Pauline Ashall > Linklaters LLP > London, England > Lawyer Profile

Linklaters LLP
ONE SILK STREET
LONDON
EC2Y 8HQ
England

Work Department

Capital markets; financial regulation.

Position

Partner in the firm’s derivatives and structured products group. Acts for banks, other financial intermediaries and end-users in relation to derivatives, whether in securitised or OTC form, and relating to a wide range of underlying asset classes, including funds, equities and commodities. She also advises on financial regulatory issues, OTC clearing, exchange-traded derivatives, stocklending, repos, global custody, prime brokerage and collateral management. She acted for the administrators of Lehman Brothers International (Europe) from 2008 – 2015 in relation to Lehman’s prime brokerage business. 

Career

Lecturer in law Somerville College, Oxford 1982-85; trainee solicitor Linklaters 1985-87; assistant solicitor 1987-92; partner London 1992-96; partner Hong Kong 1996-2002; partner London 2002.

Memberships

Has participated in various ISDA working groups and FMLC working groups. Was a member of the Law Society Standards & Guidance Committee, and Chair of the Securities Law Committee of the Law Society of Hong Kong.

Education

Oxford University (1981 BA Jurisprudence First Class; 1982 Bachelor of Civil Law First Class); LSF (1985 Hons).

Lawyer Rankings

London > Finance > Derivatives and structured products

The derivatives and structured products group at Linklaters LLP has ‘deep technical knowledge allied to commercial understanding and acumen‘. The firm has deep experience across the board, but is a market-leader in key aspects of the market, among them synthetic securitisations and strategic equity derivatives. The firm is also a primary adviser to key industry body ISDA. ‘Whenever you speak with them, they give you their full attention and never give the impression that they’re pushed for time‘, say clients of the group led by Deepak Sitlani. That group contains some of the leading names in the market, among them Matthew Monahan, Toby Gray and David Phillips, who handle OTC and securitised derivatives, and provide ‘ensure timely and high-quality service‘; Doug Shaw focuses on OTC derivatives and regulatory change; derivatives specialists Simon Firth and Pauline Ashall, who are key advisers to ISDA; and Mark Brown, who previously worked in the Tokyo office and led the Asian structured finance practice, now leads the Firm’s Islamic derivatives practice from London, advising on murabaha, mudaraba and wakala structures. The firm has some of the most experienced partners in their respective fields, including Vinay Samani, who has ‘supreme experience of repack capability‘, and Michael Voisin, who is is widely acknowledged to be an authority on financial markets law and practice. Mark Drury left the team in 2024.