The following is an excerpt from Practice Perspectives: Vault's Guide to Legal Practice Areas.
Eliza Riffe Hollander is a partner in Fried Frank’s New York Finance Practice, where she represents lenders, lead arrangers, preferred equity investors, private equity sponsors, funds, and public and private corporations in a variety of financing transactions. Eliza operates in the broadly syndicated, asset-based lending (ABL), and private credit markets, executing leveraged buyouts, restructurings, and refinancings.
Describe your practice area and what it entails.
My work focuses on financing operating companies, including through broadly syndicated loans, private credit, and ABLs. I work on leveraged buyouts and restructurings, as well as preferred equity investments. My operating company finance experience has also lent itself to practice in the fund finance space.
What types of clients do you represent?
My clients include lenders, arrangers, private equity sponsors, funds, and public and private corporations. I advise Antares Capital, Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase, Blue Owl Credit, and Goldman Sachs, among other high-profile clients, on their largest and most complex financing transactions.
What types of cases/deals do you work on?
In the past three years, I have advised Antares Capital in 12 transactions as sponsor-designated counsel, and since 2013, I have advised Bank of America in approximately 40 transactions, both as sponsor-designated counsel and designated directly by the bank. I have been counsel to the lenders to Royalty Pharma Holdings Ltd. for most of the past decade, seeing through billions of dollars in transactions and advising on Royalty Pharma’s corporate revolver and various term loans. I was seconded to Goldman Sachs in 2019 and have a deep understanding of their approach to deals.
How did you choose this practice area?
I was drawn to Fried Frank and its market-leading Finance Practice for a number of reasons, but in particular, it was important to me to be able to immediately jump into action as a first-year associate and start learning and interfacing with clients right away. Because of the nature of the transactions, in any BigLaw finance practice, you will be involved in negotiating documents and speaking with clients from day one, among other key responsibilities. I found it both challenging and rewarding to quickly be considered a core member of the team, something that made for a different experience than some of my peers in other corporate practice areas.
What is a typical day like and/or what are some common tasks you perform?
At this point in my career, having been promoted to partner this year, I spend much of my day counseling clients and managing teams. As an associate, my days were more heavily focused on drafting documents. Those early assignments are critical, as they give you the judgment and experience to better respond to clients’ questions and concerns.
What training, classes, experience, or skills development would you recommend to someone who wishes to enter your practice area?
Secured lending is very intuitive and requires good judgment and common sense. Learning about collateral and secured transactions in law school, including contract law and Article 9 of the Uniform Commercial Code, can be helpful, but it’s certainly not a prerequisite. It’s important to have strong negotiation skills and a client-focused mindset. As an associate, experience is really important to growth, so the more contracts you can draft and transactions you can be involved in the better. Finding senior lawyers who will mentor you and explain the context for client calls is also really beneficial to development and learning how to counsel clients across various industries and in different situations.
What do you like best about your practice area?
Our clients have to live and operate their businesses with the agreements we draft for years, and so we really have to understand the company, from its contracts and cash flow to its long-term needs. With each new deal, there’s an opportunity to learn about a new business and the people that run it from top to bottom. For example, I’ve spent over a decade financing an investment fund that invests in royalty streams from pharmaceuticals, which is an interesting and inventive business model. I’ve also been involved in deals for grocery stores, a fiber optic cable company, and collision repair centers, to name a few other industries. The documents that we create live and grow with our clients, which is something I find gratifying.
What are some typical career paths for lawyers in this practice area?
Outside of private practice, a lot of Fried Frank alumni from the Finance Practice have moved to in-house roles at banks and private credit funds. Working in a BigLaw finance practice is great preparation for an in-house career. They are trusted advisors within their institutions and are counseling on similar transactions, just from another perspective. Many of those who transition to take the in-house path end up with or as firm clients.
How do you prepare for a negotiation?
Prepare, prepare, prepare! This is the linchpin in negotiation, and I always aim to prepare as much as possible, and more than others on the call. To my earlier point about understanding a company, I’m surprised by how often this can be more challenging than expected. It’s important to read financials and diligence materials closely to understand what flexibility the company needs. With ample preparation, in the negotiation itself, you are better able to prioritize what is key for your client and identify what may create more noise than they want.