The Dealer Team at Harry Jho LLC provides legal counsel to top investment banks in the prime brokerage and securities finance space. Under the supervision of experienced senior attorneys, Analysts work closely with leading sell-side clients to manage counterparty risk and negotiate a wide breadth of trading agreements, including prime brokerage arrangements, repurchase agreements, ISDAs, confirmations, and securities lending agreements.
Our Firm is on the Approved List of 12 international banks.
We have advised clients through the global financial crisis, customer defaults, exchange closures, regulatory repapering initiatives (Reg VM, Reg IM, LIBOR), new product launches, GameStop, Archegos, Russia, and various other market events. We have advised every single new entrant in the equity prime brokerage industry in the last 10 years in the launch of their business. We have also advised two of the top five prime brokers for over 10 years consecutively.
Flexible Coverage Model
Our model is to support, not replace, in-house negotiators. We are most effective when used as a variable resource to supplement the fixed resources of our in-house clients. As our clients’ needs evolve, we expect to switch back and forth between different service levels. Examples of our services include:
- Preparing initial distributions for the in-house negotiators, who then take over after the first mark-up.
- Negotiating only the most complex deals facing Tier 1 clients.
- Negotiating only the flow onboardings, while the in-house team focuses on the Tier 1s.
- Covering a select group of negotiations, then transitioning to an in-house negotiator after a training period.
- Providing ‘full-time negotiator equivalent’ services where our team is allocated to deals as if we were the equivalent of a certain number of negotiators.
The Team
Todd Blanke
Partner
Todd has been the partner managing the Firm’s Dealer Team since 2009, when he joined the firm. He has specialized in trading products throughout his career, covering prime brokerage and both OTC credit and equity derivative products. Mr. Blanke has served as the lead attorney for fixed-income prime brokerage at Bank of America and as the senior transactional lawyer responsible for equity prime brokerage and equity financing derivatives products at both Bank of America and BNP Paribas.
Todd is an honors graduate of the University of Chicago Law School. He also holds degrees from Cornell University and the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He was formerly associated with Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft LLP, Bank of America and, most recently, BNP Paribas, where he was Director and Counsel.
Myriam Jean-Baptiste
Director & Managing Analyst
Myriam joined Harry Jho LLC in 2010. Since then, she has specialized in sell-side negotiations and has spearheaded key training and infrastructure projects at the Firm. In her role as Director, she manages a team of Analysts supporting industry-leading investment banks in areas of compliance, securities finance, equity derivatives and related trading agreements.
Myriam has managed the negotiation of thousands of agreements for more than half of the prime brokers in the industry, across the entire suite of products covered by our Firm. She has worked with industry groups on drafting improved documentation tools across the derivatives space. She has supported various large-scale efforts at major dealers to audit and synthesize historical and current trading relationships to meet internal and regulatory mandates.
Myriam holds a B.A. in Economics, summa cum laude, from Fordham University. She is fluent in French and Spanish.
David Lee
Vice President & Senior Analyst
David joined the Firm in 2016. He holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Michigan (’07) in Economics.
M. Dardzinski
Counsel
Mike holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Hawaii in Chinese Studies and a law degree from Yale Law School.
E. DeFoor
Senior Analyst
Emerson holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of South Carolina in Political Science.
M. Jeon
Analyst
Matthew holds a bachelor’s degree from University of Pennsylvania in Political Science.
G. Smith
Analyst
Garrett holds a bachelor’s degree, with distinction, from the University of Virginia in Religious Studies with a minor in Philosophy.
R. Werner
Analyst
Raquel holds a master’s degree in tax and corporate law from Minas Gerais State Law School, Brazil.
J. Schindel
Analyst
Joseph holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Michigan in Economics.
L. Song
Analyst
Leah holds a bachelor’s degree from University of California, San Diego in Biochemistry and Cell Biology with a minor in Political Science.
J. Innes
Analyst
Judson holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Virginia in History with a minor in Statistics.
C. Erbe
Analyst
Chris holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Florida in Economics.
Join the Dealer Team
Analysts on the Dealer Team can expect to work with a motivated and supportive team as they develop a comprehensive understanding of these financial instruments through the lens of major broker-dealers. By supporting in-house legal teams, Analysts gain valuable exposure to the front office and operations units of our clients.
The Firm’s diverse roster of high-profile clients provides Analysts with a broad market perspective. With this comprehensive experience, Dealer Team alumni are especially well-positioned to launch successful careers in the legal and financial fields. Join us.
