September 30, 2019—Barclay Damon announces the law firm is adding a three-attorney banking and public finance group from Harris Beach PLLC, consisting of Kevin Bezio, partner; Alexis Clement, counsel; and Eric Brenner, associate, effective immediately.
The three attorneys, who have been practicing together for a number of years, will be resident in Barclay Damon’s Albany office. While operating from the Capital Region, the group’s practice involves representing commercial banks and other financial institutions throughout New York and New England and state-side issuers and underwriters of tax-exempt bond financings.
Connie Cahill, deputy managing partner and chair of the Public Finance Practice Area, said, “We are delighted to welcome Kevin, Alexis, and Eric to the firm and are excited to be offering their deep transactional experience to our clients. Strategic additions like this not only benefit our clients, they support key firm priorities of growing the firm’s public finance and financial institutions and lending teams.”
“Other more recent hires who enhance these teams include Sharon Brown in New York City, Peter Hubbard in Syracuse, and Robert Wonneberger in the firm’s New Haven, Connecticut, office, which opened last month as part of adding a 20-lawyer group from LeClairRyan,” Cahill added.
Melissa Zambri, managing director of the Albany, Boston, and Washington DC offices, said, “The additions of all of these talented attorneys have been huge wins that strengthen vibrant and growing teams throughout the firm and benefit clients across our platform.”
Bezio serves clients as bank counsel, bond counsel, and underwriters counsel in variable-rate and fixed-rate tax-exempt and taxable financing transactions involving not-for-profit organizations; represents lenders and borrowers in a wide variety of financial transactions; and is experienced with obligated group health care financing structures, secured lending, syndicated lending, taxable and tax-exempt leasing structures, and corporate and real estate transactions.
Clement counsels financial institutions, not-for-profit entities, and public and private companies in a wide variety of financing transactions, including secured and unsecured credit facilities, participation loan transactions, creditor’s rights, and construction loan financing. Clement also provides guidance related to compliance and disclosure issues.
Brenner counsels commercial banks and other financial institutions in matters involving secured loans, lines of credit, real estate financing, and direct purchases of tax-exempt bonds. He also counsels industrial development agencies and local development corporations in projects utilizing tax-exempt or taxable bond financing involving payment-in-lieu-of-tax (PILOT) agreements as part of sale-leaseback structuring.
Barclay Damon attorneys team across offices and practices to provide customized, targeted solutions grounded in industry knowledge and a deep understanding of our clients’ businesses. With approximately 300 attorneys, Barclay Damon is a leading regional law firm that operates from a strategic platform of offices located in the Northeastern United States and Toronto.