Stroock & Stroock & Lavan hire experienced catastrophe bond lawyer

U.S. lawfirm Stroock & Stroock & Lavan LLP have announced the hire of a lawyer with considerable experience in the catastrophe bond space. Matthew S. Feig joins Stroock as Special Counsel in their Structured Finance and Insurance practice groups in the firm’s New York office. He comes from his most recent role with Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft LLP where he focused on risk-linked securities, structured and corporate finance  including catastrophe bonds.

Feig has particular experience in catastrophe bond transactions and has assisted with a number of high-profile transactions as recently as this year. He has represented sponsors and lead underwriters in both the issue and purchase of cat bond notes providing coverage for risks such as U.S. hurricanes and earthquakes, European windstorms and Japanese earthquakes.

“We are thrilled to welcome Matthew to Stroock,” said Bernhardt M. Nadell, partner in Stroock’s Insurance Practice Group. “His deep understanding of the complexities involved with catastrophe bonds and related structured products is an excellent complement to Stroock’s Structured Finance and Insurance teams.”

Cat bond deals of note which Matthew has been involved with in recent months include Long Point Re III Ltd., Residential Reinsurance 2012 Ltd., Pelican Re Ltd., and Akibare II Ltd.

“I am excited to join Stroock. My corporate insurance and structured finance experience is a great fit with Stroock’s client base, and I see this as a great opportunity to expand our services in this area” said Mr. Feig.

The legal services area of the cat bond and insurance-linked securities sector is becoming much more broad as new lawfirms focus in on a market where activity has been increasing and therefore more opportunity exists to enter the space as a service provider. Stroock are not a lawfirm who are mentioned regularly in relation to cat bond deals but with this hire they clearly want to increase their profile in the space.