Charles Dropkin is a Partner in the Corporate Department and former head of the Finance Group. He has broad-based experience in transactional, regulatory, and litigation matters as they affect entities within financial services (U.S. and non-U.S. banks and bank holding companies, investment banks, insurance companies and hedge funds) as well as other institutions (general corporate, family trusts and private equity/venture capital investors). Charles has particular experience in new product development.
The diversity of Charles’ practice is reflected by the scope of assignments he has been called on to perform by clients. In addition to domestic and cross-border multicurrency corporate finance transactions (both debt – secured, unsecured, mezzanine, junior capital, syndicated, public, private placement – and equity), Charles has worked on mergers and acquisitions in the financial services, pharmaceutical, media, luxury goods and energy arenas; oil-indexed warrants in South American restructurings; bank/bond leveraged financings; commodity and currency swaps and related futures, forwards, options and derivatives; corporate trust matters; tri-party custody and repurchase transactions; securities lending; mortgage finance (including warehouse loans, gestation repos and mortgage purchase programs) and asset securitization, including the first rated asset-backed securitization (shari’a compliant) from the UAE which was named Best Sovereign Bond Deal in International Currency 2005.
Charles also has been involved in the establishment of commercial paper conduit financing vehicles, trust companies, hedge funds and broker-dealer and investment adviser affiliates of banks; technology licensing/outsourcing; workouts/restructurings, and internal investigations.
He has litigated commercial, securities, contract and antitrust cases in both state and federal courts, at trial and appellate levels, and before state and federal regulatory bodies as well as in international arbitration, and has served by court appointment as chair of several arbitration panels for cases filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York.
A frequent lecturer before banking and securities groups (including Risk Management Association, Institute for International Research and Information Management Network), Charles has published several law review articles in the securities field and written extensively about finance, securities lending, derivative products, private equity and hedge funds, including for the International Financial Law Review, Banking and Financial Services Policy Report, Wall Street Lawyer, Investment Dealers’ Digest, Journal of Investment Compliance, Pratt's Journal of Bankruptcy Law and The Metropolitan Corporate Counsel. He is a contributing author to Securities Finance (John Wiley & Sons). Charles has offered commentary on Fox News Channel and WCBS Radio and is a past member of the editorial advisory board of the Banking and Financial Services Policy Report.