic status, religion, and other characteristics, helps us consider the full range of perspectives our clients face and the goals they seek to achieve, allowing us to provide more creative, insightful, and complete guidance and counsel.  By affirmatively embracing and appreciating those differences, we create a supportive working environment at Shumaker for all individuals of the firm.

Diversity in Action

Shumaker's commitment to diversity is reflected in the following measures:

1. Creation of a Diversity & Inclusion Committee to coordinate and direct our diversity initiatives. Our committee is made up of partners (including at least one member of the Firm’s management committee), associates and administrative personnel.
2. Recipient of the 2013 Gold Standard Certification by Women in Law Empowerment Forum, which is given only to firms that have demonstrated that women represent a meaningful percentage of their equity partners, are involved in the highest leadership positions and have meaningful representation in the ranks of the firm’s most highly compensated partners. Shumaker was one of only 42 firms in the country to have received this prestigious award in 2013.
3. Creation of Shumaker’s Women’s Leadership Initiative, a firm-sponsored group dedicated to promoting, developing and fostering the potential of our female attorneys, helping them to navigate a path to a successful and satisfying legal career at the Firm, and to serve as leaders within the legal and business communities.
4. Membership and active participation in organizations that support diversity initiatives in our communities. Such organizations include, without limitation, racial, ethnic, disability, gender/LGBT and age initiatives.
5. Diversity in our hiring, advancement and leadership practices, for attorneys as well as staff members, including our Summer Associate Program.
6. Annual participation in the Toledo Bar Association’s Minority Clerkship Program.
7. Annual participation in the Ohio State Bar Foundation Law and Leadership Program, a program to establish a pipeline into the legal profession for disadvantaged students from underserved schools.
8. Membership in Partners in Education, a program in which our employees serve as tutors and mentors and provide ongoing financial support to area schools and students in need.
9. Cultivation of leadership opportunities among all attorneys and staff, recognizing the importance and benefit of diversity in leadership.
10. Firm-wide participation in periodic diversity education seminars or training programs.
11. Informal programs implemented firm-wide to enhance our awareness and understanding of the importance and benefits of diversity among our workforce and promote inclusion.