Graham Lane > Willkie Farr & Gallagher (UK) LLP > London, England > Lawyer Profile

Willkie Farr & Gallagher (UK) LLP
CITYPOINT
1 ROPEMAKER STREET
LONDON
EC2Y 9AW
England

Work Department

Business Reorganization & Restructuring

Position

Graham Lane is a partner in the Business Reorganization & Restructuring Department and Co-Chair of the European Restructuring Group. He advises stakeholders in all types of restructuring and insolvency matters, with a particular focus on complex cross-border projects.

Graham is frequently called upon to: (i) act for par and distressed investors in both “yield” and “loan to own” scenarios; (ii) act for large multinational debtor groups in the negotiation, documentation and implementation of complex and frequently hostile restructuring transactions; (iii) act for private equity and venture capital investors seeking to capitalise on restructuring opportunities and to protect and optimise existing investments; and (iv) provide advice and guidance for insolvency practitioners, particularly in connection with novel and ground-breaking issues arising from “COMI shifts” and pre-packaged administrations.

Graham has gained extensive experience from playing key roles in some of the largest and most noteworthy market-leading restructurings of the last decade, including Intu, Lecta, Europcar, Agrokor, Premier Oil, Travelodge, Klöckner Pentaplast, MF Global and European Directories. He is also known for his broad experience in the French market having been involved in CGG, Vivarte, Latécoère, Eurotunnel and other significant French restructurings.

Education

College of Law, PDLP, 2001; King’s College London, LLB, 2000; Université Paris I – Panthéon-Sorbonne, Maîtrise en Droit, 2000

Lawyer Rankings

London > Finance > Corporate restructuring & insolvency

(Leading partners)

Graham Lane Willkie Farr & Gallagher (UK) LLP

Afforded greater partner strength following Jason Taylor‘s recent internal promotion and the arrival in December 2023 of the highly regarded Simon Baskerville from Latham & Watkins, Willkie Farr & Gallagher (UK) LLP has the resources and expertise to service a vibrant and balanced mix of stakeholders across the full range of restructurings and workouts, in both domestic and cross-border settings. The team has an ‘innovative approach to structuring solutions to complex problems’ which has manifested itself in relation to work on UK restructuring plans (including for regulated businesses), niche advice to convertible bondholders on their rights in restructurings, and work with the US offices to advise on the English law aspects of Chapter 11 cases. The ‘technically excellent’ Graham Lane, who co-heads the team alongside Baskerville, is particularly effective at representing funds looking to capitalise on restructuring opportunities and to protect and optimise existing investments. Iben Madsen and the ‘exceptionally bright’ Edward Downer are also adept at working with fund clients, with all the aforementioned partners often working in a collaborative fashion with the firm’s broader private equity and capital markets teams. Alexander Roy became in-house counsel for a financial services firm.