Originally published in The Metropolitan Corporate Counsel, Volume 20, No. 10 in October 2012.

The Editor interviews R. Andrew Richards, Partner in the Corporate Securities and Financial Institutions practice of McCarter & English, LLP.

Editor: Please describe your practice areas, particularly those in which you concentrate most heavily.

Richards: I am a member of the firm’s Corporate and Financial Institutions practice group and have an extensive background in structuring, negotiating and documenting financial transactions, including senior and mezzanine credit facilities, asset-based and cash flow credit facilities and acquisition financing. On the lender’s side my clients include traditional banks, finance companies, insurance companies, private equity funds and other financial institutions in their various roles as first and second lien lenders, mezzanine debt holders, and as lenders or agents. I also represent institutional clients in work-outs and restructurings. Additionally, on an ongoing basis I counsel clients regarding venture capital investments, mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, international trade and other commercial and contractual matters, most often for middle market clients.

Among the more interesting aspects of my practice is the transactional work I do for a prominent social investment fund that makes both loans and equity investments at a reduced rate of return, but otherwise on an arm’s-length basis, to promote economic development and socially beneficial causes, both domestically and internationally. My involvement in microfinance in Africa, which I will discuss later, has been both an inspiration and resource for this work.