James M. Cretella

Partner, Otterbourg P.C.

40 Under 40 Category: Legal Services

Biography:

James M. Cretella is a shareholder of the law firm Otterbourg P.C.  He focuses his practice on the area of specialty lending and regularly advises a variety of institutional lenders, hedge funds, factoring companies and asset-based lenders. 

Jim received his law degree, cum laude, from Brooklyn Law School and also holds a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from Villanova University. Jim joined Otterbourg right after graduating from law school and was promoted to shareholder just eight years later.  At 33, Jim was one of the youngest lawyers ever promoted to shareholder at Otterbourg. 

Jim is widely recognized for the confidence he instills in clients and for his practical approach to the practice of law.  Jim started his career as an associate in Otterbourg’s loan workout and restructuring practice, where he gained unique insight into many of the practical challenges faced by factoring companies and other secured lenders.  This unique perspective allows him to offer practical, real world advice when counseling clients on the structuring, documentation and administration of secured loans.

Jim has served as counsel to the administrative agent or lead lender in syndicated and non-syndicated credit facilities, covering a wide range of industries, including staffing, transportation, and oil and gas.  He has also worked on the financing of various acquisitions, working closely with private equity groups and their counsel in representing the arrangers that provide the financing for such acquisitions.  Jim has extensive experience in a variety of supply chain and other trade finance transactions, including off-balance sheet receivable purchase facilities. 

Since being elevated to a shareholder at Otterbourg, Jim has been asked by firm management to assume various leadership and management roles at Otterbourg, including as a member of the firm’s hiring committee.  Jim also helps coordinate the firm’s pro bono relationship with the Corporate Law Internship Program of the Sponsors for Educational Opportunity (SEO).

Jim is the co-author of the ongoing column “What Would You Do” which appears in The Secured Lender.  He also co-authored articles in Financier Worldwide Magazine entitled “Friendly Foreclosures:  Free and Clear or Clearly Full of Successor Liability?” and “To the Abyss and Back: The Evolution of Exit Financing From the Credit Crisis Through Today.”

When informed he was one of the SFNet 40 Under 40 recipients, Jim replied, “I am honored to be named as one of the Top 40 young professionals in the commercial finance industry.  With so many talented individuals to choose from, this recognition is truly humbling and is reflective of the education and support that I have received from the senior leadership at Otterbourg.”

His nominator,  David W. Morse, partner, Otterbourg, P.C., said, “Not only has Jim become a skilled practitioner, but a trusted counselor and confidant to the clients that he works with, providing thoughtful, strategic advice to help clients solve the issues they confront.  This broader perspective has been a key to Jim’s success in his practice with the firm.”