Ballard Spahr LLP is bulking up its Minneapolis office as well as its finance department with the hiring of Robert Borhart as it seeks to expand its corporate trust business.
Borhart, a veteran financial services attorney in the corporate trust arena, joined the firm’s finance department in an of counsel role this month. The finance department represents clients across public and private markets on debt and equity transactions.
“Bob’s addition to our 110-attorney force will help us broaden the array of skills we already provide and deepen the relationships we have with clients,” said Dominic De Simone, co-chair of the finance department.
Borhart’s work has focused “on matters involving corporate trust structures” covering a spectrum of products including residential mortgage-backed securities, commercial mortgage-backed securities, asset-backed products, municipal bonds, and corporate bonds and involving regulatory, compliance, litigation, and transaction review.
Borhart spent nine years at Wells Fargo where he most recently held the title of senior vice president and managing counsel of the legal team in the firm’s global commercial and securities division of the legal department.
Before Wells Fargo, Borhart was a founding partner of the firm Bonner & Borhart LLP, served as a special assistant to former Minnesota Gov. Arne Carlson, and early in his legal career was an associate at Dorsey & Whitney LLP.
“With its attorneys who handle a wide range of debt and equity, structured finance, and municipal bond matters, Ballard Spahr is a perfect place for me to expand my practice,” Borhart said in the company’s statement announcing his hiring.
The Philadelphia-based firm has a national business with about 650 lawyers, including 50 public finance attorneys in 12 of its 15 offices.
The firm’s Minneapolis presence was established after its merger with Lindquist & Vennum LLP which was announced in 2017 and closed in early 2018. The merger extended Ballard's physical presence to Minneapolis and Sioux Falls, South Dakota, and expanded its Denver office. The firm lacked an on-the-ground Minneapolis public finance presence until its hiring in 2019 of Benjamin Johnson, a partner.
