Hunton Andrews Kurth Selects Harrell & Chambliss and BurgherGray to Support Ginnie Mae Securitization Work

Hunton Andrews Kurth LLP (formerly Hunton & Williams and Andrews Kurth Kenyon) has selected Harrell & Chambliss LLP and BurgherGray LLP as subcontractors to support the firm’s legal work advising the Government National Mortgage Association (Ginnie Mae) on matters related to the agency’s mortgage-backed securities and multiclass securities programs.

 Lawyers from Virginia-based Harrell & Chambliss and New York-based BurgherGray will provide legal support services to Hunton Andrews Kurth in its recently granted five-year contracts with Ginnie Mae, a wholly owned corporation of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Both are small, minority-owned firms with deep experience in structured finance transactions.

 “Diverse subcontractors play a key role in our representation of Ginnie Mae, offering a range of perspectives and enhancing our client work,” Hunton Andrews Kurth structured finance and securitization partner Amy Williams said. “Engaging with these highly talented firms benefits all involved.”

 Since helping establish Ginnie Mae’s multiclass program in 1994, Hunton had shared the representation with another large law firm, but the most recent contract named Hunton as Ginnie Mae’s sole legal advisor for its MBS and multiclass securities programs.

 With twice the usual volume of work expected in the new Ginnie Mae contract, Hunton solicited subcontractor support and selected Harrell & Chambliss and BurgherGray. Hunton has engaged a small, minority-owned law firm as a subcontractor since the start of Ginnie Mae’s multiclass securities program, and the firm has worked with Harrell & Chambliss since 2004.

 “It has been a privilege for Harrell & Chambliss to serve with Hunton Andrews Kurth in connection with the Ginnie Mae Multiclass Securities Program for nearly 15 years,” said Nancy Griffin Chambliss, co-managing partner of Harrell & Chambliss. “In support of their steadfast commitment to diversity, we greatly appreciate the opportunity to continue in this engagement.”

 BurgherGray Managing Partner Gopal M. Burgher added: “We look forward to leveraging our structured finance and securitization experience while tapping into Hunton’s deep institutional knowledge of Ginnie Mae and the relevant programs to deliver winning results for all.”

 In addition to Williams, structured finance and securitization partner Rudene Haynes, structured finance and securitization counsel Sarah Bridges, and tax partner Kendal Sibley lead Hunton Andrews Kurth’s representation of Ginnie Mae.

During the past year, Hunton Andrews Kurth acted as program counsel on 143 multiclass securities transactions, representing the issuance of more than $51 billion of government-guaranteed REMIC securities backed by government-insured mortgage loans. The mortgage-backed securities program features the securitization of both single-family and multifamily residential mortgage loans into single-class MBS.

Left to right: Sarah Bridges, Sheuvaun Vernon (BurgherGray), Nancy Chambliss (Harrell & Chambliss), Thomas O’Dea, Amy Williams, Sandra Honegan-Pounder (BurgherGray), Rudene Haynes, Gopal Burgher (BurgherGray), Natalie Mariani and Freddy Chang.