Five-Member Finance Team To Join Pillsbury's London Office

“Our client list is global and aviation capital knows few boundaries,” said Mark Lessard, co-leader of Pillsbury’s Transportation Finance team. “Our clients have been asking us to put a team into London for some time.”

“This team will be fully integrated with our U.S. and global operations. They will be a great complement to our global Energy, Infrastructure and Projects finance practice, for which London is a key pole,” said Mats Carlston, Pillsbury partner.

“To best position Pillsbury to serve our clients in transportation finance at a superior level, enhanced English law capabilities are a must,” said Pillsbury Chair James Rishwain, Jr. “Graham, Debra and their team fit squarely into our strategy of expanding our market-leading finance offerings to meet the needs of our clients worldwide.”

With over 20 years of experience in structured asset financing and leasing, Tyler has acted for banks, export credit agencies, lessors, investors and operators on transactions involving a variety of assets including corporate and commercial aircraft, ships, rolling stock, yellow goods and other moveable equipment. He has advised on domestic and multi-jurisdictional asset financing transactions utilizing a wide variety of structures including secured debt transactions, operating and finance leasing, Islamic finance, tax leasing and export credit-backed financing.

Erni specializes in international asset finance and leasing with a particular focus on helping clients in the aviation industry. She has represented several of the world’s largest aircraft leasing companies, banks and airlines. Fluent in both written and spoken Japanese, Erni has deep knowledge of Japanese corporate structures and many other aspects of Japanese law.

“We are delighted to be joining Pillsbury's well-respected Asset and Transportation Finance practices,” said Tyler. “A number of synergies with the Pillsbury team already exist and we are very excited to have the opportunity to work with them to expand further their practice in this area.”

Tyler and Erni are the second major additions to the firm’s aircraft finance practice in the past year. Partner Thomas Zimmer joined Pillsbury's West Coast aircraft finance and leasing practice in April 2013.

Tyler earned his LLB Hons. degree from Exeter University before being admitted as a Solicitor of the Senior Courts of England and Wales. Erni received her LLM from King’s College London and is also admitted as a Solicitor of the Senior Courts of England and Wales. She spent close to a decade in Japan as an associate at both the Tokyo office of Clifford Chance and at Abe Ikubo & Katayama.

About Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP

Pillsbury is a full-service law firm with an industry focus on energy & natural resources, financial services including financial institutions, real estate & construction, and technology. Based in the world's major financial, technology and energy centers, Pillsbury counsels clients on global business, regulatory and litigation matters. We work in multidisciplinary teams that allow us to understand our clients’ objectives, anticipate trends and bring a 360-degree perspective to complex business and legal issues—helping clients to take greater advantage of new opportunities, meet and exceed their objectives and better mitigate risk. This collaborative work style helps produce the results our clients seek.