Kenneth P. Morrison

Retired Partner Debt Finance

Overview

Ken was a senior member of Kirkland’s Asset Finance & Securitization Practice Group. According to Chambers 2021, sources considered Ken to be one of the "godfathers of the auto finance industry." Since 1990, he handled securitizations and principal finance matters involving a variety of asset classes on behalf of originators, underwriters, platform agents, principal finance groups and conduit sponsors.

Ken was extremely active in ABS reform matters. He participated in a task force organized by the American Bar Association Subcommittee on Securitization and Structured Finance (SSF) that commented on the proposed National Mortgage Note Repository Act; he led the drafting of three different comment letters for a group of more than 15 vehicle ABS sponsors on the SEC’s proposals for Reg AB II, loan level disclosure and shelf eligibility; he chaired a drafting committee of the SSF that submitted two comment letters to the SEC on the Dodd-Frank Act requirements for risk retention and a comment letter to the SEC on the subsequent risk retention reproposal; and he drafted comment letters for the American Financial Services Association on Dodd-Frank Sections 943 (repurchase demands) and 945 (issuer asset reviews).

Ken also took on leading roles on a number of other comment letters and industry guides, including those by the American Securitization Forum on waterfall computer programs, auto sector disclosure, Rule 3a-7 reform and risk retention, and by the SSF on the FDIC’s securitization safe harbor regulation and the SEC’s reproposal on shelf eligibility.

More

Thought Leadership

Publications

“Risk Retention Reverberations: How Far Do the Effects of the LSTA Case Extend?” Kirkland & Ellis LLP Alert (May 2018)

“ABS Regulatory Lotto: The Numbers Game,” Kirkland & Ellis LLP (October 14, 2011)

“Taking the Plunge - Can ABS Survive the Waterfall Computer Program Proposal?” Kirkland & Ellis Alert (July 16, 2010)

“The SEC’s ‘Arranger-Paid Rule’ for Ratings of Structured Finance Products: Arrangers will be held to a ‘hire’ standard,” Kirkland & Ellis Alert (April 20, 2010)

“TALF 2.0: Will This Release Reboot the Market?” Kirkland & Ellis Alert (January 9, 2009)

“Disclosure: 10 Key Requirements in the SEC’s ABS Release,” Kirkland & Ellis Alert (June 18, 2004)

Seminars

Moderator, “Sector Snapshot: High Yield Debt and Leveraged Lending,” September 2018 ABS East Conference

Panelist, “A Complete Guide to Risk Retention,” February 2016 ABS Vegas Conference

Panelist, “Perspectives on the Final Rules Implementing Reg AB II,” January 2015 ABS Vegas Conference

Panelist, “Risk Retention Update,” January 2014 ABS Vegas Conference

Moderator, “A Capital Markets Conversation with the SEC,” November 2012 American Bar Association Annual Meeting

Panelist, “FDIC Role in Structured Finance Transactions,” at January 2012 American Securitization Forum Conference

Recognition

Named a Leading Lawyer for Capital Markets: Securitisation in Chambers Global, The Leading Lawyers for Business in 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013 and 2007

Named a Leading Lawyer for Capital Markets: Securitization in Chambers USA, The Leading Lawyers for Business in 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011, 2007, 2006 and 2005

Leading Lawyer in the areas of Structured Finance and Securitization in IFLR1000

Recognized in the Legal 500 US for 2018–2021. Named a “leading lawyer” for Structured Finance in the 2010–2012, 2015–2016, 2020 and 2021 editions. In the 2015 edition, described as being “known for his thought leadership in the industry”; in the 2014 edition, a leader in his field and an “expert regarding the FDIC Safe Harbor Rule”; and, in the 2013 edition, described as possessing a “knowledgeable and calm demeanor.”

Listed in the 2006–2019 editions of The Best Lawyers in America, in the areas of Securitization and Structured Finance Law, and in the 2017–2019 editions for Banking and Finance Law

Global Leader in securitization law in The International Who’s Who of Securitization Lawyers (Law Business Research, 2005–2012)

Memberships & Affiliations

Member, Board of Directors, Structured Finance Association (f/k/a Structured Finance Industry Group), 2014–2016

Member, Board of Overseers, Boston University, 2013–Present

Member, Board of Directors, Northeast Illinois Council of Boy Scouts of America, 2013–Present

Fellow, American College of Commercial Finance Lawyers, 2012–present

Member, Boston University School of Law, Dean’s Advisory Board

Member, American Bar Association, Securitization and Structured Finance Committee of the Section of Business Law

Member, Legal Counsel Committee and Auto ABS Committee of the Structured Finance Association

Presenter, Federal Bar Association and District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, Credit Abuse and Resistance Education Program (pro bono), 2010–Present

Member, Working Group on FDIC Safe Harbor Proposal, American Securitization Forum, 2010–2011

Co-Chair, Outside Counsel Subforum of the American Securitization Forum, 2009–2010

Adjunct Professor, Northwestern University Law School, 1995–2001

Designed and co-taught a seminar entitled “The Law of Securitization”

Credentials

Admissions & Qualifications

  • Illinois (inactive)

Education

  • Boston University School of LawJ.D.magna cum laude1983
  • MIT Sloan School of ManagementM.B.A.1983
  • Yale UniversityB.A.1977