Doneene Damon
Doneene Damon’s extraordinary leadership includes her roles as the president of Richards Layton, co-chair of the firm’s Business Department, and chair of the Corporate Trust and Agency Services Group.
Doneene focuses her practice on formation and operational issues relating to Delaware statutory trusts and Delaware and New York common law trusts in all types of commercial and business transactions, representing issuers, underwriters, investors, and trustees. Doneene advises clients on the use of common law trusts, statutory trusts, owner trusts, master trusts, series trusts, and titling trusts in connection with capital markets transactions.
Considered “terrific” and praised as “experienced, careful, smart and very personable” (Chambers USA), Doneene was recently featured in an article in Super Lawyers and was honored as one of Savoy magazine’s Most Influential Black Lawyers.
Her practice includes representing banks and trust companies in connection with their trust and agency services under Delaware and New York law in various commercial transactions, including their roles as trustee, collateral agent, verification agent, custodian, master servicer, depository agent, securities intermediary, paying agent, registrar and transfer agent, and exchange agent.
In addition, Doneene represents health-care clients in all types of commercial and transactional matters, including the purchase and servicing of health care receivables and the issuance of tax-exempt bonds.
She also served as primary Delaware counsel in a series of first-to-market structured finance transactions employing the use of blockchain distributed ledger technology.
Doneene’s varied corporate trust transactional practice includes
• asset-backed securities, including auto loans and leases, credit cards, student loans, consumer loans, residential mortgages, home equity loans, equipment leases, litigation settlements, insurance policies, and intellectual property;
• collateralized loan obligations;
• cross-border leasing transactions;
• mutual funds and exchange traded funds;
• health care receivables;
• liquidation trusts;
• voting trusts;
• independent director and independent manager;
• private equity funds;
• defeasance transactions;
• royalty trusts;
• liquidation trusts; and
• voting trusts.
She is also experienced in
• capital securities and hybrid capital securities;
• mutual funds, exchange traded funds, and private equity funds; and • collateralized loan obligations, cross-border leasing transactions, project finance transactions, and defeasance transactions. Lawyers.
Leadership
In addition to her role as the firm’s president, Doneene holds leadership positions in many organizations, including:
• American Bar Association - Business Law Section
• The Business Lawyer, Editorial Board
• Committee on Trust Indentures and Indenture Trustees, Former Chair • Committee on Corporate Director Diversity, Former Co-Chair • Banking Law Committee
• Diversity Committee, Lawyers of Color Subcommittee, Chair • Section Sponsorship Task Force, Chair
• Securitization and Structured Finance Committee, Vice Chair and Director for Diversity
• UCC Committee
• Committee on Partnerships and Unincorporated Business Organizations, Membership and Diversity Co-Chair
• Structured Finance Association, Board Member
• Trustee Committee
• Outside Counsel Committee
• Women in Securitization, Mentor Subcommittee, Co-Chair • American Law Institute
• Carpenter-Walsh Delaware Pro Bono Inn of Court
• Christiana Care Health System, Inc. and Health Services, Inc., Chair of the Board of Directors
• Delaware Prosperity Partnership, Board Member
• Temple University Beasley School of Law, Board of Visitors
Recognition
• American College of Commercial Finance Lawyers Fellow • American Bar Foundation Fellow
• Chambers USA
• The Best Lawyers in America
• Super Lawyers
• Most Influential Delawareans, News Journal, 2021
• Most Influential Black Lawyers, Savoy magazine, 2018 n n n
• National Association of Professional Women, VIP Woman of the Year Circle, 2015-2016
• Jean Allard Glass Cutter Award, American Bar Association, 2015
• National Diversity Council, Leadership Excellence in the Law Award, 2014
• Pennsylvania Diversity Council, Leadership in Law, 2014 • Temple University Beasley School of Law, Gallery of Success, 2014 • The International Women’s Review Board for Excellence in Law • YWCA Trailblazer Award
Publications
• “A Conversation with the First Women to Lead Two of Delaware’s Largest Firms,” ABA, February 20, 2020
• “Delaware’s Chancery Court: An Internationally Respected Part of The Delaware Brand,” Delaware Business, January/February 2020
• “The Alphabet Soup of the Federal Crisis Programs,” Bloomberg Law Reports, July 2009
• “The Role of the Trustee,” Practising Law Institute
Education
• Temple University School of Law, J.D., cum laude, 1992 • St. Joseph’s University, B.S., cum laude, Accounting, 1989
Bar Admissions
• Delaware, 1992
• District of Columbia, 1994
• New York, 2012
Richards, Layton & Finger
President