Akin Gump today announced that finance partner Clare Cottle is to join the firm’s London office. Ms. Cottle advises on the finance aspects of cross-border and domestic financial restructurings, special situations funding and complex direct loans. She represents credit funds, institutional investors, private equity funds and portfolio companies in a wide range of financings, including debt restructurings, direct loans, leveraged buyouts, securitisations and bank/bond structures. Ms. Cottle will join Akin Gump from Weil, Gotshal & Manges, where she is a partner.
“Clare’s financing experience, market knowledge and client base align perfectly with our London financial restructuring and finance practices,” commented Akin Gump chairperson Kim Koopersmith. “She will complement our market-leading buy-side finance and financial restructurings teams, and I am delighted she will be joining the firm.”
Tom O’Connor, finance partner in Akin Gump’s London office, added: “Clare’s skill set is exactly what is needed to further the existing bench depth of the firm’s finance and financial restructuring teams. Her breadth of knowledge and ability to provide clients with solutions to highly complex challenges will add significant value. ”
Ms. Cottle’s appointment follows the arrival of leveraged finance partner Amy Kennedy in March 2020, who advises private equity sponsors in leveraged buyouts, as well as a range of banks and other financial institutions, corporates and client portfolio companies.
Ms. Kennedy’s appointment, in turn, followed nine partner appointments at Akin Gump at London in 2019, including finance partner Mike Gustafson whose practice focuses on institutional private placements and direct lending.
About Clare Cottle
Recognised as a Rising Star in Restructuring and Insolvency by Euromoney’s Expert Guides, she was also named winner of Euromoney’s Rising Star Awards Europe 2020 for Restructuring and Insolvency.
Ms. Cottle holds a BA Honours degree in Modern History from Oxford University and has an LLM in Corporate Law from Nottingham Law School.
About Akin Gump in London
Akin Gump’s London office is the hub for the firm’s international practice. The firm’s strategy in London is to grow practices that complement its core strengths. This has resulted in the growth of a fully integrated office, advising clients at the top of their respective markets.
Core strengths on which the office is founded include financial restructuring, corporate transactions (including mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures and private equity), finance, global project finance, energy and natural resources, debt and equity capital markets, financial services regulatory, disputes and international arbitration, investment funds (hedge, private equity, real estate and infrastructure), EU competition, international trade and tax.
The integrated nature of the practice means that the firm’s London lawyers work closely, and on a regular basis, with their counterparts across the globe. The work of the firm’s London lawyers has been recognized in leading legal and industry publications, including Chambers UK, The Legal 500 UK, IFLR1000 and numerous others.
Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP is a leading international law firm with more than 1,000 lawyers and advisors in offices throughout the United States, Europe, Asia and the Middle East.
Source: www.akingump.com
