Catherine Williams > Keystone Law > London, England > Lawyer Profile
Keystone Law Offices
48 CHANCERY LANE
LONDON
WC2A 1JF
England
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Catherine Williams

Position
Catherine is an experienced corporate lawyer who has a particular focus on advising entrepreneurs, management teams and investors of venture backed, early-stage-growth companies. She has a broad sector focus (including technology, life sciences and clean tech) and has significant experience in venture funding, private equity, joint ventures, buying and selling private companies and corporate restructuring. Catherine has provided training in ‘Introduction to Venture Capital’ course and is a member of the European Astia Advisory Board, an incubator for women-led high-growth tech companies. Catherine lived and worked in Brussels and Moscow before qualifying as a lawyer in 1999. Catherine’s areas of expertise are early-stage financing debt and equity, joint ventures, shareholders’ agreements, partnership agreements and LLP agreements, private equity and corporate venturing investment, mergers and acquisitions, asset and share sales, company and group restructuring and MBO and MBI transactions. Catherine’s key achievements include (i) UK investments; (ii) in various funding rounds; (iii) management team in the sale of a company; (iv) institutional investors in the sale of a company; (v) listed Australian company in an acquisition; (vi) financings and acquisition; (vii) launch of advisory corporate venturing business and corporate restructuring; (viii) venture tech fund in the set-up and management of a fund; (ix) management on a pre-pack sale of a clean tech company; (x) lead investor into Skysites Americas Ltd (telecoms); (xi) global bio-tech company in its co/com activities and restructuring.
Career
Trained at Denton Hall 1997-1999; worked at PricewaterhouseCoopers Legal, 1999-2006; Osbourne Clarke, 2006-2012; Keystone Law, 2012.
Lawyer Rankings
London > Corporate and commercial > Venture capital
Praised by one client as a ’fantastic practice’, Keystone Law focuses on all aspects of venture capital, work routinely handling growth and replacement capital issues, alongside complex fundraisings, and investments. Nadim Zaman specialises in equity investment work; Dee Sian advises on general M&A and divestments of portfolio companies; while Catherine Williams is especially knowledgeable concerning bridge financing matters. Jeremy Davis, an expert on corporate finance and joint ventures, and Simon Holden, who advises on IPOs, are also recommended.
Lawyer Rankings
Top Tier Firm Rankings
- Dispute resolution > Commercial litigation: mid-market
- Insurance > Insurance: corporate and regulatory
- Insurance > Insurance: corporate and regulatory
- Insurance > Professional negligence
- Finance > Corporate restructuring & insolvency
- Private client > Charities and not-for-profit
- Private client > Court of protection
- Corporate and commercial > International business reorganisations
- Crime, fraud and licensing > Licensing
- Real estate > Construction: non-contentious
- Real estate > Residential property
Firm Rankings
- Employment > Senior executives
- Private client > Agriculture and estates
- Private client > Family
- Crime, fraud and licensing > Gaming and betting
- Finance > Islamic finance
- TMT (technology, media and telecoms) > Media: Film & TV
- Insurance > Product liability: defendant
- Dispute resolution > Professional discipline
- Transport > Travel
- Private client > Art and cultural property
- Transport > Aviation
- Insurance > Clinical negligence: defendant
- Real estate > Commercial property: corporate occupiers
- TMT (technology, media and telecoms) > Fintech: corporate and commercial
- TMT (technology, media and telecoms) > Fintech: regulatory
- Crime, fraud and licensing > Fraud: civil
- Employment > Immigration: personal
- Insurance > Insurance and reinsurance litigation
- Insurance > Insurance litigation: for policyholders
- Corporate and commercial > M&A: Smaller Deals, £10m-£100m
- TMT (technology, media and telecoms) > Media: Music
- Corporate and commercial > Partnership
- Employment > Pensions (non-contentious)
- Insurance > Personal injury: defendant
- Transport > Shipping
- Finance > Bank lending: investment grade debt and syndicated loans
- Real estate > Construction: contentious
- Employment > Employers
- Employment > Immigration
- TMT (technology, media and telecoms) > Intellectual property: patents (contentious and non-contentious)
- TMT (technology, media and telecoms) > Intellectual property: trade marks, copyright and design
- Projects, energy and natural resources > Oil and gas
- Private client > Personal tax, trusts and probate
- Real estate > Planning
- Projects, energy and natural resources > Power (including electricity and nuclear)
- Real estate > Property litigation
- TMT (technology, media and telecoms) > Reputation management
- Corporate and commercial > Venture capital
- TMT (technology, media and telecoms) > Sport
- Insurance > Professional negligence
- Insurance > Insurance: corporate and regulatory
- Industry focus > Life sciences and healthcare
- Private client > Court of protection