Thomas B. Draper, known as Tom, is an American lawyer based in Boston, Massachusetts, recognized for his work in debt finance. A graduate of Yale University and the University of Texas School of Law, he was admitted to the Texas and Massachusetts bars and later became a partner at Ropes & Gray and then at Foley Hoag LLP, where he co-chairs the Debt Finance Practice.
Education
Draper received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Yale University in 1975, graduating cum laude. Yale traces its origins to the Collegiate School founded in 1701 in the Connecticut Colony, and its undergraduate college is located in New Haven, Connecticut.
He then studied law at the University of Texas School of Law in Austin, earning a Juris Doctor in 1979. The law school was established in 1883 as part of the University of Texas, the public university system's flagship campus in Austin.
During his legal studies he served as vice grand chancellor of the Texas Law Review, the student-edited journal of the law school, a position that formed part of his time as a student there.
Career
Draper's professional career began with a federal clerkship. He served as a clerk to the Honorable Homer Thornberry of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, a federal appellate court that hears appeals from Texas, Louisiana, and Mississippi. He was admitted to the Texas bar in 1979 and to the Massachusetts bar in 1980, qualifying him to practice law in both states.
He then joined the Boston office of Ropes & Gray, where he became a partner. The firm was founded in Boston in 1865 by John Codman Ropes and John Chipman Gray, and it moved toward corporate law after the late nineteenth century as its clients increasingly came from business. Draper served for many years as head of the firm's Finance Group.
Draper has also taught at Boston University School of Law, where he offered a course in Commercial Lending. The school is part of Boston University and is one of the principal law schools in the city.
He later became a partner in the Business Department of Foley Hoag LLP and co-chair of its Debt Finance Practice. Foley Hoag was founded in Boston on April 1, 1943 by Henry Foley and Garrett Hoag, and the firm's early history includes its representation of plaintiffs in the lawsuit that led to the desegregation of Boston public schools in the 1970s.
His practice centers on debt finance, including acquisition financing, fund financing such as capital call facilities and portfolio leverage, and large syndicated loans. He represents companies and private funds in these transactions and has written articles and spoken on industry panels about them.
Membership
Draper has taken leadership roles in Boston-area cultural and educational institutions. The Boston Youth Symphony Orchestras were established in 1958 by the Boston University College of Fine Arts as a youth orchestra for students from the Greater Boston area and today operate as an independent organization in residence at that college. Draper served as the organization's past president.
He was also a past trustee of Belmont Day School, a private school in Belmont, Massachusetts.
Past president
Boston Youth Symphony Orchestras
,
United States
Past trustee
Belmont Day School
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United States
Connections
Draper's documented professional relationships include his role as co-chair of Foley Hoag's Debt Finance Practice alongside fellow co-chair Malcolm Henderson.
Collegue :
Malcolm Henderson
Fellow co-chair of the Debt Finance Practice at Foley Hoag LLP.
References
Foley Hoag LLP profile of Thomas Draper
Firm profile describing Draper's partnership, his co-chairmanship of the Debt Finance Practice, his clerkship with Judge Homer Thornberry, and his education at Yale University and the University of Texas School of Law.
Named by Best Lawyers as a 2023 Lawyer of the Year for the Boston Banking and Finance Law practice area. The distinction is presented annually to one lawyer in each practice area and designated metropolitan area, based on peer-review voting. He was previously named Boston's Environmental Litigation Lawyer of the Year in 2017.
Named by Best Lawyers as a 2023 Lawyer of the Year for the Boston Banking and Finance Law practice area. The distinction is presented annually to one lawyer in each practice area and designated metropolitan area, based on peer-review voting. He was previously named Boston's Environmental Litigation Lawyer of the Year in 2017.
