Sidley represented a joint venture between Nelnet, Inc. and certain investors, acting as legal counsel to the issuer on the issue of US $ 4,031,720,000 Nelnet Student Loan Trust 2021-A Private Education Loan-Backed Notes. The transaction is one of the largest asset-backed securitizations in all consumer asset classes since the global financial crisis of 2008. It is the first securitization of the approximately $ 10 billion student loan portfolio. of US dollars acquired by the joint venture earlier in 2021.

The Sidley team was led by TJ Gordon and Megan Roberts (Global Finance); with the assistance of David K. Solow, Rohan Mehta, Joey Lim, James A. Kutter, Victoria R. Grace-Hunt, Sally K. Jordan (paralegal), Pietro Fontana, Dale Lum and William Shirley (Global Finance); John K. Van De Weert, Tom Hunter and Kerry Nilsen (banking and financial services); Perry J. Shwachman and Ellen P. Pesch (insurance); Ryan M. Scofield, Courtney J. Gilberg, Ellen Heighten and Sara Garcia Duran (M&A and Private Equity); Richard M. Silverman, Peter D. Edgerton, Robert M. Kreitman, Tracy D. Williams and John Wilson (Tax); Kevin F. Blatchford and Prabhat K. Mehta (capital markets); Beth J. Dickstein (Employee Benefits and Executive Compensation); and Brian M. Kaplowitz (investment fund).