Banking and finance disputes cross borders faster than most: a letter of credit issued in Miami, drawn in São Paulo, confirmed in Madrid; a loan governed by New York law secured on assets in three countries; a sovereign borrower that stops paying. We represent lenders, borrowers, beneficiaries, and funds in the disputes that follow — with the international enforcement dimension handled in-house.

Letter of Credit and Trade Finance Disputes

Documentary credits live by the independence principle: the bank pays against conforming documents, not against the underlying contract. Most disputes are discrepancy fights under UCP 600 or ISP98 — strict-compliance arguments over documents presented and refused within the rules’ deadlines. The fraud exception that lets a court stop payment is deliberately narrow, and courts apply it sparingly; anyone planning to enjoin a draw needs evidence of fraud, not just a contract dispute. We act for beneficiaries pressing wrongful-dishonor claims and applicants and banks resisting abusive draws — including on the standby instruments our project finance practice sees in guarantee structures.

Guarantees and Demand Instruments

Whether an instrument is a true demand guarantee (pay first, argue later) or a suretyship (defenses travel with the underlying debt) is a drafting question with dispute-deciding consequences. Challenges to demands turn on the instrument’s own conditions and, in egregious cases, the narrow fraud/abuse doctrines of the governing law — not on the fairness of the underlying deal.

Sovereign and State-Entity Debt

When the borrower is a state or state-owned entity, contract law meets sovereign immunity. Modern sovereign bonds under New York law typically include collective-action clauses that can bind holdouts to a restructuring; older or bespoke instruments may not. And a judgment is only the beginning: execution reaches only non-immune, commercially-used assets under the FSIA’s execution provisions — central-bank assets enjoy heightened protection. Creditor strategy is therefore asset strategy from day one, sometimes alongside treaty claims through our investment-protection practice.

Lending and Fund Disputes

Acceleration and default fights, intercreditor priority disputes, misrepresentation claims on facility documents, and JV/fund conflicts among investors — litigated in U.S. courts or arbitrated under the contract’s clause, with recovery planned around where the assets actually are.

Facing a dishonored credit, an abusive draw, or a defaulted cross-border loan? Presentation and notice windows in these disputes are measured in banking days. Contact our office.