Michael J.T. McMillen
Michael J.T. McMillen
Michael J.T. McMillen is a member of the bar of the State of New York. He is a partner of the international law firm of Curtis, Mallet-Prevost, Colt & Mosle LLP. His law firm biography is available at the Curtis web site.
Michael is a finance lawyer who has practiced law since 1976. His particular foci have been Islamic finance, investment and banking (since 1996) and project and infrastructure finance (since 1983).
Michael teaches Islamic finance at the University of Pennsylvania Law School and The Wharton School of Business (Faculty web site) and at other academic and training institutions.
Michael is a two-time chair, and was the founding chair, of the Islamic Finance Section of the American Bar Association. Michael has been privileged to have been a participant in the evolution of modern Islamic finance, investment and banking since their inception. He has been recognized by Euromoney as one of the 19 pioneers of modern Islamic finance. And he was recognized in Global Leaders of Islamic Finance (2014), by Emmy Abdul Alim, as one of ten global leaders, the only lawyer so recognized. He has twice been a recipient of Euromoney’s award for best legal advisor in Islamic finance. He has been a recipient of the Sheikh Mohammad bin Rashid al Makhtoum award in Special Recognition for Regional Continuing Contributions to Islamic Finance. And he has received numerous other awards and honors for his work in these industries.
Michael has conducted a wide range of training programs in Islamic finance, investment and banking for educational providers, academic institutions, conference providers, banks and financial institutions, and corporate entities. For example, Michael conducts the Euromoney Islamic Finance Academy and the Euromoney Sukuk Program and he has conducted courses for The Wharton School in Abu Dhabi and Dubai, the New York State Society of Security Analysts in New York, and Informa Professional Academy in London. Programs for banks, financial institutions and corporate entities are usually bespoke programs that are responsive to specific institutional needs and desires.
Michael speaks frequently at industry events, academic institutions, community associations, and private corporate functions. He has made over 200 presentations on Islamic finance, investment and banking and project and infrastructure finance. He also publishes widely on topics in the fields of Islamic finance, investment and banking and project and infrastructure finance. He publishes in a broad range of publications, including academic journals, professional magazines and industry and trade journals.
Early in his legal career, Michael’s work focused on project financings of different types in the power, mining, petrochemical, paper, industrial and infrastructure industries. His earliest work was in the United States and included some of the largest and most innovative transactions in the country. His work soon moved to the international realm and he worked on some of the largest and most innovative transactions in the world, including in Saudi Arabia, Peru, India and Uzbekistan, among many other countries (approximately 30, a figure that continues to grow). Numerous of the project finance transactions in which Michael worked as lead counsel were the first limited recourse project financings in the countries in which the projects were located. And some of the project financing transactions on which he was lead counsel have been recognized as “project financing of the year” by major international publications in the project and infrastructure finance fields. As some examples of different “firsts”, Michael was a lead counsel in the first project financing in Saudi Arabia, the first build-operate-transfer (BOT) transaction in Saudi Arabia, the first international financing in the Saudi electric sector, and the first limited recourse project financing by one of the world’s largest international development banks (a transaction which was also a “deal of the year”).
In 1996, while living and practicing law in Saudi Arabia, Michael represented a group of international, regional and local banks in the first limited recourse project financing in Saudi Arabia. The story of this financing is a fascinating story of the adaptation of conventional interest-based financing needs with Shari'ah parameters, one to the other. That case study is the subject of the “fable” in Islamic Finance in Practice: An Introduction. In order to be able to effect this financing, Michael led a group that developed the rahn–adl collateral security structure that allowed for the implementation and enforcement of a Shari'ah-compliant mortgage in Saudi Arabia, which does not have a mortgage recordation system (and in fact will not register mortgages for any entity other than a limited number of government-related entities). That structure became the standard collateral security structure in the Kingdom.
As a result of that first project financing, and a series of other similar transactions, Michael’s practice evolved to include a large Islamic finance component. Entities, particularly Saudi Arabian banks, sought his assistance to develop many unique and first-of-a-kind products and structures.
For example, he worked on one of the first diminishing musharaka financings, which was effected in the Saudi Arabian electric sector. His practice became predominantly Islamic finance, investment and banking transactions, in different industry sectors and involving virtually every one of the nominate contracts that are now used in modern Islamic finance.
In 2000, Michael moved back to the United States. He continued to work in the Islamic finance, investment and banking industries. He was one of the primary architects of some of the first structures that enabled these transactions to be effected in interest-based systems, such as the
United States and numerous European jurisdictions, in harmony with Western legal, regulatory, tax, underwriting and credit practices.
Michael has since spent almost two years living and practicing law in the United Arab Emirates. He has also spent considerable time working on Islamic finance and banking matters in various Southeast Asian countries, particularly Malaysia, and represented a Kazakhstan government entity in the first sukuk issuance by or from a country within the ambit of the former Soviet Union. Michael continues to work in most Middle Eastern jurisdictions. Although he is currently based in New York, he is in the Middle East on a regular and frequent basis.
Michael was awarded his Doctor of Medicine (M.D.) with Distinction in Research (Community Oriented Primary Care) in 1983 by the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, The Bronx, New York. He was awarded his Juris Doctor (J.D.) in 1976 by the University of Wisconsin Law School, Madison, Wisconsin. He was elected to the Order of the Coif and served as the Research & Writing Editor of the Wisconsin Law Review. Michael was awarded his Bachelor of Business Administration (B.B.A.) with Highest Honors by the University of Wisconsin – Madison, in 1972. Among his many honors, he was elected to the Beta Gamma Sigma National Business Honor Society and the Phi Kappa Phi National Honor Society and was awarded numerous academic scholarships.
Michael resides in eastern Pennsylvania and the New York City area. He is married to Karin Laine McMillen (an opera singer), and has a
daughter, Alexandra (a recent college graduate), and a son, Addison (presently an elementary school student).
A sampling of articles authored by Michael J.T. McMillen are included at Michael J.T. McMillen: Select Other Publications.
Michael is a finance lawyer who has practiced law since 1976. His particular foci have been Islamic finance, investment and banking (since 1996) and project and infrastructure finance (since 1983).
Michael teaches Islamic finance at the University of Pennsylvania Law School and The Wharton School of Business (Faculty web site) and at other academic and training institutions.
Michael is a two-time chair, and was the founding chair, of the Islamic Finance Section of the American Bar Association. Michael has been privileged to have been a participant in the evolution of modern Islamic finance, investment and banking since their inception. He has been recognized by Euromoney as one of the 19 pioneers of modern Islamic finance. And he was recognized in Global Leaders of Islamic Finance (2014), by Emmy Abdul Alim, as one of ten global leaders, the only lawyer so recognized. He has twice been a recipient of Euromoney’s award for best legal advisor in Islamic finance. He has been a recipient of the Sheikh Mohammad bin Rashid al Makhtoum award in Special Recognition for Regional Continuing Contributions to Islamic Finance. And he has received numerous other awards and honors for his work in these industries.
Michael has conducted a wide range of training programs in Islamic finance, investment and banking for educational providers, academic institutions, conference providers, banks and financial institutions, and corporate entities. For example, Michael conducts the Euromoney Islamic Finance Academy and the Euromoney Sukuk Program and he has conducted courses for The Wharton School in Abu Dhabi and Dubai, the New York State Society of Security Analysts in New York, and Informa Professional Academy in London. Programs for banks, financial institutions and corporate entities are usually bespoke programs that are responsive to specific institutional needs and desires.
Michael speaks frequently at industry events, academic institutions, community associations, and private corporate functions. He has made over 200 presentations on Islamic finance, investment and banking and project and infrastructure finance. He also publishes widely on topics in the fields of Islamic finance, investment and banking and project and infrastructure finance. He publishes in a broad range of publications, including academic journals, professional magazines and industry and trade journals.
Early in his legal career, Michael’s work focused on project financings of different types in the power, mining, petrochemical, paper, industrial and infrastructure industries. His earliest work was in the United States and included some of the largest and most innovative transactions in the country. His work soon moved to the international realm and he worked on some of the largest and most innovative transactions in the world, including in Saudi Arabia, Peru, India and Uzbekistan, among many other countries (approximately 30, a figure that continues to grow). Numerous of the project finance transactions in which Michael worked as lead counsel were the first limited recourse project financings in the countries in which the projects were located. And some of the project financing transactions on which he was lead counsel have been recognized as “project financing of the year” by major international publications in the project and infrastructure finance fields. As some examples of different “firsts”, Michael was a lead counsel in the first project financing in Saudi Arabia, the first build-operate-transfer (BOT) transaction in Saudi Arabia, the first international financing in the Saudi electric sector, and the first limited recourse project financing by one of the world’s largest international development banks (a transaction which was also a “deal of the year”).
In 1996, while living and practicing law in Saudi Arabia, Michael represented a group of international, regional and local banks in the first limited recourse project financing in Saudi Arabia. The story of this financing is a fascinating story of the adaptation of conventional interest-based financing needs with Shari'ah parameters, one to the other. That case study is the subject of the “fable” in Islamic Finance in Practice: An Introduction. In order to be able to effect this financing, Michael led a group that developed the rahn–adl collateral security structure that allowed for the implementation and enforcement of a Shari'ah-compliant mortgage in Saudi Arabia, which does not have a mortgage recordation system (and in fact will not register mortgages for any entity other than a limited number of government-related entities). That structure became the standard collateral security structure in the Kingdom.
As a result of that first project financing, and a series of other similar transactions, Michael’s practice evolved to include a large Islamic finance component. Entities, particularly Saudi Arabian banks, sought his assistance to develop many unique and first-of-a-kind products and structures.
For example, he worked on one of the first diminishing musharaka financings, which was effected in the Saudi Arabian electric sector. His practice became predominantly Islamic finance, investment and banking transactions, in different industry sectors and involving virtually every one of the nominate contracts that are now used in modern Islamic finance.
In 2000, Michael moved back to the United States. He continued to work in the Islamic finance, investment and banking industries. He was one of the primary architects of some of the first structures that enabled these transactions to be effected in interest-based systems, such as the
United States and numerous European jurisdictions, in harmony with Western legal, regulatory, tax, underwriting and credit practices.
Michael has since spent almost two years living and practicing law in the United Arab Emirates. He has also spent considerable time working on Islamic finance and banking matters in various Southeast Asian countries, particularly Malaysia, and represented a Kazakhstan government entity in the first sukuk issuance by or from a country within the ambit of the former Soviet Union. Michael continues to work in most Middle Eastern jurisdictions. Although he is currently based in New York, he is in the Middle East on a regular and frequent basis.
Michael was awarded his Doctor of Medicine (M.D.) with Distinction in Research (Community Oriented Primary Care) in 1983 by the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, The Bronx, New York. He was awarded his Juris Doctor (J.D.) in 1976 by the University of Wisconsin Law School, Madison, Wisconsin. He was elected to the Order of the Coif and served as the Research & Writing Editor of the Wisconsin Law Review. Michael was awarded his Bachelor of Business Administration (B.B.A.) with Highest Honors by the University of Wisconsin – Madison, in 1972. Among his many honors, he was elected to the Beta Gamma Sigma National Business Honor Society and the Phi Kappa Phi National Honor Society and was awarded numerous academic scholarships.
Michael resides in eastern Pennsylvania and the New York City area. He is married to Karin Laine McMillen (an opera singer), and has a
daughter, Alexandra (a recent college graduate), and a son, Addison (presently an elementary school student).
A sampling of articles authored by Michael J.T. McMillen are included at Michael J.T. McMillen: Select Other Publications.
