Robert M. McLaughlin

Robert McLaughlin is a leader in derivative transactions, including futures, over-the-counter derivatives and cleared swaps, and credit support arrangements.

Robert is head of our Derivatives Practice and also maintains a leading practice in repurchase, securities lending and prime brokerage, and other types of trading agreements, as well as structured products, synthetic equity and fund-linked investments, credit extensions, loan trading, and derivatives claim trading.

Robert’s clients include hedge funds, private equity funds, investment management firms, investment and commercial banks, mutual funds, individual investors, corporations, and government-sponsored entities. He regularly advises market participants on legislative and regulatory developments concerning futures, derivatives, cleared swaps, bankruptcy and insolvency safe harbors, and market structure and facilities.

Highly regarded as a thought leader in the derivatives market, Robert has been chair or co-chair of more than a dozen City Bar programs since 2004, including the Futures & Derivatives Committee’s annual conference. He moderated the panel “Careening away from LIBOR: Why, When and How LIBOR will be replaced,” and organized the program “From LIBOR to SOFR: Replacing the World’s Most Important Number.”

Along with Rick Grove, President and CEO of Rutter Associates (former CEO of ISDA), Robert organized and moderated a September 2019 panel called “LIBOR Replacement” for all Fried Frank attorneys in the New York, Washington, DC, and London offices. Additionally, he moderated the December 2019 Strafford webinar “Transitioning From LIBOR: Looming Legal Issues for Investment Managers,” with Fried Frank partner William Breslin and with Mark Hoffman of Chatham Financial, as well as an April 2020 Strafford webinar on swap safe harbors in bankruptcy. On September 22, 2022, Robert will be speaking on the Strafford webinar “Swaps in Commercial Finance: Special Concerns With Modifications and Syndications, LIBOR Transition.”

Robert is the author of Over-the-Counter Derivative Products: A Guide to Business and Legal Risk Management and Documentation (McGraw-Hill, 1999) and the chapter “Risk Management and Fiduciary Duties” in Risk Management: Foundations for a Changing Financial World (John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2010). In addition to his frequent derivatives industry presentations, Robert has been a guest lecturer on derivatives and risk management at Fordham University School of Law.

Robert is consistently recognized by Chambers in Derivatives and by Legal 500 in Derivatives and Structured Products.