Founder Profile

John Oriogun

LL.B (London South Bank University) 1992
LL.M (King's College University of London) 1994
Called to the Bar of England and Wales (1993)
Called to the Bar of the State of New York (1998)
[email protected]

Bar Admissions and Early Career

John Oriogun was called to the Bar of the State of New York in 1998 and to the Bar of England & Wales in 1993.

Founding of Oriogun, PLLC and Prior Experience

Prior to founding Oriogun, PLLC in May 2008, John Oriogun had worked as internal counsel for a number of Investment Banks (such as but not limited to Nomura International PLC, Credit Agricole Lazard Financial Products Bank PLC and Dresdner Kleinwort). Additionally, John Oriogun was a senior associate at Schulte Roth & Zabel's London and New York offices for a combined period of 4 and a half years (where he acted as external counsel to the largest U.S. and U.K. based investment management firms).

Legal and Market Experience

With over 28 years of combined legal experience in the U.S., English, and Asian derivatives legal markets, John Oriogun brings diverse experience of different regional derivatives markets, product groups as well as an awareness of the various legal, credit and operational issues of various investment banking institutions. As a result, John Oriogun can anticipate the issues and roadblocks in moving transactions forward to completion.

Practice Areas and Trading Relationships

John Oriogun's practice encompasses all forms of derivatives transactions and the establishment and maintenance of trading relationships with all the prime brokers in the Asian, U.S., and English markets. John Oriogun's experience covers the drafting, structuring, and negotiation of New York and English law-governed plain vanilla and structured OTC (ISDA) derivatives transactions, exchange-traded derivatives, plain vanilla and structured master repurchase agreements, global master repurchase agreements, overseas securities lending agreements, prime brokerage and account opening agreements, terms of business agreements, IT contracts, and Give-Up agreements.

Deal Experience

John Oriogun's deal experience includes structured master repurchase agreements, global master repurchase agreements, overseas security lending agreements, listed derivatives futures agreements, give-up agreements, terms of business agreements, prime brokerage agreements and account opening agreements, master netting agreements, master swap confirmations, commodity derivatives transactions, portable alpha transactions, equity derivative transactions (which includes equity index swaps, basket swaps, contracts for differences, master equity confirmations), interest rate swaps, currency swaps and non-deliverable forward transactions, credit derivatives, weather derivatives, total return swaps linked to bonds, loans, equity, hedge fund and fund of fund shares, interest rate derivatives and currency derivatives transactions linked to project finance transactions, principle protected swap transactions (or CPPI Transactions) with related investment guidelines agreement and information agreement, bond option transactions, callable asset swaps, lock-up agreements, New York and English law governed ISDA Master Agreements backed by Credit Support Annex (New York and English law governed), Guarantees, letters of credit, comfort letters, letters of undertaking, charge over shares agreement, pledge agreements repurchase agreements (which includes MRA, GMRA and FICC related Sponsored Members Agreements), sale and purchase of Commodities, uncleared Margin rules and associated documentation and securities lending transactions (amongst many other forms of international finance transactional work). 

Additional Experience in Financial Products

John Oriogun has also worked on MTN programs, pricing supplements, fixed rate notes, knock-in notes, knock-out notes, credit-linked notes and IT service contracts. These experiences provide for a very unique perspective, placing John Oriogun at the cutting edge of the ever-changing derivatives market and providing him with the relevant, incisive, and analytical tools for drafting and negotiating miscellaneous transactions. Consequently, John Oriogun is uniquely equipped to resolve some of today's most difficult derivatives issues.

Noteworthy Representations

  • Represented numerous investment banks in a multi-billion dollar structured Master Repurchase Agreement transaction linked to a Collateral Debt Obligation transaction.
  • Negotiated derivatives relationships and prime brokerage relationships for major U.S. and UK based hedge funds with the world’s top financial institutions based in New York and London.
  • Served as internal legal counsel for a leading French-owned investment bank in fund-linked derivatives and exotic Equity derivatives transactions worth billions of dollars.
  • Advised a US-based hedge fund on a derivatives transaction with a notional of a billion dollars.
  • Advised a major Asia based Hedge Fund on FICC related repurchase transactions.
  • Advised a major Asia based Hedge fund on EU Emissions Allowances
  • Advised many Hedge Funds on total return swap transactions linked to underlying bonds.
  • Advised a Hong Kong Affiliate of a Chinese Bank on its derivatives transactions