Clifford Chance

Clifford Chance welcomes leading structured finance tax lawyer James Gouwar as a US partner

Clifford Chance today announced that James Gouwar has joined its Tax, Pensions & Employment ("TPE") practice as a partner in New York.

His practice focuses on the tax aspects of structured finance transactions across a wide range of complex financial instruments, such as mortgage- and asset-backed transactions, collateralized loan and debt obligations (cash and synthetic) and real estate mortgage investment conduits ("REMICs"). He has experience with private equity funds, hedge funds, regulated investment companies and other pooled investment vehicles. Gouwar joins from Morgan Lewis.

"As an elite practitioner, Jim will help us meet surging client demand in the real estate finance and securitization markets," said Americas TPE practice head Richard Catalano. "Given his broader market expertise and track record for designing novel tax solutions, Jim is another strategic resource for our clients across the Firm's transactional practices. I am very pleased to welcome him aboard."

"We are delighted that Jim has joined our Tax team and will be available to support Clifford Chance's growing structured debt practice in the Americas – a team that has advised on $40 billion in transactions over the past three years and a key pillar of our market-leading global finance practice," said Capital Markets partner Robert Villani." Jim is very experienced and well-respected. His arrival furthers our goal of building the premier securitization practice in the United States, as well as further deepening our specialist global capability in this area."

"Clifford Chance has earned a strong reputation for delivering innovative tax structures that move high-profile deals forward," said Gouwar. "As tax attorneys, our work is collaborative by nature, but I was especially impressed with the Firm's cultural commitment to teamwork across practices and offices worldwide."