Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton added Moorari K. Shah to the firm as a partner in the finance and bankruptcy practice group and as a member of the fintech industry team. Shah, who will be co-located in Los Angeles and San Francisco, was most recently a partner at Buckley. He is the seventh lateral partner to join Sheppard Mullin in 2021.

“Fintech is fundamentally changing how the financial industry operates,” Jon Newby, vice chairman of Sheppard Mullin, said. “Our financial services clients all need — and want — to understand how fintech affects them, and Moorari’s deep industry knowledge makes him extremely well-suited to advise and counsel them.”

“Our financial services and fintech clients have grown rapidly and so have their needs for strategic and regulatory guidance,” David Sands, a partner in Sheppard Mullin’s corporate practice group and a member of its fintech industry team, said. “Moorari’s significant experience in both the transactional and regulatory aspects of fintech is exactly what these clients need and make him a great addition to our team. His ability to advise on the creation of new fintech products and platforms will be a key asset for our clients as well.”

Shah has experience negotiating bank partnership arrangements for fintech platforms on a national basis, startup company financings through IPOs, loan purchase and servicing agreements, and on-shore and off-shore information technology and business process outsourcing transactions, with an eye toward navigating contractual, operational and regulatory hurdles to achieve real-world business outcomes. Shah also has experience in real estate, asset-based and unsecured financings, as well as in enforcing rights and remedies against corporate debtors in non-bankruptcy workout negotiations. He regularly advises companies on California-specific financing topics, including new legislation affecting consumer and commercial lenders and lessors and matters before the California Department of Financial Protection and Innovation. In 2019, the Equipment Leasing and Finance Association honored Shah with its David H. Fenig Distinguished Service in Advocacy Award.

Shah started his career as a prosecutor in the Manhattan district attorney’s office. He then spent several years in private practice and worked in-house at Toyota Motor Credit for nine years, handling a range of commercial transactional and regulatory matters before rejoining private practice in 2013.