The Equipment Leasing and Finance Association awarded Moorari K. Shah, partner at Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton, and Ken Weinberg, partner at Rimon, the Edward A. Groobert Award for Legal Excellence.

Scott Adams, chair of ELFA’s legal committee vice president of legal and compliance in North America at Volvo Financial Services, presented the award to Shah and Weinberg at the ELFA Legal Forum in Fort Myers, FL, in recognition of their significant contributions to the association and the equipment finance industry.

As a partner and co-leader of the consumer finance industry team based in the Orange County, CA, and San Francisco offices of Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton, Shah specializes in representing fintech, mortgage companies, auto lenders and other non-bank institutions in an array of transactional, regulatory and government enforcement matters. Shah has been an active member of ELFA for 15 years. He has served in several leadership roles within the association, including as chair of the state legislative and regulatory affairs subcommittee and as a member of the legal committee, the equipment finance regulatory and compliance subcommittee, and the motor vehicle subcommittee.

Shah also has played a critical role in promoting the equipment finance industry’s policy objectives. Most recently, as an authority on enhanced state financial disclosure requirements, Shah provided analysis and guidance to the ELFA, its membership and specific issue workgroups. He has spoken on the topic at multiple ELFA events, including the Legal Forum, the Annual Convention, the bank and small-ticket best practices roundtables and multiple web seminars. He also has contributed numerous articles to the association’s Equipment Leasing & Finance magazine and the Equipment Leasing & Finance Foundation’s Journal of Equipment Lease Financing.

Shah received ELFA’s 2019 David H. Fenig Distinguished Service in Advocacy Award in recognition of his extraordinary contributions to the association’s state advocacy program.

Ken Weinberg

As a partner at Rimon, Weinberg’s areas of focus include equipment leasing and finance, banking and financial services, and energy transactions. Weinberg has been an active member of the ELFA for more than 20 years.

Weinberg has served as an information resource for ELFA members regarding legal issues impacting the equipment finance industry. He has participated in almost every ELFA Legal Forum since 2000, frequently serving as a speaker on a variety of topics, including the Uniform Commercial Code, suretyship and guaranties, structured finance and “merger up” transactions. In addition, Weinberg has contributed his expertise by writing approximately 100 articles on industry related topics, including for Monitor and the ELFF’s Journal of Equipment Lease Financing and was a research advisor to the foundation’s study “The Impact of New Energy Production Technologies on Equipment Finance.”

Weinberg also has served in leadership roles within the association. From 2018 through 2021, he completed a term as a member of the legal committee. For the past five years, he has been vice chair of the energy subcommittee of the legal committee, which keeps members abreast of developments in the leasing and financing of energy equipment and receivables.

Weinberg has earned an AV Preeminent Peer Review rating by Martindale-Hubbell, which recognizes lawyers for their strong legal ability and high ethical standards. He also has been selected by American Lawyer Media and Martindale-Hubbell as a “Top Rated Lawyer in Lawyers in Banking & Finance Law.”