Clients of gunnercooke LLP praise the firm's 'excellent product and market knowledge' and its 'reliable and efficient' service. Specialist commodities and finance lawyers Marc Weisberger and Veronika Koroleva (who 'provides exceptional work in developing documentation') lead the practice, which acts for lenders, borrowers and many other market participants, with a particular focus on alternative finance providers, international banks with a UK presence, and commodity traders. Since the arrival of Matthew Harvey from Gowling WLG in 2023,  Stephan Smoktunowicz joined from the same firm to add notable experience in receivables financing. The firm's market-leading blockchain and crypto practice places it at the forefront of decentralised commodities trading platform initiatives.

Legal 500 Editorial commentary

Testimonials

Collated independently by Legal 500 research team.

  • ‘Excellent product and market knowledge, reliable and efficient.’

  • ‘We had an excellent experience with Veronika Koroleva, who provided exceptional work in developing documentation we use to support our business for the UK market. Work was done with exceptional quality, on time, and strictly within agreed quotes. Veronika was very supportive in our requests, and also provided good coordination with other practices of the firm where was needed.’

Key clients

  • Torq Commodities AG
  • Eterna PLC
  • Barens CT SA
  • Shard Credit Partners Ltd
  • Cabipa Nigeria Limited, Nigeria and Eterna plc, Nigeria
  • DRUM Risk
  • 40Seas, Inc.

Work highlights

  • Advised on Torq Commodities AG’s majority acquisition and trade financing of Origin Commodities, a UK trader of speciality coffees and its Danish subsidiary NAF Trading.
  • Advising DRUM as borrowing base agent on a USD 120m borrowing base facility to Novum Energy group to finance group working capital needs for the purchase of crude oil and refined petroleum products.
  • Advising Shard Credit Partners on the roll out of its trade finance vehicle, SCRP Trade Finance Ltd, using sale and repurchase funding techniques.

Other key lawyers

Marc Weisberger, Veronika Koroleva, Matthew Harvey, Stephan Smoktunowicz