The structured finance practice at Clifford Chance LLP ‘takes the time to understand what the client is seeking to achieve and provides creative and practical advice‘. Paget Dare Bryan and Timothy Cleary lead a practice with numerous standout partners, among them veteran Habib Motani and Andrew Coats, who handle repackaging programmes, derivatives, structured securities and retail-targeted securities offerings as well as regulatory capital issues. Cleary advised leading Greek banks on synthetic securitisations with a combined value in excess of €5bn. Jessica Littlewood leads the global synthetic CLO practice and is ‘a well-known pioneer in the market and has in-depth knowledge of the relevant legislation‘. Anne Drakeford, whose work includes OTC fixed income, credit and equity based derivatives, asset backed securities, credit and equity-linked notes, repackagings, bespoke structured solutions and synthetic CDOs, is ‘very experienced and approachable, and works very well with the counterparty advisers‘. Faizal Khan has expertise in US GAAP and IFRS off-balance sheet arrangements and other types of risk transfer products. Will Winterton, who advised Pool Re on the issuance of insurance-linked securities linked to pure terrorism risk, ‘has excellent knowledge and is a quick-thinker‘.

‘What makes the practice unique is the efficiency and reliability of delivery‘, remarks a client of Linklaters LLP, noting that the firm is ‘a leader in the industry‘. The practice is highly regarded for its work on securitised derivatives, CLOs, synthetic securitisations and repackagings, as well as OTC derivatives trading, prime brokerage, fintech and exchange-traded derivatives. Practice head Deepak Sitlani, Pauline Ashall and Simon Firth acted for the International Swaps and Derivatives Association Inc. (ISDA) on numerous strategic initiatives, among them the drafting and finalising the first iteration of the new 2021 Interest Rate Derivatives Definitions, and the new 2022 ISDA Securities Financing Transactions Definitions and SFT Schedule Provisions. Michael Voisin and counsel Richard Hay acted for European Investment Bank on a digital bond issuance, which involved the use of blockchain technology. Mark Drury acted for Fnality International Ltd in a project to establish a new global, wholesale payment system based on blockchain technology. Matthew Monahan and David Phillips handle OTC and securitised derivatives. Vinay Samani is ‘responsive, commercial, pragmatic and knowledgeable‘. Counsel Jennifer Ellis joined from Milbank. Paul Lewis is now firm-wide managing partner.

Clients note that Fieldfisher has ‘a hands-on, pragmatic and practical approach – no frills nor formalities – and is always ahead of the game in relation to the usage of AI and technical solutions‘. Practice head Guy Usher, who acted for Mesarete Capital LLP, on the launch of its master fund, which included trading documents for prime brokerage, future, OTC derivatives and repos. Edward Miller is ‘very knowledgeable and is capable of thinking through complex situations on an ad hoc basis‘, and he has a particular focus on netting and collateral issues in derivatives transactions. He acted for a US investment bank on the development of a new cryptocurrency derivatives product comprised of back to-back total return swaps linked to the prices of cryptocurrencies. Emma Spiers focuses on structured trades and regulatory issues relating to derivatives. She advised Goldman Sachs on numerous deal-contingent hedging transactions in the context of the IPO of a European company. Up-and-coming partner Jenny Warren acts for sell-side and buy-side clients on derivatives, securities financing transactions, and related regulatory issues. Ron Feldman has since left the practice for a position at K&L Gates LLP.

Hogan Lovells International LLP has a diverse finance practice that has notable expertise in the regulatory aspects of structured finance, as well as a strong transactional derivatives practice. Practice head James Doyle and key partner Jennifer O’Connell acted for FCA-authorised broker Teneo and the Special Administrators of Sova Capital on its book of derivatives, structured lending, repos and other instruments, particularly in light of the company’s exposure to Russia, which brings sanctions issues into the mix. Doyle also acted for investment manager DBAY Advisors Limited in the derivatives aspects of its £307m takeover of AIM-listed Telit communications plc. O’Connell is a key adviser to Goldman Sachs, and she assisted the bank with its structured notes programme, which has so far seen more than $4bn in issuance. Kit Johnson leads a trustee practice that is a key differentiator for the firm and a core part of its structured finance offering, particularly in restructurings and cases of defaults.

Clients of Mayer Brown International LLP note that its lawyers ‘understand the commercial side of things and the team is easy to deal with compared to other law firms‘. Practice head and acknowledged derivatives expert Edmund Parker is ‘not only an expert in his field, but also a good listener‘ and clients note that he is ‘practical and prepared to roll up his sleeves and get into the nitty gritty‘. Chris Arnold is a senior member of the practice and is sought after by leading investment banks, trustees, services providers and end users for advice on derivatives. Charles Malpass has a wide-ranging structured finance practice focused on real estate, non-performing loan transactions, securitisations, senior and mezzanine loan origination, and loans backed by consumer, residential mortgage and commercial mortgage debt. Dasha Sobornova advises arrangers, investment managers and corporate service providers on a range of structured finance work, and counsel Nanak Keswani handles OTC derivatives, repos and structured products.

Norton Rose Fulbright acts predominantly for global investment banks, among them JP Morgan and Bank of America Merrill Lynch, though it frequently advises Asia-Pacific, Middle Eastern and Islamic banking clients. Peter Young leads the capital markets group, in which the derivatives and structured products practice sits. The ‘responsive and pragmatic‘ Nigel Dickinson is the key partner in that practice and he stands out for his advice on swap bifurcations, TRS and repo financings, CLO hedging and repackaging transactions. He assisted JP Morgan as swap counterparty on a securitisation which comprised the issuance of seven classes of collateralised notes linked to an underlying portfolio of UK auto loans. Yusuf Battiwala, who joined from Dentons, brings extensive experience in derivatives, structured finance and Islamic finance practice. Clients note that he ‘is able to combine conventional derivatives expertise with sharia principles and so is one of the best advisors for Islamic structured products‘. The practice also features covered bond and structured finance partner David Shearer, market infrastructure, derivatives and fintech specialist Hannah Meakin and global head of financial services regulation Jonathan Herbst. Daniel Franks moved to Ashurst in 2022.

At Shearman & Sterling LLP, ‘the team is extremely helpful in explaining quite technical legal points to non-experts in a way that makes the real-world impact straightforward to understand‘. Clients remark that the firm is  ‘highly commercial and diligent in their approach to documentation and transaction management‘. The London office handles derivatives and structured finance transactions under both English and New York law, and it has particularly expertise in equity financing transactions. The ‘very solutions-oriented‘ Patrick Clancy and James Duncan (who is ‘a go-to partner for derivatives, in particular corporate equity derivatives‘) lead the practice. Clancy plays a major role in advising clients on LIBOR reform, and Duncan frequently handles structured finance aspects of M&A, asset finance and leveraged finance transactions. Counsel Sara Couling handles the full range of English law derivatives transactions, complex and bespoke structured finance products and debt capital markets.

At Travers Smith LLP, the team ‘takes a very practical and commercial approach with a high-level of partner engagement‘. The firm is the pre-eminent buy-side adviser to alternative asset managers and pension funds, and it counts Bridgepoint Advisers, Ares Management and Montagu Private Equity among its clients. Lead partner Jonathan Gilmour acted for many asset managers on the introduction of new rules by the Central Securities Depositories Regulation (CSDR) that apply to transactions settled through a securities depository in the EU. Peter Hughes, who specialises in derivatives and structured products, restructuring and insolvency, and senior counsel Vanessa Kalijnikoff Battaglia also play key roles in the practice. Joseph Wren and Sebastian Reger are also praised by clients.

White & Case LLP has ‘excellent technical expertise and is very responsive and efficient‘. The firm works on derivatives for both investment and hedging purposes, covering all asset classes, and is highly regarded for synthetic securitisation and Islamic derivatives. Practice head Ingrid York is ‘the best at structured products and complex derivatives‘, according to one client, and another notes that she has ‘great commercial awareness and market insight‘. Anthony Colegrave, who joined from Allen & Overy LLP in 2022 and is is dual-qualified in England & Wales and South Africa, focuses primarily on equity derivatives and hedging solutions, and frequently handles South African financial regulatory work including exchange control, derivatives and securities lending. Counsel Nathaniel Crowley is ‘a good technical lawyer with a practical and commercial approach‘. Crowley and ‘very responsive and organised‘ associate Phillan Amin worked with York to assist The Ministry of Finance of Montenegro with a suite of ISDA Master Agreements entered into with a select group of international banks in connection with FX and Interest rate derivative transactions. Debashis Dey advises banks, corporates and governments on structured finance.

Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft LLP is ‘a top player in the structured credit space‘, and clients remark that the practice provides ‘a seamless service in the high-octane and time-sensitive structured market‘. ‘The team is knowledgeable, motivated and a pleasure to deal with‘, notes one source. The firm is particularly well known for its work on CLOs, insurance-linked securities, securitisation and ABS, and is a key adviser to issuers, underwriters, investors, loan sellers, servicers, trustees and credit support providers. Robert Cannon handles CDOs, CLOs, mortgage securitisations and commercial paper conduits. David Quirolo focuses primarily on CLOs, CFOs, securitisation, asset finance and repackaging transactions. Sabah Nawaz advises banks, private equity funds, pension funds and corporate borrowers on a wide range of cross-border structured finance transactions. Nick Shiren, who is a recognised expert in credit default swaps, credit-linked notes, total return swaps, and a host of other derivatives transactions, Claire Puddicombe, Daniel Tobias and special counsel Alex Collins are key advisers on CLOs.

Dechert LLP is ‘deeply knowledgeable about ISDA documentations and market practice‘, and clients remark that ‘the attention to detail is second to none, turnaround times are fantastic, and nothing was too much to ask‘. The firm acts for both the global buy-side client base and sell-side clients across an array of derivatives  and financial market regulatory issues. Its buy-side client base ranges from hedge fund start-ups to global asset managers, hedge funds, private equity funds and retail funds across the world. Gus Black leads the financial services group, in which John McGrath and Karen Stretch are the key partner for derivatives and structured products. Stretch is ‘dedicated, excellent to work with, very responsive and provides practical advice‘.

Dentons is ‘able to efficiently bring its various experts to the table for complex matters whether they involve regulation, disputes or more recently sanctions work‘ and it ‘punches well above its weight in terms of the service provided and expertise across products‘. The firm is greatly experienced in structured finance transactions in emerging markets, including Islamic derivatives, and his also present in emerging market niches, cryptocurrencies. Head of derivatives Matthew Sapte acted for Leonteq Securities in the structuring, documenting and negotiating of a sharia-compliant Trust Certificate Issuance programme. Key partner Luke Whitmore is ‘thoughtful and knowledgable, and is always ready to get on the phone and discuss issues‘. Yusuf Battiwala  moved to Norton Rose Fulbright and CLO specialist Martin Sharkey moved to Schulte Roth & Zabel International LLP , although the firm made a notable recent hire with the addition of the 'exceptional' Toby Gray, ‘a market-leading repackaged note specialist', after a long career at Linklaters LLP.

Gide Loyrette Nouel LLP has ‘a dedicated team based on a solid and stable senior team of partners and counsel who are really aware of clients’ operational constraints‘. The firm specialises in structuring, documentation, collateralisation and regulatory issues relating to derivatives and structured products across equity, credit, fixed income, fund, commodity, energy, inflation, weather, property and other asset classes, as well as handling repos and securities lending transactions. Best known for acting for French banks, the London finance group is increasingly acting for corporates across Europe on derivatives matters. Lead partner Karine Imbrosciano is ‘a dedicated lawyer always available and very easy to talk with‘.

Macfarlanes LLP has ‘a fantastic team that is very responsive and consistently high-quality, with real first-hand knowledge of both buy-side and sell-side matters‘. Clients describe the practised as ‘commercial, practical, prompt, and sensibly-priced‘. The firm, which climbs the ranking this year, has a market-leading buy-side practice, spanning prime brokerage, derivatives, repos, clearing and debt trading, for the largest and most sophisticated funds. It has notable expertise in innovative and highly complex transactions, frequently involving fund-based structures. Practice head Will Sykes is ‘very smart and analytical and also sensible and pragmatic‘. Chris Acton advises hedge funds, managed account platforms and proprietary trading houses, on prime brokerage, derivatives and derivative regulation in Europe; clients remark that he is ‘particularly good at the commercial points that really matter‘. ‘His advice is to-the-point, focused and practical‘, say clients of senior counsel Rob Daniell.

Milbank has a full-service derivatives practice that frequently advises the firm’s clients in the projects, leverage finance and aviation finance sectors across Europe and Asia on large-scale hedging transactions and the negotiation of bespoke regulatory capital and equity derivatives. The firm has also become a key adviser on loan securitisation platform sales. Lead partner James Warbey is a recognised expert in European CLO transactions, and John Goldfinch focuses on CLOs, securitisations and portfolio manager M&A deals. Claire Bridcut also played a key role in that work. Jennifer Ellis – Linklaters.

Sidley Austin LLP has ‘very extensive fund financing capabilities and is a pioneer in this emerging area‘. The firm ‘takes time to understand the brief, confront significant technical challenges head on in a confident manner and stay resilient throughout until the deal completes‘. The firm rejoins the ranking due to the strength of its work on rapackagings, synthetic and regulatory transactions, structure notes, structured fund investments, derivatives transactions and repos. Lead partner Rupert Wall is ‘an excellent negotiator‘ and clients praise his ability to ‘deploy his extensive experience and deep technical skills to the most challenging transactions‘. Senior counsel Nick Brittain also plays a key role in the practice.

At Slaughter and May, ‘partner contact is superb‘. The firm handles the full range of OTC and exchange-traded derivatives across the full spectrum of underlying assets, from plain vanilla interest rate, currency and FX derivatives, through commodity and energy derivatives, equity and credit-linked products and derivatives linked to real estate, insurance and pensions. Oliver Wicker and Guy O’Keefe oversee the firm’s derivatives and structured products work, and they frequently advise financial institutions, investment funds and corporates. Key partner Ed Fife is ‘exceptional on the legal documentation and his deep commercial understanding of transactions is highly beneficial when dealing with fiendishly complicated financing structures‘.

Weil, Gotshal & Manges (London) LLP is known for ‘timely, practical advice coupled with excellent product knowledge‘. The firm has a dominant position in the manager-side CLO market, but its work extends to derivatives in structured finance transactions, including hedging by issuer SPVs and advice on related derivatives regulation. It also has specialist private equity derivatives expertise. Lead partner Jacky Kelly advised numerous swap counterparty clients on swaps entered into by structured finance vehicles in relation to securitisations and CLOs. ‘Proactive, responsive and practical‘ counsel Andrew Lauder handles a broad range of OTC derivatives and structured capital markets transactions, with a particular focus on TRS and repo linked funding platforms, synthetic securitisations using credit default swaps or financial guarantees, CLOs and bespoke repackaging transactions.

Addleshaw Goddard is in the process of building a full-services structured finance practice, and continues to hire experienced partners. Carl Posern joined from Pinsent Masons LLP and adds considerable expertise in cash and synthetic securitisations, as well as the hedging aspects of securitisation transactions, and stands out for his knowledge of tsingificant risk transfer (SRT) issues. He worked with Legal director Carl Baker (who provides ‘deep analysis in a timely manner‘) and acts for buy-side, sell-side and financial market infrastructure clients on regulatory, transactional and LIBOR reform matters. Practice head Rachel Kelly ‘goes the extra mile to provide additional commercial assistance‘. She assisted numerous global and domestic banks and asset managers, building societies, investment firms, corporates and funds on trading arrangements involving derivatives and securities financing transactions.

Alston & Bird LLP is building a structured and warehouse finance practice to handle a growing flow of work for a diverse group of market participants across multiple asset classes in the structured finance and securitisation markets. Its work spans deals backed by auto loans and leases, consumer loans, commercial and residential mortgages, small business loans, SBA 7(a) loans, and timeshare receivables. James Fisher is the key partner in London and he works closely with colleagues in New York to execute a wide range of structured finance transactions in Europe and the US.

Burges Salmon LLP is a key adviser to numerous  FTSE 100 corporates and global brands on derivatives matters. Its work focuses predominantly on highly complex matters for blue-chip buy-side clients, and the firm is highly regarded for its knowledge of the investment funds, notably private equity and open-ended funds, as well as the needs of pension funds and pension fund trustees. Though the firm handles a broad range of derivatives, it is particularly active in structured equity derivatives for retail funds, the negotiation of ISDA Master Agreements, and the negotiation of clearing agreements. Lead partner Graham Soar acted for Investec in the financing of Privilege Renewable Finance’s lending to a portfolio of anaerobic digestion assets in the UK. Newly promoted director Alistair Rattray handles derivatives, real estate finance, corporate banking, sponsor-backed and leverage finance.

Eversheds Sutherland (International) LLP's derivatives and financial collateral team, which is led from London by Jonathan Master, works with a range of clients including investment funds, fund managers, pension schemes and retail banks. Recent work highlights for the buy-side focused team have included advising on initial margin compliance, the implications of LIBOR cessation and derivatives documentation such as ISDA Master Agreements. Other key names include Richard Batchelor, who leads on many of the team's key matters.

Katten has extensive experience in both exchange-traded and OTC derivatives, acting for both sell-side and buy-side clients. It is a key adviser on regulatory matters, both in Europe and the US, particularly where regulatory regimes overlap. It has in-depth knowledge of the Dodd-Frank Act, the European Market Infrastructure Regulation (EMIR), Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID), Markets in Financial Instruments Regulation (MiFIR), Market Abuse Regulation and the Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive. Carolyn Jackson, who is a former manager of the New York trading desk of several investment banks and the former executive director of the International Swaps and Derivatives Association, Inc., Nathaniel Lalone and Neil Robson are the key financial markets regulatory partners in London.

Paul Hastings LLP is best known for its CLO practice, though it has a key role in the broader structured credit space, and it a key adviser to private and public corporations, investors, funds, and investment banks on a wide range of transactions including structured finance, securitisation, and derivatives matters. Lead partner Cameron Saylor has significantly grown the flow of European CLO work. ‘The practice has strong industry knowledge and is well versed in the latest regulatory developments‘, remarks one client, adding that ‘the team has always provided clear and direct answers and helped anticipate any potential issue‘. Diala Minott is also a key adviser on structured finance transactions including CLOs and bespoke funds. Jason Brooks joined the team from CMS in June 2022.

Ropes & Gray‘s London derivatives and structured products team has a strong reputation among asset managers, alternative credit providers, hedge fund managers and private equity firms, for which it handles complex derivative and structured financing transactions. The firm is also regarded as a key adviser to asset managers on regulatory matters. Its regulatory work is frequently cross-border in nature, drawing on the firm’s technical expertise in areas such as UCITS eligible assets rules, and risk retention. The practice, led by Anna Lawry, frequently advises the implementation of initial margin requirements for OTC derivatives, LIBOR replacement in the derivatives and structured products markets, the settlement discipline regime under the Central Securities Depositaries Regulation and the changes to the EU resolution stay rules in the revised Bank Recovery and Resolution Directive. ‘Its strength is in its commitment to providing timely, practical, business-friendly advice that reflects a knowledge of current market practice‘, remarks a client.