Akin Gump today announced that leveraged finance partner Amy Kennedy will soon join the firm’s London office from Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP, where she was a partner.
Throughout her career, Ms. Kennedy has focused on leveraged finance transactions, representing top-tier private equity sponsors in leveraged buyouts, as well as a range of banks and other financial institutions, corporates and client portfolio companies. She has deep experience in international and cross-border banking and restructuring transactions, with particular depth in leveraged acquisition finance, investment grade and corporate lending.
Ms. Kennedy works across a number of sectors, including oil and gas, telecommunications, real estate and retail. She advises on complex senior, mezzanine and second-lien structures, PIK lending, high yield, unitranche, private placement and U.S. financings. She also represents both banks and corporates in Islamic or Shari’ah finance, including co-conventional structures.
“Amy is a highly regarded leveraged finance lawyer whose depth of experience acting for private equity firms complements the firm’s deep and expanding private equity capability as well as enhancing our finance and financial restructuring teams,” commented Akin Gump chairperson Kim Koopersmith. “She will add significant value for our clients, and I am delighted that she will be joining the firm.”
Ms. Kennedy’s appointment follows the promotion to partner in January 2020 of Lois Deasey in the financial restructuring team in London and of Chiara Klaui in the London international trade team. Her arrival also follows nine partner appointments at Akin Gump in London in 2019, including private equity-focused partners Shaun Lascelles, Simon Rootsey and Weyinmi Popo, corporate partner Gavin Weir and finance partner Mike Gustafson.
Sebastian Rice, partner in charge of Akin Gump’s London office, said, “Amy’s arrival will be a significant and exciting development for the London office. Working with both the firm’s private equity and finance teams, her experience will allow us to grow our leveraged finance capability as well as our private equity client base.”
Qualified as a solicitor in England and Wales, Ms. Kennedy received her LPC from City University London in 2006, and her M.A. from the University of Oxford in 2005.
Ms. Kennedy was included by The Lawyer in its 2019 “Hot 100” and named “Rising Star in Finance” at the annual Euromoney Europe Women in Business Law Awards. She is also included in the Legal 500 UK, 2020 for Real Estate – commercial property investment and Real Estate – property finance. In addition, she is ranked as Highly Regarded in IFLR1000, 2020 for Banking.
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. Founded in 1945, the firm is proudly celebrating its 75th anniversary in 2020. #AkinGump75
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