Lawyer Bio : Merrick J. Benn

Merrick J. Benn

Baltimore

Merrick's practice focuses on personal property commercial financing with an emphasis on negotiating and documenting middle market and big ticket transactions involving all equipment types and classes including manufacturing lines, aircraft (corporate and commercial), vessels (barges and tankers), railroad rolling stock, software, and technologies.

Merrick has extensive experience in tax motivated "true leases," leases intended for security, off-balance sheet loans (synthetic leases), term and demand loans, commercial paper conduit transactions, and securitizations. In addition to originating deals, Merrick's practice includes the syndication of, and participation in existing transactions. He works regularly with special forms of credit enhancements such as letters of credit, guaranties, and insurance policies. Merrick also counsels clients on the acquisition and disposition of loan and lease portfolios.

Merrick is a frequent lecturer on the negotiation and documentation of equipment lease transactions.

Prior to joining Womble Carlyle, Merrick was a member of the Corporate/Finance practice group at DLA Piper LLP (US), where he worked on both domestic and international financing matters with an aggregate value in the billions of dollars.

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Professional Activities

Bar Associations: Maryland State Bar Association, Section on Business Law; American Bar Association, Section on Business Law.

Admitted to bar 1998, Maryland.

Civic Activities

The Associated – Young Leadership Council.

Baltimore Junior Association of Commerce, Board Member and Legal Counsel.

Equipment Leasing Association.

Education

B.A., Political Science, 1995, Muhlenberg College, Allentown, PA; magna cum laude with honors; Omicron Delta Kappa.

J.D., 1998, The Dickinson School of Law of the Pennsylvania State University; Kauffman Securities Law Moot Court Team; Senior Editor and Business Manager, The Dickinson Journal of Environmental Law and Policy; Corpus Juris Society.

Prior Legal Experience

Senior Associate, DLA Piper LLP (US), Baltimore, Maryland, 2004-2009.

Senior Associate, Ober, Kaler, Grimes & Shriver, Baltimore, Maryland, 1998-2004.

Publications

Author, "The Case for Equipment Leasing: An Appealing Strategy for Cost-Conscious Companies," Focus on WMACCA E-Newsletter (February 12, 2010).

Author, "The Dilemma of Liquidated Damages," LJN's Equipment Leasing Newsletter, Vol. 24, Number 5 (June 2005).

Co-author, "How to Structure Your Next Equipment Lease," with Patrick K. O'Hare, Health Lawyers Weekly, Vol. 2, Issue 36 (September 10, 2004).

Author, "Sometimes It's Not What You Say But How You Say It," The Lending & Leasing Alert (Spring 1999).

Author, "Assessing the Validity of Late Fees in Commercial Contracts," The Ober View (Winter 1999).

Co-author, "Hitachi Forces Lessors to Rethink Form Syndication Documents," with Edward K. Gross, Leader's Equipment Leasing (June 1999).

Comment, "Successor Liability Strictly Applied: Basic Tenets of Contract Law and Alienability of Property Ignored in Keystone Landfill Decision," Dickson Journal of Environmental Law & Policy (Spring 1997).