A&O Shearman
A&O Shearman is ‘at the top of technical expertise across the derivatives space, and has a very deep team of technically excellent senior lawyers’. Active across the entire suite of products and asset classes, the firm remains a key source of innovation and thought leadership. The practice is ‘great at guiding their clients through complex legal issues and providing different practical solutions’. Guy Antrobus ‘helps clients focus on making key difficult commercial decisions’. The ‘amazing’ Parya Badie recently acted for fund manager Glennmont Partners in a €1bn structured finance deal backed by sustainable infrastructure projects in Europe and the UK. Securitised derivatives specialist Andrew Sulston and newly promoted Tanya O’Hagan are ‘technically excellent, responsive and commercially minded, and proactively think of innovative solutions’. Daniel Shurman, who has expertise in equity financings, margin loans, and repo and stock lending transactions, technology and resourcing solutions developer Tom Roberts, and head of the Markets Innovation Group David Wakeling are key drivers of innovation in the market. Ross Stewart returned to London from Hong Kong, bringing his long experience in equity financing (in margin loan and derivatives format), structured finance and repackaging transactions. Up-and-coming partner Paul Allan is ‘one of the key credit derivatives lawyers in the market and combines impeccable technical skills with a commercial approach to transactions’. Paul Cluley, Tony Drake-Brockman and Richard Tredgett all retired in 2022. Noteworthy additions from the merger with Shearman & Sterling include of counsel Patrick Clancy, who is a widely acknowledged expert in both English law derivatives and complex and bespoke structured finance products, and counsel Sara Couling, who is ‘delightful to work with and a great problem solver’. Since publication, practice lead Emma Dwyer has moved to Fieldfisher.
Legal 500 Editorial commentary
Testimonials
Collated independently by Legal 500 research team.
‘A&O is at the top of technical expertise across the derivatives space, and has a very deep team of technically excellent senior lawyers.’
‘Guy Antrobus is a key partner for acting as a sounding board and working collaboratively in designing complex products and solutions.'
'Paul Allan has rapidly carved out a position as one of the key credit derivatives lawyers in the market, and combines impeccable technical skills with a commercial approach to transactions. He stands out for client service and the ability to deliver products on time timescales without compromising technical excellence and accuracy.’
‘This team has huge experience of structured derivatives and markets trading financial products. They are great at guiding their clients through complex legal issues and providing different practical solutions to enable the client to consider the most appropriate way of balancing different, frequently conflicting, risks/commercial outcomes within a transaction.’
‘Guy Antrobus - very good technical lawyer. Goes to the heart of the issues directly and helps clients focus on making key difficult commercial decisions in light of all the relevant factors. A number of their competitors present risk options on transactions but do not necessarily go deeper to understanding the clients' motivations to guide them on the technical and practical legal impact of the potential options available.'
- 'Paul Allan - very deep expertise on CDS including market practice and approach and so able to provide good colour on technical and difficult issues.’
‘Very strong team with great strength and depth. Excellent experience across all asset classes and products with an A1 roster of subject matter experts in related topics.’
'Guy Antrobus brings a huge amount of commercial and legal knowledge to the table. Very solutions driven.'
'Teresa Khoo is exceptional with the detail of complex transaction flows.'
Key clients
- Credit Derivatives Determinations Committee
- Glennmont Partners
- Alternative Reference Rates Committee (ARRC)
- LCH SwapAgent
Work highlights
- Advised the Credit Derivatives Determinations Committee on the settlement of credit derivative transactions (CDS) referencing the Russian Federation.
- Advised Glennmont Partners, one of Europe's largest fund managers belonging to Nuveen group and focusing on green and sustainable investments, acting as protection seller, on an on-balance sheet securitisation in respect of a EUR1bn loan portfolio owned by a major EU bank relating to sustainable infrastructure projects in Europe and the UK.
- Prior to the publication by the International Swaps and Derivatives Association of standardised documentation for trading verified (voluntary) carbon credits, the firm helped a major financial institution develop template documentation for trading voluntary carbon credits under an ISDA Master Agreement. The documentation allowed for physically-settled spot and forward trading of voluntary carbon credits, was designed for use with a range of market counterparties and was agnostic as which registry the underlying voluntary carbon credits were registered on.
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