Hughes Hubbard Wins ‘Americas Law Firm of the Year’ at Aviation 100 Awards

October 23, 2017 — Hughes Hubbard has been named “Americas Law Firm of the Year” by Airline Economics Magazine at the 2017 Aviation 100 Americas Awards Ceremony, held at the Hilton Midtown in New York on Oct. 19.

The prestigious awards recognize this year’s leading performers in the aviation industry, based on client and peer reviews and top 10 rankings across strict criteria. The judging criteria for “Americas Law Firm of the Year” included the number and value of deals worked on by the firm, its roster of clients and the nature of its aviation practice.

The firm received its award in recognition of its work on some of the most innovative deals in aviation in recent years. Those deals include:

• The formation and financing of a joint venture between Air Lease Corporation (ALC) and asset management company Napier Park Global Capital to launch Blackbird Capital I LLC, an aircraft lessor

• A capital markets offering that launched ALC’s Thunderbolt platform, a strategic tool and capital solution for ALC to expand its existing relationship in the midlife aircraft space

• The representation of Stratos and Aergen Aviation Finance as originator and servicer in a $324.7 million aircraft lease securitization for Harbour Aircraft Investments Limited 2016-1, the first one for Aergen

Steven Chung, who led the HHR team in all the deals, accepted the award on behalf of the firm. “We are truly honored to be recognized for our hard work by our clients and industry peers,” Chung said. “This award reflects our entire team’s commitment to providing our clients with the most innovative, efficient and high-quality service.”

Earlier this year, HHR won Airfinance Journal’s “Deal of the Year” for the fifth consecutive year for advising Blackbird Capital in an $800 million aircraft lease securitization that was selected as 2016’s “Capital Markets Deal of the Year.” In the previous four years, the firm has been recognized for its role in 10 transactions named “Deal of the Year.”
 
Airline Economics is the foremost global publication dedicated to news and analysis for aircraft owners, operators and lessors and everything that affects the day-to-day running of their businesses.

John Hoyns and Chung are co-chairs of the firm's Aviation practice area. The HHR attorneys who worked on the deals included Ken Lefkowitz, Andrew Fowler, Chuck Samuelson, Chris Fickes, Melissa Duffy, Jason Kaplan, AJ Macdonald, Jenny Graham, Emily Nordin, Helen Zhu, Michael DeBernardis, Erica Aghedo, Ileana Loudarou, Justin Cohen, Jeffrey Ng and Walter Song.