Title: Counsel
Firm: Nixon Peabody LLP
Age: 38
Born and raised in San Juan, Puerto Rico, Sebastian Torres took a job as a judicial law clerk at the Puerto Rico Supreme Court soon after law school. Around the same time, Puerto Rico started to default on its debt.
Sebastian was contacted with an opportunity to be part of a newly created public corporation that would manage the fiscal policies of the commonwealth and the necessary debt restructurings. "Conveniently enough, they were looking for lawyers with judicial analytical experience to assess how credits would fare in a bankruptcy process," Sebastian says. "I worked there for three years and fell in love with municipal finance."
Today, Sebastian is a public and project finance attorney in Nixon Peabody's New York City office. He is nationally recognized for his high-impact work in public and project finance. His most rewarding professional accomplishment was being an essential part of the team that helped restructure the public debt of the commonwealth — the largest municipal debt restructuring in U.S. history.
While proud of his work in Puerto Rico, Sebastian is thinking bigger. "I don't want to be the Puerto Rico guy. I want to be the national guy and the go-to for complex transactions," he says.
Since joining Nixon Peabody, Sebastian has represented diverse clients in bond financings and refinancings, including high-profile issuers, underwriters, investors, and borrowers in the transportation, energy, wastewater, public-private partnerships and arts and cultural sectors, among others.
Sebastian's collaborative approach and dedication to his colleagues are consistently recognized by those who work with him, as Georgia Sackey, an associate at the law firm, said: "I've always appreciated how open he is to sharing his perspective. He's a thoughtful collaborator and someone who takes the time to help others work through complicated issues."
