Rafal Gawlowski, Global Co-Chair of Latham & Watkins’ Financial Institutions Industry Group, is a member of the firm’s Corporate Department and Capital Markets, Derivatives, and Structured Finance & Securitization Practices. Mr. Gawlowski's transactions most prominently include derivatives products relating to equity-linked capital markets transactions (call spread overlays), structured repurchase transactions (accelerated forward and forward issuer repurchases), issuer forward issuance transactions, various monetization and hedging transactions, and derivative financing transactions, among others.

Mr. Gawlowski has represented a number of financial institutions, including Citi, Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan, Morgan Stanley, Credit Suisse, Bank of America, and UBS, as well as several publicly traded companies. In addition to derivatives, he has practiced in the areas of cross-border corporate finance, private equity, structured finance, investment management, and banking, both in New York and in London. 

Mr. Gawlowski also represents numerous “buy-side” clients of the firm on equity derivatives transactions and related issues, including corporate issuers like a public global biotechnology company, Sempra, Kilroy, Oracle, private equity and asset management clients like Leonard Green, sovereign wealth clients, most notably Qatar Investment Authority, and quasi-regulatory clients like the Qatar Exchange. In addition, Mr. Gawlowski regularly provides his financial institution, corporate, and other clients with regulatory advice relating to areas relevant to equities and equity derivatives compliance.

Mr. Gawlowski previously served as Deputy Office Managing Partner of Latham’s New York office.

Mr. Gawlowski's experience includes representation of:

  • Citi, Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, JP Morgan, Deutsche Bank, Credit Suisse, and The Royal Bank of Scotland on several convertible bond hedge transactions, with, among others, Gilead Sciences, Inc., Kaman Corporation, Teleflex Incorporated, National Financial Partners, Chart Industries, Stone Energy, on convertible and convertible bond hedge overlay transactions
  • Citi, Bank of America Merrill Lynch, and Goldman Sachs on several issuer synthetic repurchase transactions, including with companies like Lear, Ashland, Sara Lee, FTI, United Healthcare, P&G, StanleyWorks, UPS, and Intel
  • Several major financial institutions on cross-holding monetization and acquisition transactions, among others, Goldman Sachs on a hedging and monetization transactions on shares of Focus Media, Citigroup on an affiliate swap transaction with Glencore, and Credit Suisse on a number of convertible and equity hedging transactions with Bakrie entities
  • Citi and Morgan Stanley on a number of margin financing transactions with private equity sponsors and corporate counterparties, including Apollo, Bain, Blackstone, Liberty Media, and CrossTex
  • Several issuer clients on convertible bond hedge and synthetic acquisition transactions, as well as margin financing transactions, including Shutterfly, Hornbeck, Encore, Integra, Intuitive Surgical, Medicis, Spansion, and Teekay

Bar Qualification

  • New York

Education

  • JD, Fordham University School of Law, 2000
    cum laude, Order of the Coif
  • BA, State University of New York, Purchase, 1997
    summa cum laude
General Recognition Thumbnail
June 4, 2021 Recognition

Latham Earns Top Derivatives Rankings

Firm ranked in Band 1 by Chambers USA; seven lawyers individually recognized for premier transactional, regulatory, and enforcement capabilities.