England - London • Finance

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Corporate restructuring & insolvency

Akin

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Leveraging the expertise of ‘a very deep bench of outstanding lawyers’, the ’highly commercial team’ at Akin has vast experience in the market and is ‘genuinely first-class in terms of highly complex restructuring situations’. The team is recognised as ‘one of the leading creditor-side firms’, a reputation that it has been cemented over the years as a result of a key involvement for bondholder clients (both primary and secondary buy credit investors) in many of the largest global restructuring/insolvency situations. In this context, as well as having tremendous transactional restructuring knowledge and expertise of key insolvency tools, the firm’s industry knowledge in the energy and aviation sectors has also been key particularly in light of a rash of workouts in those industries in recent years. Barry Russell, who is now sole head of the practice following James Roome’s recent retirement, has ’an impressive ability to broker compromises even in the most heated situations’, and consequently excels in acting for large noteholder groups attempting to extract value in major multi-jurisdictional matters. Combining ‘top level strategic nous with excellent legal advice’, James Terry  is an ’effective operator for fund clients’, particularly as it relates to matters with a Scandinavian nexus, as well as restructurings in the offshore, oil and gas and shipping sectors. The ‘very hard working and super organised’ Liz Osborne is also a key member of the team and has been particularly active of late advising on situations involving Russia sanctions issues. Other key members of the team include Emma Simmonds, who ’has great technical skills’; Tom Bannister, whose client base includes a broad range of institutional and distressed investors; and Sam Brodie, who returned to the firm in September 2022 following a brief period at Shearman & Sterling LLP.

Legal 500 Editorial commentary

Testimonials

Collated independently by Legal 500 research team.

  • 'The highly commercial team is genuinely first-class in terms of highly complex restructuring situations.'
  • 'It is one of the leading creditor side firms with great bandwidth and a huge depth of European deal experience.'
  • 'The team is one step ahead of the rest of the market. They are very commercial and strategic. They have a very deep bench of outstanding lawyers.'
  • 'Barry Russell has an impressive ability to broker compromises even in the most heated situations.'
  • 'James Terry is an effective operator for fund clients.'
  • 'James Terry combines top level strategic nous with excellent legal advice.'
  • 'Emma Simmonds has great technical skills and is incredibly pleasant to work with.'
  • 'Liz Osborne is very hard working and super organised.'

Work highlights

  • Advising the private placement noteholders in relation to a waiver and deferral arrangement implemented through an Irish scheme of arrangement, and on the restructuring of more than $6bn of the group’s debt through a Chapter 11 plan.
  • Advising the ad hoc group of noteholders on the financial restructuring of Nostrum Oil & Gas Plc, an oil and gas exploration and production company operating in Kazakhstan.
  • Advising an ad hoc group of unaffiliated lenders on a potential restructuring or recapitalisation of GenesisCare, a global healthcare provider specialising in cancer treatment.

Lawyers

Hall of Fame

The lawyers at the very top of the profession, widely known and respected by peers and clients for their longstanding involvement in market-leading work.

Barry Russell

Barry Russell

Hall of fameAkin

Barry Russell is a partner in Akin’s financial restructuring group. Representing noteholders, bondholders and other creditor groups, Barry is a leading force in the cross-border financial restructuring and institutional private placement market. For more than 25 years, he has advised on many of the most significant cross-border workouts and financial restructurings—some involving complex political and economic issues—of European companies. Insurance companies, pension funds, investment funds and other institutional investors rely upon Barry’s highly commercial, pragmatic approach and his ability to reach beneficial and successful outcomes for his clients. Barry focuses his practice on complex workouts and financial restructurings, as well as cross-border institutional private placement issuance. To learn more about Mr. Russell, please visit his full profile: https://www.akingump.com/en/lawyers-advisors/barry-g-russell.html

Leading individuals

Liz Osborne

Liz Osborne

Akin

Liz Osborne is a partner in Akin’s financial restructuring group. She concentrates on UK and cross-border insolvencies, workouts and restructurings. She acts for hedge funds, bondholders, institutional lenders, secondary market investors, and creditor committees in relation to strategic and legal issues concerning their distressed debt and special-situation involvements. To learn more about Ms. Osborne, please visit her full profile: https://www.akingump.com/en/lawyers-advisors/liz-osborne.html

Emma Simmonds

Emma Simmonds

Akin

Emma Simmonds is a partner in Akin ’s financial restructuring group. She has advised creditors on numerous high-profile restructurings of distressed bonds, private placement notes and loans in Europe. She has more than 15 years of experience working with a broad range of financial institutions on complex cross-border restructuring and insolvency matters across various industries and jurisdictions. Emma is a member of the firm’s Diversity and Inclusion Council and chair of the London office’s Inclusion Council. To learn more about Ms. Simmonds, please visit her full profile: https://www.akingump.com/en/lawyers-advisors/emma-simmonds.html

James Terry

James Terry

Akin

James Terry is a partner in Akin's financial restructuring group. He practices in the areas of cross-border and domestic financial restructuring, workouts and insolvency, and advises clients in relation to strategic and legal issues concerning their distressed debt and special situations investments. James has broad knowledge in a range of different business sectors including telecommunications, packaging, paper, transport, mining, automotive, energy and power. James is known as the leading practitioner in the London market for Norwegian and other Scandinavian restructurings, as well as restructurings in the offshore, oil and gas and shipping sectors. His clients include hedge funds, bondholders, institutional lenders, secondary market investors and creditor committees. To learn more about Mr. Terry, please visit his full profile: https://www.akingump.com/en/lawyers-advisors/james-terry.html

Practice head

The lawyer(s) leading their teams.

Barry Russell

Other key lawyers

Tom Bannister, Sam Brodie, Liz Osborne, Emma Simmonds, James Terry, Hermione Allen, Jakeob Brown, Emma Butler, Caoimhe Kennedy, Jessica Ling, Carone Huang

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