Ms Karen Stretch > Dechert LLP > London, England > Lawyer Profile

Dechert LLP
25 Cannon Street
LONDON
EC4M 5UB
England
Karen Stretch photo

Work Department

Financial Services and Investment Management

Position

Partner

Career

Karen Stretch focuses her practice on advisory and transactional derivatives, advising clients worldwide on a range of discrete and transactional derivatives and related regulatory matters, trading documents and non-traditional investment and financing techniques, including repos, TRS, dynamic portfolio swaps, stock loans and other structured derivatives.

Ms. Stretch routinely advises on regulatory compliance relating to derivatives, trading and benchmarks, such as EMIR, SFTR, the Short Selling Regulation, the Benchmarks Regulation and BRRD, with a focus since 2017 on LIBOR and benchmark reform.  Ms. Stretch is leading the firm’s coverage on LIBOR and derivatives and is an integral part of the Dechert LIBOR taskforce.

Ms. Stretch also has significant experience advising on matters relating to the establishment of structured capital markets transactions with a credit focus, as well as fund products, during her career having provided full service support to several funds and investment vehicles including MTN program updates, follow-on offerings, new compartments and sub-funds, subscriptions and restructurings as well as prime brokerage arrangements.

Prior to joining Dechert, Ms. Stretch worked at another global American law firm in a similar role and a leading French bank in London as a senior trading, sales and derivatives lawyer.

Education

  • University of Warwick, B.A., 2003, with Honors
  • Nottingham Law School, Legal Practice Course, 2004, with Distinction

Lawyer Rankings

London > Finance > Derivatives and structured products

(Next Generation Partners)

Karen StretchDechert LLP

Dechert LLP is a prominent adviser to fund managers on derivatives, though it handles both buy-side and sell-side work. The department acts for investment banks, commercial banks, private equity funds and credit funds in structured finance matters. Fund formation specialist Gus Black, who is co-chair of the firm’s global financial services group, oversees the work of key partners John McGrath, whose work encompasses the enforcement and restructuring of derivatives, securitisations and other structured financings, and Karen Stretch, who focuses on transactional and regulatory derivatives matters.

London > Corporate and commercial > Financial services: non-contentious/regulatory

Led by Gus Black, the ‘organised, approachable and knowledgeable team’ at Dechert LLP acts for leading asset managers on buy-side regulatory mandates, with additional expertise in matters concerning FCA regulation and ESG. Karen Anderberg acts for asset managers and investment funds across Europe, Asia and the US on a range of financial services regulatory issues, while Katie Carter advises clients on compliance with AIFMD, MiFID II and the impact of Brexit, among others. Praised as ‘excellent in their respective fields’, Karen Stretch and Mikhaelle Schiappacasse are also key contacts in the group.