On January 25, 2010, the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York issued a decision in the Lehman bankruptcy case holding that provisions that subordinate a swap counterparty’s rights to payment when the swap counterparty or one of its close affiliates goes into bankruptcy are unenforceable.  These types of provisions are used in many structured finance transactions, and thus this decision may have implications for the structured finance markets and the ratings of structured finance transactions. For more information on this case and its potential impact, read the related Orrick Client Alert.