Our Team
Charlie Cole is a partner at Cole, Mink, & Fransella. He has over 30 years of experience representing clients engaged in financial transactions, including loans, restructurings, and secondary market trading of commercial loans and other debt assets.
Charlie and CMF’s debt trading team are among the best known in the industry. Together, they represent many of the largest players in the marketplace, including numerous investment banks, commercial banks, hedge funds, and asset managers, as well as collateralized loan obligation vehicles (CLOs) and collateralized debt obligation vehicles (CDOs). Although the majority of Charlie’s trading work involves loans owed by U.S.-based corporations, he also represents clients in connection with trades of loans and claims owed by European, Latin American, Asian, and other foreign obligors.
His U.S. and cross-border lending experience covers complex and specialized syndicated and bilateral credit facilities, relating to acquisition finance, letter of credit facilities, subscription line finance, securitization finance, receivables finance, equipment leasing, vendor finance, and project finance transactions.
EDUCATION
Lehigh University, B.S., 1985
American University Washington College of Law, J.D., 1993
BAR ADMISSIONS
- Maryland
- New York
- District of Columbia
Jennifer Mink is a partner at Cole, Mink, & Fransella. She represents commercial banks, investment banks, broker-dealers, hedge funds, and other entities in lending, secondary debt trading, CDO transactions, workouts, and other matters.
Ms. Mink has extensive experience in trading and review and analysis of credit documentation relating to many types of debt facilities, including financing facilities for aircraft, project finance, oil and gas, and real estate.
Ms. Mink has worked on trading floors with clients at several stages in her career, overseeing the closing process for secondary debt trades and supervising regulatory compliance.
EDUCATION
George Mason University, B.S., 1993
University of Virginia School of Law, J.D., 1996
BAR ADMISSIONS
- Virginia
- District of Columbia
- New York
Michael Fransella is a partner at Cole, Mink, & Fransella. He represents banks, broker-dealers, asset managers, and other entities on a variety of par and distressed loan and claim trading transactions using LSTA, LMA, ISDA, and sui generis documentation. He has closed thousands of distressed debt trades, and supervises the par loan trading practice.
Mr. Fransella advises clients on compliance, tax, securities, UCC, regulatory, ERISA, contract interpretation, nonpublic information/informational walls, and other issues incident to the clients’ transactions and businesses. In addition to loans, he has worked extensively on transfers of bankruptcy claims, trades of private-placement securities, and transactions involving Latin American and other international debt assets and related restructurings, and has represented clients on strategic debt and equity investments, structuring and creation of special-purpose subsidiaries, and structuring of derivative instruments. He is a frequent participant in LSTA initiatives to draft and promulgate standard documents, and has been responsible for a number of forms, contractual mechanisms, and drafting solutions that have subsequently become widely used in the market.
Mr. Fransella received his J.D. from Yale Law School, where he was Senior Editor of the Yale Law Journal and Notes Editor of the Yale Journal on Regulation, and was Valedictorian of Williams College.
EDUCATION
Williams College, B.A., 1998
Yale Law School, J.D., 2001
BAR ADMISSIONS
- Virginia
- District of Columbia
- New York
Rafael joined the Cole, Mink, & Fransella team after over a decade at Silicon Valley Bank and SVB Financial Group. Prior to joining Silicon Valley Bank, Rafael was a partner of an international law firm where he worked alongside founders of Cole, Mink, & Fransella.
Rafael advises financial institutions, investment and asset managers and Fintech startups on credit transactions, delivery of financial services, development and deployment of bank and financial products, workout, insolvency and special situations, regulatory and compliance matters, trade finance, FX, corporate transactions and governance matters.
During his tenure at Silicon Valley Bank, Rafael:
Advised the bank’s executive leadership team and Board of Directors on strategic initiatives including integration of investment bank, private and commercial banks and private equity investment businesses; deployment of the bank’s Paycheck Protection Program and other CARES Act measures; launch of an enterprise-wide control room function; establishing a lending branch in Canada; and development of an enterprise-wide client onboarding initiative;
Built a team of talented attorneys supporting all of the bank’s client-facing businesses including commercial and consumer banking, commercial lending, asset management, payments, wealth, trading and financial transactions in the U.S., Canada, Cayman Islands and Asia;
Served as lead counsel for the bank’s Asia businesses including a joint venture bank in the PRC, onshore China investment funds and representative offices in Hong Kong and mainland China;
Led a multi-year effort to redesign bank’s commercial lending platform to service startup, PE fund and public company clients with a range of lending products and bank services, including growth capital, fund finance, asset-based, warehouse, sponsor buyout, life sciences, project finance, wine, trade finance and senior-secured syndicated credit facilities;
Led negotiations with strategic liquidity providers to develop and expand secondary market participation, off-balance sheet and securitization programs; and
Oversaw legal support of nascent leveraged finance business line.
As General Counsel of SVB Financial Group, a debtor in bankruptcy, Rafael advised the Board of Directors and Chief Restructuring Officer on corporate, governance, operational and strategic legal matters. Rebuilding the company’s legal team, he stabilized Board and corporate governance, oversaw all legal aspects of the company’s warrant and strategic investment portfolio including litigation and disputes, and advised on the sale of the company’s broker-dealer division and its 800-employee Indian operations center.
Rafael also advised the CEO of Silicon Valley Bridge Bank, N.A. in the wake of bank receivership and holding company insolvency.
EDUCATION
University of Pennsylvania, B.A., 1994
University of Pennsylvania Law School, J.D. 1998
BAR ADMISSIONS
District of Columbia
Maryland
New York
Christopher advises commercial banks, broker-dealers, hedge funds and other financial institutions on legal issues related to the purchase and sale of distressed assets, including secondary loans, bankruptcy trade claims, and private equity securities. He has experience in the review and analysis of credit documentation relating to par loans, particular in connection with CDO/CLO transactions. Christopher also advises clients on master participation transactions and loan securitization matters.
EDUCATION
Seattle University, B.A., 2000
Cornell Law School, J.D., 2003
BAR ADMISSIONS
- New York
- District of Columbia
Matt represents banks, broker-dealers, asset managers, insurance companies, and other entities on a variety of par and distressed loan transactions, and related proceeds trades. He has extensive experience reviewing loan agreements and loan assignment documentation, with a focus on secondary debt transactions of large syndicated loans.
Matt received his J.D. from The University of Virginia.
EDUCATION
University of Iowa, B.A., 1994
University of Virginia School of Law, J.D., 2003
BAR ADMISSIONS
- Virginia
- District of Columbia
Laura represents clients in connection with the purchase and sale of loans, securities and other interests in domestic and international companies, including companies nearing and in bankruptcy. She has represented commercial banks and other financial institutions engaged in distressed debt trading under the framework of The Loan Syndications and Trading Association (LSTA).
EDUCATION
University of Pennsylvania, B.A., 2000
Cornell Law School, J.D., 2003
BAR ADMISSIONS
District of Columbia
New York
Mustafa represents banks, broker-dealers, asset managers, insurance companies, and other entities on a variety of par and distressed loan transactions, and related proceeds trades. He has experience reviewing and drafting loan agreements and loan assignment documentation, with a focus on secondary debt transactions of large syndicated loans.
Mustafa received his J.D. from The American University Washington College of Law.
EDUCATION:
East Carolina University, 2016
American University Washington College of Law, J.D. 2023
BAR ADMISSIONS:
- Virginia