Overview
Ellen Hayes is the Professional Responsibility and Conflicts Counsel in the firm’s Office of the General Counsel and is based in the firm’s New York office.
She advises the firm on a broad range of legal and risk management issues, including conflicts. Prior to assuming her current role, Ellen was a structured finance partner in the New York office of a major International law firm. She has over 25 years of diverse experience leading multi-jurisdictional teams in complex finance transactions. Earlier in her career, Ellen was Principal Counsel at International Finance Corporation, a World Bank Group member, where she advised on infrastructure and energy projects in emerging markets. Ellen has been recognized in The Legal 500 and the International Financial Law Review as a leading structured finance lawyer.
She is a past member of the New York City Bar Committee on Professional Responsibility and is a frequent speaker on professional responsibility topics.
Recognitions
- The Legal 500, Finance, Structured Finance (individually listed 2008 to 2012)
- IFLR 1000, Capital Markets- structured finance and securitization (Mentioned as a Leading Lawyer 2010)
Education
- The University of Sydney, L.L.M., 1992
- Osgoode Hall Law School, York University, J.D., 1985
Representations
- Advising Goldman Sachs in relation to its role in the restructuring of the $5 billion structured investment vehicle Whistlejacket Capital Ltd. (in receivership).
- Advising various investment banks acting as arranger and placement agent in connection with cash, synthetic and hybrid CDO and CLO transactions.
- Advising International Finance Corporation and Inter-American Development Bank in their loans to a $600 million concession-based toll road project in Brazil.
- Advising Pakistan International Airlines on a U.S. Ex-Im Bank guaranteed lease facility for the financing of several Boeing 777-200 ER aircraft (GRT best deal of 2003).
- Advising Barclays Bank plc on the U.S. law aspects of it GBP2.3bn acquisition of the credit card assets and liabilities of Egg Banking plc (a wholly-owned subsidiary of Citigroup Inc.).
Engagement & Publications
- Speaker at The New York City Bar Webcast Professional Responsibility in the Wake of a Pandemic February 24, 2021
- Chair of PLI Ethics and Conflict of Interest in Law Practice 2020 and 2021
- Speaker at Aon Law Firm Symposium October 16-18, 2019 Brexit and Developments in Europe
- Speaker at PLI Acquiring or Selling the Privately Held Company: Ethics in Negotiating and Documenting Private Transactions (2019 to 2021)
- Co-Chair of a Session on the Allocation of Responsibilities in Cross-Border Opinions at the 2019 Working Group on Legal Opinions Spring Legal Opinion Seminar May 7, 2019
- Speaker at Crisscrossing the Pond: Transatlantic Issues in Legal Ethics and Law Firm Regulation on Unravelling the Complexities of Cross-Border Conflicts of Interest November 9, 2019 presented by The Association of Professional Responsibility Lawyers and the Law Society of England and Wales
- Co-Chair of a Session on Procedural Issues Related to Opinion Practice at the 2018 Working Group on Legal Opinions Fall Legal Opinion Seminar October 30, 2018
- Speaker at Aon Law Firm Symposium October 14-15, 2014 Around the World in 60 Minutes
- Speaker at PLI Ethics in Context: Summer 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2019 Ethics and Conflict of Interest in Law Practice
- Speaker at 2013 Working Group on Legal Opinions Fall Legal Opinion Seminar October 28, 2013 Obligations of Opinion Givers and Receivers to Gate Keep Against Money Laundering
- Speaker at Association of Professional Responsibility Lawyers (April) March 28, 2014 Meeting The Evolving Practice of Law: Foreign Lawyers, Domestic Relations
- Speaker at Aon Law Firm Symposium October 17-18, 2013 Global Practice Concerns
Involvement
- Admitted to practice in New York, England & Wales and Ontario Canada
- Past member of the New York City Bar Committee on Professional Responsibility
- Past instructor at the Ontario Bar Admission Course