M. Sean Purcell
Practice Areas
Industries
Education
- Catholic University of America, Columbus School of Law, J.D., 1992
- American University, B.A., 1989
Bar & Court Admissions
Sean is a partner in the Vorys Washington, D.C. office practicing corporate and international law with a focus on transactional matters, compliance counseling and international finance.
Sean advises for-profit and non-profit organizations on a wide variety of corporate and commercial matters both domestically and abroad. Sean regularly counsels businesses on compliance with U.S. laws in the context of transborder transactions and multinational operations, such as the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), U.S. export laws, the conflict minerals rule, and the sanctions programs administration by the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC).
Sean regularly represents lenders in trade finance transactions, and has extensive experience with transactions insured or guaranteed by the Export-Import Bank of the United States (EXIM Bank).
Additionally, Sean assists clients with intellectual property transactions, including the licensing of trademarks, patents and other intellectual property; agreements regarding international distribution; and M&A transactions.
Representative engagements include:
- Representing an Austrian bank in the limited recourse structured financing of wind energy projects in Italy, Scotland and England, under EXIM Bank’s foreign currency guarantee program
- Representing a U.S. lender in an EXIM Bank guaranteed credit transaction for the purchase of multiple U.S. aircraft by a Nigerian airline
- Representing a U.S. lender in an EXIM Bank guaranteed credit transaction for the purchase of U.S. grain silos by a Ukrainian company
- Representing a U.S. national bank in financing the design, development and construction of a solar power plant in Korea
- Representing U.S. national and state banks in negotiating and documenting multiple revolving short-term credit facilities to Mexican borrowers and accounts receivables financing and working capital facilities to U.S. exporters, utilizing EXIM Bank guarantees and credit insurance
- Representing U.S. lenders and exporters in negotiating and documenting numerous export credits and loans to foreign borrowers to support the export of U.S. capital goods, equipment and turn-key manufacturing plants to Africa, Central America, the Caribbean, South America, Asia and Eastern Europe
- Representing lenders in the sale and participation of EXIM Bank insured and guaranteed transactions to the Private Export Funding Corporation (PEFCO)
Sean has presented seminars on compliance with the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, U.S. Export Controls, and the U.S. Anti-Boycott Laws. He has written and presented on topics involving programs and products of the Export-Import Bank of the United States.
Sean is admitted to practice in the District of Columbia and the Commonwealth of Virginia.
Sean received his J.D. from the Catholic University of America, Columbus School of Law and his B.A. from the American University.
News
- 9/29/2017Vorys announced that M. Sean Purcell will assume the role of managing partner of the firm’s Washington, D.C. office on January 1, 2018. Joseph D. Lonardo, the current Washington office managing partner, will retire at the end of 2017.
- 9/11/2014Sean Purcell, a partner in the Vorys Washington, D.C. office, was quoted in a Law360 story about a proposal by the Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives to extend the Export-Import Bank of the U.S. through the middle of 2015.
- 7/7/2010
- 8/24/2007
Events
- 5/1/2014Vorys partners Ken Rubin and Sean Purcell presented at the Ohio State Bar Association Annual Convention on May 1, 2014 on the topic of Foreign Corrupt Practices Act compliance and investigations.
Insights
- 2/18/2020New regulations governing the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) took effect on February 13, 2020.
- 10/25/2018
- 1/19/2015Justin Roberts, partner in the litigation group in the Cleveland office, and Sean Purcell, a partner in the corporate group in the Washington, D.C. office, authored an article for Crain’s Cleveland Business titled “Don’t Buy an FCPA Problem in an Overseas Deal.”
- 11/19/2014Sean Purcell, a partner in the Vorys Washington, D.C. office and a member of the corporate group, authored an article for BNA’s Banking Report titled “Good for Business: How Lenders Can Benefit From Ex-Im Bank Charter Extension.”
- 8/27/2012On August 22, 2012, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the SEC) adopted its final rule requiring public disclosure by certain companies that file reports with the SEC and whose products contain tin, tantalum, tungsten or gold (conflict minerals).
- 11/22/2011
- 3/14/2011
- May 2005