James Cretella

James Cretella is an attorney and partner at Blank Rome, a national law firm serving clients across multiple industries. He has practiced law for more than 21 years, beginning his career after graduating cum laude from Brooklyn Law School in 2004. He earned his Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from Villanova University in 2001.

He represents banks, private lenders, commercial finance companies, and factors in negotiating and documenting secured finance transactions. He supports lenders of different sizes and works with them through each stage of a transaction. His experience includes asset-based and cash flow facilities, hybrid financing structures, receivables finance and factoring, notification and non-notification models, actual sale and participation structures, lender finance arrangements from both perspectives, and recurring revenue credit lines for SaaS and subscription-based companies. He also works on supply chain and channel finance, purchase order finance, and Article 9 foreclosure sales. His practice includes advising clients on workouts, intercreditor matters, warehouse lines, and borrower profiles that require focused structuring.

Jim Cretella has worked across industries such as staffing, technology, FinTech, healthcare, real estate, government contracting, transportation, and energy. He supports middle- and upper-middle-market clients in asset-backed lending, larger factoring deals, inventory and supply chain finance, and various trade finance structures, including off-balance sheet receivable purchase facilities and purchase order financings.

He serves as outside counsel to smaller private lenders, documenting front-end transactions in factoring, ABL, and recurring revenue deals, while also advising on other legal issues. He additionally represents smaller lenders in negotiating credit facilities and in acquiring or selling portfolios.

He is active in the Secured Finance Network and was included in its 40 Under 40 list in 2016. In October, he moderated a lender finance program in Dallas that examined structuring, underwriting, risk considerations, M&A activity, and emerging trends in private credit. He also participates in the International Factoring Association and will attend its 2026 conference, where he will co-present the Factoring Essentials class.

James Cretella has co-authored articles for The Secured Lender and Financier Worldwide Magazine and mentors junior associates. He previously served on the board of the Adam J. Lewis Academy and donates regularly to charities, including his church and educational institutions. He enjoys baseball and football and will celebrate his 20th wedding anniversary in 2026.