September 4, 2024 - Practical Law recently released their latest “Checking in” interview.  This time they featured the LSTA’s General Counsel, Bridget Marsh.  In the interview, Bridget recounts her time spent practicing in Sydney, Norfolk Island, London, and Abu Dhabi before she came to practice in NYC. The interview covers a lot of ground; it discusses today’s hot topic of lawyers’ mental health, the roles of mentors in the legal profession, and includes Bridget’s practical advice for young attorneys.

What are the biggest challenges that LSTA members face, and how do you help them overcome those challenges? LSTA members include sell-side institutions (domestic and foreign banks) and buy-side institutions (institutional investors, including funds, collateralized loan obligations and other structured vehicles, and insurance companies), which is unique for a trade association. Both sell-side and buy-side institutions are challenged by the ever-evolving landscape of regulation and compliance.

Although the syndicated loan market itself is not regulated, loan market participants are. Regulations may impact their day-to-day in-house operations or how they operate in the loan market. Since the global financial crisis, the relevant body of law and regulation has grown significantly, and regulators have become more active. Consequently, the LSTA has become more active in Washington, D.C., educating legislators about the loan market. We took this path because we found that policymaking in the wake of the financial crisis had included sweeping changes to the financial industry, including to the loan market, even though the regulatory impact on the loan market was sometimes an unintended by-product of reform legislation.

To read the entire piece, you can read it here.