William Cejudo

Will Cejudo concentrates his practice on the tax aspects of mortgage-backed and asset-backed securitizations and related transactions, including mortgage servicing rights, credit risk transfers, loan administration and debt modifications. His focus includes structuring tax-efficient investment vehicles seeking exposure to the assets underlying such transactions.

Will is ranked as a Band 1 lawyer for Nationwide Capital Markets: Securitization: Tax by Chambers USA, where he was lauded as “being incredibly creative and innovative.” Examples of his work in the public view that led to this recognition include:

• Designed a first-of-its-kind REMIC structure for Fannie Mae’s CAS Credit Risk Transfer Program, for which Will won the "Accessing New Markets and Capital" category of the Financial Times Innovative Lawyers Awards for North America. This structure has been used to transfer a portion of the credit risk with respect to well over $2 trillion of single-family mortgage loans.
• Created the “pancake REMIC” structure, allowing the successive formation of REMICs to extend the reinvestment period and accommodate the issuance of time-tranched securities. The deal first using this structure was recognized with a Deal of the Year award. This structure has since become the most commonly used structure for the securitization of RTL loans.
• Obtained an IRS Private Letter Ruling concluding that C-PACE assets can be securitized through REMICs. This development expands financing possibilities for this relatively new asset class.

Will is a recommended lawyer for international tax and US: non-contentious tax in The Legal 500 US. Previously, he worked in the Financial Institutions and Products Division of the IRS Office of Chief Counsel, where he worked on an array of financial products, as well as tax-exempt and taxable financing matters.