Through a referral from Lawyers Alliance, Shearman & Sterling attorneys advised Shreveport Federal Credit Union of Louisiana and Workers United Federal Credit Union of New York in their participation in the Community Development Capital Initiative (CDCI), a TARP program. Announced by President Obama in October 2009, the CDCI provides low-cost loans to low-income credit unions and is designed to spur lending to smaller business. The Shearman & Sterling-advised Credit Unions successfully closed on the loans on September 29, 2010.

Says partner Russell Sacks (NY-FIA), who helped lead the pro bono team, "We were glad to be able to jump in on short notice and handle a pro bono matter that tied together a number of our core practice areas: a capital markets notes sale by community-based financial institution clients who needed explanation of how TARP Executive Compensation and Employee Benefits provisions, which were written with our large financial institution clients in mind, applied to them. The team worked hard, and seamlessly, toward a successful and timely closing."

The Shearman & Sterling team also included partners Brad Sabel (New York-Financial Institutions Advisory & Financial Regulatory) and Lisa Jacobs (New York-Capital Markets), as well as counsel Charles Gittleman (New York-Financial Institutions Advisory & Financial Regulatory) and associates Hilary Allen (New York-Finance); Shriram Bhashyam, Michael Blankenship, Steven Blau, and Jennifer Morton (all New York-Financial Institutions Advisory & Financial Regulatory); Mark Gelman, and Molly Stark (both New York-Executive Compensation & Employee Benefits).

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