Liccardo, Paul S.

DEBRA TAYLOR LEWIS is a Partner in the firm's Birmingham office. Her principal practice area involves the representation of banks in connection with lending and workout activities, leasing issues, transactional regulatory compliance and various corporate trust related matters, including representation of trustees in public finance issues, defaults and disputes. She is a member of the firm's Credit Crisis Group, a special team of lawyers working on challenges created by the current disruptions in the credit and other capital markets. Her clients include banks affiliated with the largest bank holding company headquartered in Birmingham, as well as a number of national, regional and community banks.

Ms. Lewis has extensive experience in the following representation areas:

·        representation of various banks in over $500,000,000.00 sale of distressed assets, including, but not limited to loan sales and sell of ORE Properties;

·        acquisitions of real estate for bank use and dispositions of bank branches and other bank real estate;

·        representation of both lenders and borrowers in all aspects of commercial real estate finance and other security, including acquisition and construction financing, permanent financing, mortgage loans, subordinated financing, credit-enhanced financing and workouts and loan defaults;

·        representation of both project owners and tenants in the negotiation and preparation of leases for banks and commercial projects of all types. This includes various forms of commercial leases, ground leases, real estate management arrangements, lease workouts, landlord takeovers and lease disputes and lease restructuring;

·        representation of indenture trustees, bondholders, bond insurers, credit enhancers and municipal issuers in municipal finance transactions, workouts and defaults;

·        bank regulatory and compliance issues;

·        drafting and negotiation of vendor contracts of financial institutions; and

·        corporate trust related issues.

Prior to joining Balch & Bingham LLP, Ms. Lewis served as Senior Vice President, Chief Legal Officer and Secretary for KinderCare Learning Centers, Inc. Ms. Lewis also served as Law Clerk to Judge Robert P. Bradley, Alabama Court of Civil Appeals.

Ms. Lewis is a frequent speaker at seminars and conferences for lawyers and financial services industry personnel on preventative law measures, documentation, new statutes, regulations and judicial developments affecting the banking and financial services industry.