Mr. Smith serves as the Executive Partner of the Los Angeles office and has a transactional and corporate practice with an emphasis on leasing and equipment finance, lending transactions and municipal securities.

Mr. Smith has represented and advised lessors, lessees, lenders, intermediaries and equity interests in a wide variety of equipment leasing transactions. He has significant experience in aircraft leasing and finance transactions and airline restructurings and bankruptcies.  His recent aircraft transactions have involved many jurisdictions in addition to the United States, including the United Kingdom, France, Norway, Sweden, Mexico, Brazil, Israel, the Czech Republic, Latvia, Lithuania, Malaysia, Ireland, Iceland, Germany, Morroco, Turkey, Switzerland, Russia, China, Belgium, Australia and Spain.  Documentation for these transactions has been governed for the most part by either United States or English law.

Mr. Smith currently is acting for aircraft lessors in the ongoing United Air Lines bankruptcy and represented aircraft lessors in the recent American Airlines leveraged lease restructurings and in the U.S. Airways, Sobelair, Aeris, Royal Aviation and Swissair bankruptcies.

In the municipal finance area, Mr. Smith has represented credit and liquidity providers, underwriters and placement agents, developers and trustees and has acted as bond counsel in a range of tax exempt and taxable financings.  Much of his recent experience has been in infrastructure finance.  For example, Mr. Smith served as counsel to Morgan Guaranty Bank and Trust Company in the issuance of a letter of credit supporting a $53 million Denver Airport bond issue financing a private air cargo facility.

Mr. Smith has also represented numerous domestic and foreign banks and institutional lenders in a wide array of lending transactions.  Representative transactions include representation of Bank of America as agent in a $3.9 billion syndicated credit facility for the State of California and representation of Tokai Bank as agent in a syndicated credit facility financing the acquisition of a division of a major automobile company.