Robert A. Willner is a Shareholder in the firm's Commercial Finance Practice Group and Chair of the Leveraged ESOP Finance Practice Group. Robert provides practical, business oriented, legal advice to his clients on how to best structure, document, and manage their commercial lending transactions. Robert's practice covers a broad spectrum of middle-market, senior and second lien lending, in both bilateral and agented or club deals, including:

• asset-based lending
• cash flow lending
• leveraged ESOP finance
• lender finance
• fund finance (including capital call and subscription facilities, and NAV and hybrid loans)
• unitranche finance
• acquisition finance
• dividend recaps
• equipment leasing
• floor finance
• aircraft and ship finance
• tech finance
• healthcare finance
• cross-border transactions (Mexico, Canada, Europe, Asia)
• FCC license finance
• debtor-in-possession financing
• trade finance
• factoring
• problem loan workouts and restructurings, liquidations and foreclosures

Robert's clients include commercial banks, alternative lenders, commercial finance companies, equipment leasing companies, factors, and other financial institutions.

He is recognized by Chambers USA as a leader in the field of Banking & Finance, and is a frequent lecturer on issues related to commercial finance. Robert was also named one of The Best Lawyers in America®, for Commercial Finance Law in 2025.

Bar Admissions

• California

Education

• Loyola Law School, J.D., Order of the Coif
• University of California, Los Angeles, B.A., cum laude

• Represented senior lender in $14,000,000 lender finance line of credit.
• Represented senior lender in $40,000,000 subscription line of credit to Cayman Islands debt fund, secured by an assignment of capital call rights from sole limited partner.
• Represented senior lender in $50,000,000 subscription line of credit to debt fund, secured by an assignment of capital call rights
• Represented the administrative agent and collateral agent in a $275,000,000 multi-lender, formula-based revolving credit and term loan facility to an investment bank/factor of investment grade receivables.
• Represented senior lender in $90,000,000 leveraged ESOP facilities, with $20,000,000 accordion, consisting of non-formula revolver, term loan, and day loan, to multi-state petroleum distributor.
• Represented agent bank in $80,000,000 subscription line of credit, secured by an assignment of capital call rights.
• Represented senior lender in $80,000,000 unsecured revolving line of credit with $50,000,000 accordion to leading manufacturer of dry freight vans, refrigerated vans and flatbeds.
• Represented senior lender in $38,000,000 commitments consisting of a formula line of credit and cash flow term loan for a manufacturer of power-driven hand tools.
• Represented first out lender in private equity-backed, unitranche credit facilities consisting of $27,000,000 first out commitments (non-formula line of credit and capex facility) to the leading provider of essential HVAC services in the Southwest market.
• Represented C&I lender in $25,000,000 non-formula line of credit with $5,000,000 accordion to ESOP-owned pallet rack and steel tube manufacturer.
• Represented senior lender in $15,000,000 senior commitments consisting of a formula line of credit and acquisition term loan, for a company specializing in the sale and installation of high-end motorized and manual window coverings.
• Represented asset-based lender in $10,000,000 formula line of credit with cross-border component (Mexico) to a trade services company.
• Represented asset-based lender in $14,000,000 lender finance commitments, consisting of equipment lease vendor-prefunding and rediscount lines of credit.
• Represented senior lender in $20,000,000 mortgage warehouse line of credit to mortgage originator.
• Represented equipment lessor in negotiating its rediscount agreements with its multiple funding sources.
• Represented lender in financing the purchase of a corporate aircraft, secured by the aircraft.

• Buchalter COVID-19 Client Alert: Federal Reserve Issues New Main Street Lending Program FAQs Regarding Restrictions on Underlying Credit Facilities for MSELF Loans; Co-Borrower Requirements; Obtaining Information About Core Rights Acts; and Requiring Disclosure of LIBOR Reset Information when Selling Loan Participations to the Main Street SPV

  By Robert A. Willner |November 2020

• The Pre-Workout Agreement: Still the Best Practice
• Mandatory Arbitration Agreement Held Unenforceable Under California Law
• When a Loan Party is a Family Trust
• The Pre-Workout Agreement: What it is. Why you want it. What’s in it.
• Financing The Copyright Licensee
• Just How Negative Toward the Negative Pickup Can a Court Get?
• Chapter 6-“Equipment Leasing”
• Trusts as Loan Parties (Borrower, Guarantor, and Subordinated Creditor)
• Pre-Workout Agreements: Minimizing Lender Liability
• Just How Negative Toward the Negative Pickup can a Court Get?
• Equipment Leasing
• Financing the Leveraged ESOP: Opportunities for Commercial Lenders Hidden in Plain Sight
• Robert Willner to Speaks on Commitment Letters, Proposal Letters and Term Sheets
• Robert Willner to Speak at the Los Angeles County Bar Association
• Robert Willner presenting at LACBA
• Robert Willner, panelist at Turnaround Management Association
• Robert Willner presenting at Los Angeles County Bar Association
• Robert Willner presenting webinar
• Robert Willner speaking at Los Angeles County Bar Association
• Robert Willner presenting at Union Bank
• Robert Willner Speaks at the Los Angeles County Bar Association
• Bukola Mabadeje, Benjamin M. Heuer, and Robert A. Willner, Presenters at the Bridge Bank Capital Finance Group Office
• Robert Willner Speaking at Avant Resources
• Robert Willner, Panelist on Secured Finance Network (formerly known as Commercial Finance Association) Webinar
• Robert A. Willner, Speaker at the California/Nevada Chapter 2023 Annual Conference
• Robert Willner, Speaker at the ESOP Association’s 2024 Annual Conference
• Trusts as Loan Parties (Borrower, Guarantor, Subordinated Creditor)
• Teleseminar: Nuts and Bolts of Leveraged ESOP Finance
• Webinar: Nuts and Bolts of Leveraged ESOP Finance
• Nuts and Bolts of Leveraged ESOP Finance
• “The Pre-Workout Agreement: What it is. Why you want it. What’s in it.” Buchalter Nemer Teleseminar Series
• Webinar: THE END OF THE LINE: The Options for the Commercial Lender When the Workout is no Longer Working Out
• Buchalter Webinar: “Nuts and Bolts” of Equity Pledges