Womble Bond Dickinson announced that Joel L. Perrell Jr. has joined the Baltimore office as a partner in the Capital Markets group. Perrell brings decades of experience representing diverse clients in bankruptcy cases, insolvency proceedings, restructurings, and workouts domestically and internationally involving cryptocurrency, retail, manufacturing, healthcare, transport, real estate, insurance, and other commercial businesses.
Perrell is one of few attorneys in the country with a practice focused on all aspects of insurance premium finance. This secured lending product enables a company to acquire insurance coverage without a large, upfront premium payment. He advises the full range of participants operating in this space on matters concerning regulation and compliance, legislative and regulatory monitoring, operations, obtaining and renewing sources of lending capital for premium finance lenders, mergers and acquisitions and related due diligence, collateral enhancement, support and protection, fraud detection and related policies, and collection and enforcement of loans both in and out of court and in bankruptcy proceedings.
“Joel is a highly credentialed and skilled attorney with an excellent reputation in the Baltimore legal market and is an ideal fit for our firm,” said Baltimore Office Managing Partner Barry J. Herman. “A key contributor to our success has been remaining true to our core values. Joel is a strategic and complementary addition to this office and the firm’s Capital Markets practice.”
“We are focused on adding talent in areas that align with client needs and by looking ahead to where we expect growth,” said Capital Markets Practice Group Leader Merrick J. Benn. “Joel’s unique skillset in finance and restructuring, particularly insurance premium and senior living finance, will further strengthen the support we offer clients.”
Perrell acts as general counsel to the National Premium Finance Association and has advised other trade organizations in the U.S. and abroad in selected matters of importance to the insurance premium finance industry. His creditors’ rights experience includes significant commercial collection matters, Uniform Commercial Code Article 9 asset dispositions, and enforcing and executing judgments in multiple jurisdictions. He also counsels HUD-insured long-term care and senior housing lenders, ranging from large-scale, multi-state portfolio transactions to single-asset deals in inter-creditor, restructuring, and other creditors’ rights issues.
“I was immediately attracted to Womble’s collegial culture and geographical reach,” said Perrell. “As a transatlantic firm with a deep bench of experienced lawyers serving clients across every business sector, Womble is a natural fit for my practice and clients.”
Perrell joins the firm from Miles & Stockbridge, where he served as co-leader of their Real Estate & Transactional Finance practice group. He is the fifth lateral to join Womble this month, following partners Harry H. Rimm (Business Litigation, New York), Paul G. Afonso (Corporate & Securities, Boston), Marcantonio Barnes (Corporate & Securities, Tysons, Va.), and Tara K. Gorman (Real Estate, DC).
Perrell earned undergraduate degrees in International Business and German Language and Literature from the University of Maryland at College Park and his law degree with honors from the University of Maryland School of Law, where he served as an articles editor of the Maryland Law Review.