Paul B. Haskel

Paul B. Haskel is a partner in the Credit Trading & Investing Practice and a member of Kibbe & Orbe’s Executive Committee. Mr. Haskel specializes in the field of secondary distressed and high-yield debt transactions and represents investment funds, investment banks, broker-dealers and other financial institutions in connection with the purchase and sale of various U.S. and international distressed assets. These assets include, among other things, domestic and foreign bank loans, high-yield securities, and claims against bankruptcy estates, litigation trusts, SIPA trusts and similar liquidating vehicles. He also advises clients on regulatory compliance issues relevant to financial institutions investing in bank loans and claims, including issues arising under U.S. securities law and state common law.

In recent years, Mr. Haskel and the firm’s debt trading group have advised clients in connection with in bank loans, trade and litigation claims relating to both distressed and par obligors. These have included high profile transactions involving PG&E, Travelport, Stanford Financial, Mallinckrodt, Risk Corridors and Visa/MasterCard Interchange Fee Claims, to name just a few.

Mr. Haskel is also a well-regarded advisor in the growing area of litigation finance. He regularly provides advice to litigation funders, private equity firms and multi-strategy hedge fund clients in connection with their investments in funding transactions including claims monetization and the provision of non-recourse capital to both plaintiffs and law firms. His work involves the diligence, structuring and papering of these transactions and includes advice regarding the management of credit risk, tax efficiency, state common law issues such as champerty and usury, and legal ethics. He is a frequent contributor on these topics and has been featured in Litigation Finance Journal, ValueWalk and The American Lawyer.     more +

In addition to providing advice on specific transactions, Mr. Haskel is regularly engaged to provide training to clients in many of these areas, including debt trading, claims trading and the management of borrower/issuer confidential information.

Mr. Haskel is an active participant in The Loan Syndications and Trading Association Inc. (LSTA) and sits on numerous LSTA committees. He is a regular speaker for the LSTA on topics relating to secondary loan market transactions.

• Represented a major US investment bank in connection with its sale of several multi-billion dollar portfolios of syndicated revolving loans to foreign investors pursuant to “true sale” participation agreements.
• Represented a major multi-strategy hedge fund in connection with providing non-recourse, litigation financing to several contingency law firms representing municipal agencies victimized by defendants in the ongoing Ohio opioid MDL.
• Represented multiple private equity and hedge funds in their diligence and acquisition of various PG&E Corp insurance subrogation claims.
• Advised a private equity firm in connection with several “loan-to-own” transactions focused on distressed businesses, including a national restaurant chain and a global hospitality provider.
• Represented a hedge fund in connection with providing a non-recourse, litigation financing facility in excess of $30 million to a major Wall Street law firm to finance a large portfolio of environmental remediation and damages cases against various US municipalities.
• Represented a private equity fund in connection with a joint venture with a claims broker to acquire and manage a large portfolio of Visa/Mastercard anti-trust class action claims.

Active Participant & Committee Member, The Loan Syndications and Trading Association (LSTA)