Paul Bent

Senior Managing Director

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Paul Bent is a senior managing director at The Alta Group and the leader of Alta’s Legal Services practice. He offers clients the benefit of several decades of direct management and practical experience in virtually every critical aspect of equipment leasing management, transactions, operations, and legal affairs.

Paul has been actively involved in the equipment leasing and finance industry for decades. During this time, he has served as legal counsel for a leasing firm specializing in tax benefit transfers, as CEO and general counsel for a boutique corporate advisory firm that originated and arranged more than $3 billion in leveraged equipment leases across a broad range of industry sectors, and as an expert witness in scores of cases involving equipment leasing and secured financing.

Throughout his career in leasing Paul has also written dozens of articles for trade publications and served as a member of the Equipment Leasing Association Legal Committee and its subcommittees on regulations and publications. He is a frequent speaker at industry events and conferences, including the ELFA’s Legal Forum and its Annual Convention. His articles have appeared in the LJN Equipment Leasing Newsletter, the Journal of Equipment Leasing and Finance, the Monitor magazine, reports of the Equipment Leasing and Finance Foundation, various proceedings of the Practicing Law Institute, and other specialized publications. He has been named Lawyer of the Year by the Long Beach (California) Bar Association and is a past president of the Ball/Hunt/Schooley Chapter of the American Inn of Court.

After beginning his career in the leasing of big ticket technology equipment and structuring of complex income tax-oriented transactions, Paul founded and continues to manage GoodSmith & Co., Incorporated, a highly specialized investment banking and financial advisory firm. He has concurrently served as a neutral arbitrator in hundreds of disputes involving business and corporate finance and advised scores of middle market and large financial services companies in equipment leasing and related areas of corporate finance. He has been a member and senior consultant of The Alta Group for more than two decades.

A U.S. Navy veteran, Paul was awarded the American Spirit Honor Medal and served as a satellite navigation specialist in the submarine service, Pacific fleet.

He holds an A.B. degree cum laude in mathematics and computer science from the University of California, Los Angeles, where he earned highest mathematics department honors and was named a life member of the Pi Mu Epsilon honorary mathematics society, and a J.D. degree from Southwestern University School of Law, where he was an editor of the Southwestern Law Review.

In addition to his leasing industry activities, Paul is a professional musician. He was a contract singer with the Los Angeles Master Chorale for 8 seasons at Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles, has performed on many soundtrack and studio recording sessions (including backgrounds for the World of Warcraft online video game series), has written and produced concerts starring Tony Bennett, Florence Henderson, and other featured performers, and performs frequently in concerts and programs throughout the Los Angeles area.