Craig Wolson is a Bates Group Testifying Expert who specializes in securitization, derivatives, securities, and finance as well as legal malpractice and ethics matters. His extensive experience includes areas such as cash, synthetic and hybrid collateralized debt obligations (CDOs), asset-backed securities (ABSs), structured investment vehicles (SIVs), collateralized loan obligations (CLOs), mortgage-backed securities (MBS), credit default swaps (CDS), interest rate swaps, credit-linked notes (CLNs), repurchase (repo) agreements, securities fraud, and credit arrangements of all levels of complexity.
Craig earned his Juris Doctor (J.D.) from the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor where he was an Articles Editor of the Michigan Law Review. For the next three decades Craig practiced transactional law relating to money, business, and commerce and served as an Associate, Special Counsel, or Partner for several transactional law firms in the United States—including Shearman & Sterling; Mayer, Brown & Platt; and Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft. He has worked with leading litigation firms and departments of full-service firms in the country as an expert witness.
Craig has served as an expert witness and/or consultant in numerous cases involving CDOs, MBS, and other types of securities; CDS, interest rate swaps, and currency swaps; and legal malpractice/ethics. His expertise is based on his experience as Counsel, Special Counsel, and Partner at various firms. His clients in these cases have included (a) a plaintiff hedge fund in two cases brought against two major commercial/investment banks in federal court relating to the interpretation of the collateral provisions of two CDS agreements; (b) two major pension funds in a case brought against a major bank in federal court involving fraud in the sale of MBS; (c) a major investment bank defendant in an arbitration brought by another major investment bank involving interpretation of language in nine CDO indentures; (d) 40,000 plaintiffs in a class action brought in federal court against two major investment banks involving misrepresentations in the sale of CLNs backed by CDOs and CDS; and (e) the plaintiffs in a Federal Claims Act case against a major insurance company and several major commercial/investment banks involving false claims of over $100 billion relating to MBS, CDOs and CDS.
Craig has written extensively. In particular, he was the co-editor and co-author of Frequently Used Terms in Securitization and Structured Finance Transactions, a glossary the American Bar Association published in November 2015. He has also written, co-authored, or edited numerous articles appearing in publications such as The Business Lawyer, The Michigan Law Review, and Law 360. In addition, Craig has co-authored comments to numerous government agencies concerning legislation or on-going litigation. A detailed list of those comments is set out in the addendum to this biography.
Craig is a consultant and subject matter expert in these Practice Areas and Services:
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Securities and Financial Services Litigation & Consulting
- Retail Securities
- Institutional Securities
Credentials
EXPERIENCE
Bates Group LLC, Testifying Expert, 2015 - Present
Craig A. Wolson, Esq., Attorney at Law, Consultant, and Expert Witness, New York, NY, 2008 – Present
Taylor Louis LLP, Of Counsel, New York, NY, 2018 – Present
Law Offices of John F. Lang, Of Counsel, New York, NY, 2011 – 2014
Tully Rinckey PLLC, Of Counsel, Albany, NY, 2009 – 2012
Salon Marrow Dyckman Newman & Broudy LLP, Of Counsel, New York, NY, 2008
Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft LLP, Special Counsel, New York, NY, 2006 – 2008
Duane Morris LLP, Partner, New York, NY, 2003 – 2006
Schulte Roth & Zabel LLP, Special Counsel, New York, NY, 2001 – 2003
Mayer, Brown & Platt LLP, Counsel, New York, NY, 1999 – 2001
Brown & Wood LLP, Counsel, New York, NY, 1997 – 1998
Williams & Harris LLP, Partner, New York, NY, 1995 – 1997
Chemical Bank, Vice President and Assistant General Counsel, New York, NY, 1988 – 1995
J.D. Mattus Company, Inc., Vice President, Secretary, General Counsel and Director, Greenwich, CT, 1985 – 1988
Thomson McKinnon Securities Inc., Vice President and Assistant General Counsel, New York, NY, 1981 – 1985
Shearman & Sterling, Associate, New York, NY, 1974 – 1981
EDUCATION
Juris Doctor (J.D.), University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, cum laude
Honors: Articles Editor for Michigan Law Review; Best Brief in moot court section; Case Club judge
Bachelor of Arts (B.A.), summa cum laude, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI
Honors: Phi Beta Kappa, Phi Eta Sigma, Pi Sigma Alpha (honorary fraternities), James B. Angell Scholar
PROFESSIONAL HONORS
- Chairman and/or Member, New York City Bar Association Structured Finance Committee, 2004 – Present
- Member, New York City Bar Association Corporation Law Committee, 1997 – 2000 and 2003 – 2006
- Member, New York City Bar Association Project Finance Committee, 2000 – 2003
- Member, New York City Bar Association Securities Regulation Committee, 1994 – 1997
- New York Super Lawyer, Law & Politics Magazine (national professional magazine), 2006
- Who’s Who Honors: Who’s Who in the World; Who’s Who in America; Who’s Who in American Law; Who’s Who in Finance and Business; Who’s Who in the East; and Who’s Who of Emerging Leaders
- American Arbitration Association Roster of Arbitrators, 2010 – Present
- Judge, 66th, 67th, 68th, 69th, 70th and 71st Annual National Moot Court Competitions, Albert Nelson Marquis Lifetime Achievement Award, 2018
- Best Lawyers in America, 2021
PUBLICATIONS (Representative Sample)
- Author: “The Real Estate Investment Trust: State Tax, Tort and Contract Liabilities of the Trust, Trustee and Shareholder,” March 1973 Michigan Law Review (reprinted in The Real Estate Investment Trust--Problems and Opportunities, L. Oliensis ed., 1974)
- Co-Editor and Co-Author: Frequently Used Terms in Securitization and Structured Finance Transactions, V. Tucker and C. Wolson ed., 2015; “Annual Review of Federal Securities Regulation,” Summer 2015 The Business Lawyer; “Structuring Commercial Mortgage Securitization Special Purpose Entities After General Growth Properties,” November 2010 Bloomberg Law Report; “Reviving Securitization--A Response to Critics,” June 8, 2009 Law 360; “Special Report on the Preparation of Substantive Consolidation Opinions,” February 2009 Business Lawyer
SPEAKING ENGAGEMENTS
- Moderator: Seminar: “The Upheaval in the Subprime Market: The Direct and Indirect Effects of Same on the Structured Finance Market,” New York City Bar Association, January 2008 and Seminar: “What Every Finance Lawyer Needs to Know About Securitization,” New York City Bar Association, 2007
- Speaker: Seminar on Securitization of Project Finance Loans, New York City Bar Association, 2003