Money and credit are the fuel which converts hopes and ideas into reality in our economy. As hopes and ideas change and the provision of credit changes as the result of new technology, governmental regulation, international factors, and court decisions, creditors and borrowers need lawyers with appropriate education and experience to assist them. The lawyers at Racine Olson involved in this area of the law have more than 100 years of combined legal experience in providing the appropriate service.
Commercial lending is a particular focus for the firm. Our work is structured around applicable federal law and of course, the statutory law of the states in which our lawyers are licensed, particularly Idaho and Utah. We also interface with administrative agencies of the states in which our clients do business, to the extent that our clients must qualify in and comply with the administrative rules of those states.
Our work necessarily impacts concerns with our clients’ authority to do business, their trade names, the rules by which they may solicit business, and how they may be taxed. We also must be aware of the rules by which the customers of and borrowers from our clients must do business so that we can create appropriate, effective, enforceable documentation for lending transactions. Such awareness requires our familiarity with licensing requirements and the regulation of financing. To the extent that we represent clients involved in consumer lending, we must necessarily be familiar with federal laws like Truth-in-Lending and the Fair Debt Collection Act, which peculiarly apply to that kind of lending.
In Idaho a unique feature of our law is the legal concept of community property and separate property. These matters also become special considerations to us as we structure loan transactions that impact individuals rather than business entities.
Trusts and estates and their creation are another practice area of the firm, and they are incidentally important to the Commercial Lending lawyers because some understanding of how they are created and operated are important to effective loan documentation.
Finally, a huge related practice area in which our commercial lending lawyers operate is real estate. From complex rules of property rights, to fee interests, leases, condominiums, unique security instruments, recording rules and title insurance, and a myriad of other factors, the practice is very broad.
In applying these factors to the needs of our clients, we not only create documents but also review documents created by others, assist in negotiating the terms of financial agreements, and assist in the workout of troubled loans. We are very familiar with issues of secured and unsecured credit, guaranties, letters of credit, and other more unique devices for providing credit. We have represented banking and financial institutions based in Idaho and Utah for many years, and many other financial institutions and private lenders based elsewhere but which have transactions which involve states within our practice area, including Wyoming, Washington, Oregon, and Nevada.