Eleanor Shanks > Herbert Smith Freehills LLP > London, England > Lawyer Profile

Herbert Smith Freehills LLP
EXCHANGE HOUSE
PRIMROSE STREET
LONDON
EC2A 2EG
England

Living Wage

Eleanor Shanks photo

Work Department

Private Equity

Position

Head of Private Equity, International

Career

Eleanor Shanks is an experienced partner in our Financial Sponsors Group and Head of International Private Equity in London.

Eleanor advises clients on complex private equity transactions, including domestic and cross-border acquisitions and disposals and joint ventures, across sectors which include infrastructure, real estate, and life sciences transactions. In addition, she advises clients on shareholder arrangements and managed equity plans, co-investments, corporate governance and general corporate matters. Her clients include leading private equity sponsors, investors and funds (including sovereign wealth and family offices), financial institutions, corporates and management teams.

She also has extensive experience advising on regulatory matters, including securities and financial services regulatory matters, in particular in transactions with a U.S. or other cross-border dimension, as well as ongoing corporate governance, and regulatory compliance matters.

Eleanor is recognized for Private Equity in The Legal 500 UK 2023, where clients comment: “Eleanor is not only one of the best technical lawyers in the City but also the kind of lawyer you want captaining your ship in a storm. She knows exactly what she is doing, is graceful under (often) immense pressure and always delivers her deals on time and above expectations.”

Memberships

Eleanor was the youngest woman ever to join the Court of the City of London Solicitors Company, the lawyers Livery company, and served an extended term on the Court before, during and after the pandemic. She continues to serve on the City of London Solicitors Company’s Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion Working Group.

Lawyer Rankings

London > Corporate and commercial > Private equity: transactions - mid-market deals (up to £500m)

Fielding a team of ‘very commercial partners who are well connected in the market with deep knowledge of the industry’Herbert Smith Freehills LLP‘s private capital offering covers an array of sectors and transactional types. ‘Thoughtful, calm and experienced’, practice head John Taylor advises on domestic and cross-border M&A, bolt-ons, joint ventures and equity financings. Boasting expertise in the infrastructure, tech and financial services sectors, David D’Souza  is lauded as ‘a savvy professional able to go toe to toe with even the most technical practitioners in the City.’ Malcolm Lombers’ varied clientele – which include sovereign wealth funds, pension funds, hedge funds and family offices – turn to him for his strength in cross-border M&A, while Eleanor Shanks, who joined the firm from Sidley Austin LLP in October 2023, is praised as ‘technically superb.’ Joseph Dennis also comes recommended, notably for growth capital work.