Veteran finance lawyer Justin Riess has joined Haynes and Boone, LLP as a partner in its newly opened office in Charlotte, N.C.
The office, the firm’s 17th worldwide, will be located in the heart of Charlotte’s “Uptown” business district and will allow Haynes and Boone to better serve clients that are based and do business in Charlotte, one of the nation’s foremost banking centers and financial hubs.
Riess began his career at the well-respected Charlotte-based firm Moore & Van Allen, PLLC, where he was a summer associate, associate and a partner over the course of a decade. Prior to joining Haynes and Boone, Riess was a partner in the Corporate, Finance & Investments Practice Group at King & Spalding and chair of the firm’s Franchise & Hospitality Industry Group. He has spent his nearly 20-year legal career in Charlotte but is also licensed in New York, where he will also maintain an office and contribute to Haynes and Boone’s growing corporate and finance practices.
“Our Finance Practice is one of the cornerstones of the firm, and we could not have picked a better lawyer to help us to expand our practice in Charlotte and across the firm,” said Haynes and Boone Managing Partner Tim Powers. The firm, he added, has long viewed the Charlotte market as a strategic priority. “Since its founding, the firm has engaged in smart, strategic growth that responds to client demands. Charlotte has been on our long-term road map for some time, and Justin is the perfect person to help us enter this new market.”
Riess focuses on leveraged finance, specialty finance, private equity finance and syndicated lending. He represents lenders and borrowers in a variety of complex transactions involving franchise finance, defense and aerospace, financial services and industrial growth companies. He also serves as a board member of Girls on the Run of Charlotte, which inspires girls to be joyful, healthy and confident using an experience-based curriculum that creatively integrates running.
“I relish the opportunity to be associated with a national, well-respected firm that works with many of the leading financial institutions in Charlotte and nationwide,” Riess said. “Having spent my entire legal career in Charlotte, I am also excited to be a part of building the firm’s practice, both here in the dynamic Charlotte business community and beyond.”
Riess will be joined in the Charlotte office by seasoned Haynes and Boone partners, including Todd Cubbage and C. Kyle Musgrove.
Cubbage has over 20 years of experience structuring, negotiating and documenting sophisticated lending arrangements for financial institutions and borrowers, focusing in particular on subscription-secured credit facilities. He is a key partner in the firm’s nationally recognized Fund Finance practice and serves as lead counsel in connection with multi-jurisdictional, subscription-secured credit facilities with top-tier private equity and real estate funds.
Musgrove is a patent trial and appellate lawyer who focuses on representing life sciences companies and has considerable experience helping pharmaceutical clients navigate the patent litigation process and bring their products to market.
Haynes and Boone will add lawyers to the office over time to complement the firm’s well-established strengths in complex financial transactions.
Haynes and Boone’s Finance Practice Group has handled hundreds of deals worldwide in recent years. The firm structures new and sophisticated financing vehicles that fit the business needs of its clients, and it brings together lenders and borrowers to make deals. The group’s lawyers are recognized for their successful work for commercial lenders such as Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Wells Fargo, Citibank, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation and Morgan Stanley, as well as their work with domestic and foreign borrowers, regional banks and financial institutions, investment banks, non-bank credit companies, vendors, financial sponsors, private equity funds, hedge funds, venture capital funds and other investment funds.
The Loan Pricing Corporation Law Firm League Tables, a national ranking of law firms handling syndicated loan transactions on behalf of lead arrangers, agents, or borrowers, has consistently ranked Haynes and Boone among the top 15 firms in the U.S. in terms of total volume of syndicated loans handled by the firm on behalf of lenders.
The Finance team also routinely draws upon the experience of lawyers from other practice groups, including real estate, tax, securities, projects, energy and international, all geared to give clients the necessary depth and breadth of experience to handle large, complex financings worth billions of dollars.
Haynes and Boone, LLP is an international corporate law firm with offices in Texas, New York, California, Charlotte, Chicago, Denver, Washington, D.C., London, Mexico City and Shanghai, providing a full spectrum of legal services in energy, technology, financial services and private equity. With 575 lawyers, Haynes and Boone is ranked among the largest U.S.-based firms by The National Law Journal, The American Lawyer and The Lawyer.
The following publications reported the firm's new hire.
The Texas Lawbook (Subscription required)