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Spotlight
IN THE SPOTLIGHT! 

Katie O'Brien
Katie O'Brien, Esquire
Katie concentrates her practice in the areas of commercial lending, real estate and commercial contracts. She represents financial institutions nationwide, including national banks, community banks, credit unions and non-bank lenders, who extend commercial credit facilities to small and mid size businesses. Katie has extensive experience in the areas of government guaranteed lending and acquisition financing and has closed hundreds of commercial finance transactions, from start-up business transactions to complex real estate and business acquisitions.

Katie advises lenders on eligibility matters and documenting and closing loans under the SBA 7(a) and 504 loan programs and assists lenders in preserving and protecting their government guaranty. As a closing attorney, Katie reviews loan files, drafts and negotiates loan documents, advises on due diligence documentation and coordinates the closing and funding of transactions. She also assists lenders with respect to their closed SBA-guaranteed loan files by reviewing and preparing SBA guaranty repurchase packages, responding to SBA recommendations, and performing loan portfolio audits.

ADMISSIONS:

  • Pennsylvania 
  • New Jersey 

To read more about Katie, click here
  

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FEATURED ARTICLE FeatureArticle

Best Practices: Getting the SBA Fundamentals Right    

By: Ethan W. Smith, Esquire 
Ethan W. Smith
Ethan W. Smith, Esquire

SBA lenders are often overwhelmed by the myriad rules, regulations and guidelines associated with SBA lending.  However, by focusing on a handful of core concepts, Lenders can develop the tools which, when applied consistently to their SBA operations, will help them to understand SBA requirements in various situations and circumstances, and which will lead them to make correct decisions, even when the guidance from SBA might be murky.

In my opinion, one of the most important fundamental concepts of SBA lending that lenders must embrace to be successful, is the concept that, as an SBA lender in partnership with the agency in delivering its loan programs, a lender stands in a fiduciary relationship to the SBA and must protect the SBA's interests no less vigorously than its own.  A fiduciary relationship is characterized by the trust and confidence involved in it and the scrupulous good faith and candor which it requires.  Thus, a person is a fiduciary who is invested with rights and powers to be exercised for the benefit of another person; in this case, the lender for the benefit of the SBA.

This fiduciary concept is expressed throughout the CFR, the SOP 50 10 and the 50 57 and covers concepts such as the prohibition against a lender conferring a preference to itself, the requirements that lenders take all available collateral when a loan is under-secured, and the requirement that the lender liquidate loans in a timely manner (within 2 years of guaranty purchase).  Each of these requirements embodies the same fundamental concept at its core: protecting the interests of the SBA at least as stringently as the lender  would protect its own interests in an unguaranteed loan, and not substituting prudent lending practices with the SBA guaranty.

This concept of having a fiduciary relationship with the SBA can also help lenders be sensitive to the types of program integrity issues that can sometimes arise in SBA lending.  Issues such as restrictions on lenders' ability to approve certain transactions under their delegated (PLP) authority (such as same institution debt refinance, financing OREO property, or financing a change of ownership transaction that includes more than $500,000 of goodwill with less than 25% equity into the transaction), avoiding conflicts of interest, seeking SBA approval for certain actions (such as a non-arm's length sale of collateral or the release of a loan obligor), and reporting  suspected fraud to the Office of Inspector General, can all be traced back to this fiduciary concept.

As these examples clearly demonstrate, many seemingly divergent and disparate SBA rules and guidelines can be distilled down into broad concepts which, if uniformly and consistently applied will bring order and logic to the numerous rules and regulations that SBA lenders are required to comply with.  By integrating these broad fundamental concepts into their SBA lending activities, SBA lenders can help ensure that they are executing their SBA lending activities in as compliant a manner as possible.

For more information on SBA compliance issues, please contact Ethan at [email protected] or 267-470-1186.
SeminarsSEMINARS & EVENTS

Garden Grove - 7(a) Lender Classroom Training
Presented By:  NAGGL

Closing & Funding the SBA Loan
Instructor: Ethan W. Smith
Date: March 21, 2016 - March 22, 2016
Location: Hyatt Regency, Garden Grove, CA

Advanced SBA Loan Documentation and Closing
Instructor: David W. Starfield
Date: March 21, 2016 - March 22, 2016
Location: Hyatt Regency, Garden Grove, CA

Understanding How to Get SBA to Honor Its Guaranty
Instructor: David W. Starfield
Date: March 24, 2016
Location: Hyatt Regency, Garden Grove, CA

For more information about Garden Grove and/or to register, click here.

NAGGL 2016 SBA Lending Technical Conference
Presented By:  NAGGL
Date:  May 2, 2016 through May 4, 2016
Location:  Hyatt Regency St. Louis at the Arch, St. Louis, Missouri

For more information about this event, and/or to register, click here.

Avoiding Lender Liability
Presented By:  SBA West Virginia District Office
Instructor:  Ethan W. Smith
Date:  May 17, 2016 at 11:00am EST
Location:  Webinar

For more information about this event, and/or to register, click here.

TestimonialsWHAT OUR CLIENTS SAY... 

Mark Danford / President & CEO / Waterstone LSP

I have worked with Starfield & Smith, PC for almost 10 years. Ethan Smith and his team provide the best service and attention to detail that helps our companys continued success. I've never known another lawyer more prepared or focused. He and his team have the ability to dissect a loan, identify the tasks needed to put the lender in a position to protect their SBA guaranty. They provide great service, meeting the needs of our firm as a loan service provider, the lender and the borrower. I highly recommend Starfield & Smith to any lending institution closing SBA loan transactions.
  SBA Compliance - Paintbrush
                                          
OUR PRACTICE AREAS

 

SBA Compliance Audits  |  SBA Guaranty Purchase Reviews & Recovery

SBA Franchise Reviews |  SBA Lender Training

Regulatory Compliance & Lender Oversight |  Loan Documentation & Closing

Commercial Litigation |  SBA Portfolio Management

SBA & Conventional Creditors' Rights

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