Mr Barry Russell > Akin > London, England > Lawyer Profile
Akin Offices
EIGHTH FLOOR
TEN BISHOPS SQUARE
LONDON
E1 6EG
England
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Mr Barry Russell
Work Department
Partner; Financial Restructuring
Position
Barry Russell is a partner in Akin’s financial restructuring group. Representing noteholders, bondholders and other creditor groups, Barry is a leading force in the cross-border financial restructuring and institutional private placement market. For more than 25 years, he has advised on many of the most significant cross-border workouts and financial restructurings—some involving complex political and economic issues—of European companies. Insurance companies, pension funds, investment funds and other institutional investors rely upon Barry’s highly commercial, pragmatic approach and his ability to reach beneficial and successful outcomes for his clients. Barry focuses his practice on complex workouts and financial restructurings, as well as cross-border institutional private placement issuance.
To learn more about Mr. Russell, please visit his full profile: https://www.akingump.com/en/lawyers-advisors/barry-g-russell.html
Memberships
Fellow, American College of Investment Counsel; Member, The Institute for Turnaround; Member, INSOL International; Member, Connecticut Bar Association; Member, American Bar Association.
Education
J.D., University of Connecticut School of Law, with highest honors, 1988; B.A., Le Moyne College, cum laude, 1985.
Lawyer Rankings
London > Finance > Debt capital markets
(Leading partners)Akin is ‘proactive in approach, giving clear concise advice but with an eye on commercialism‘, particularly in the niche area of US private placements. Tom O’Connor leads the London finance group and is ‘one of the top lawyers in this sector‘, frequently advising institutional investors on the acquisition of privately placed debt and equity securities. He recently assisted institutional debt investors MetLife and PGIM with the purchase of €200m of senior unsecured notes in the debut private placement by Tritax Eurobox plc. Robert Aulsebrook leads the issuer practice and focuses predominantly on emerging markets debt. Barry Russell focuses on financial restructuring and Mark Mansell frequently represents insurance companies and other financial institutions in cross-border private placements. Michael Gustafson handles debt finance work for non-bank lender clients, which included acting for PGIM Private Capital on the £350m debut private placement issuance by Scottish Hydro Electric Transmission plc.
London > Finance > Corporate restructuring & insolvency
(Hall of Fame)Leveraging the expertise of ‘a very deep bench of outstanding lawyers’, the ‘highly commercial team’ at Akin has vast experience in the market and is ‘genuinely first-class in terms of highly complex restructuring situations‘. The team is recognised as ‘one of the leading creditor-side firms’, a reputation that it has been cemented over the years as a result of a key involvement for bondholder clients (both primary and secondary buy credit investors) in many of the largest global restructuring/insolvency situations. In this context, as well as having tremendous transactional restructuring knowledge and expertise of key insolvency tools, the firm’s industry knowledge in the energy and aviation sectors has also been key particularly in light of a rash of workouts in those industries in recent years. Barry Russell, who is now sole head of the practice following James Roome’s recent retirement, has ‘an impressive ability to broker compromises even in the most heated situations’, and consequently excels in acting for large noteholder groups attempting to extract value in major multi-jurisdictional matters. Combining ‘top level strategic nous with excellent legal advice’, James Terry is an ‘effective operator for fund clients’, particularly as it relates to matters with a Scandinavian nexus, as well as restructurings in the offshore, oil and gas and shipping sectors. Other key members of the team include Emma Simmonds, who ‘has great technical skills’; Tom Bannister, whose client base includes a broad range of institutional and distressed investors; and Sam Brodie, who returned to the firm in September 2022 following a brief period at A&O Shearman.
Lawyer Rankings
- Corporate restructuring & insolvency London > Finance
- Hall of Fame London > Finance > Corporate restructuring & insolvency
- Leading partners London > Finance > Debt capital markets
- Debt capital markets London > Finance
Top Tier Firm Rankings
- Finance > Corporate restructuring & insolvency
- Projects, energy and natural resources > Mining and minerals
Firm Rankings
- Investment fund formation and management > Hedge funds
- Finance > Debt capital markets
- Corporate and commercial > EU and competition: trade, WTO anti-dumping and customs
- Projects, energy and natural resources > Infrastructure: Project finance and development
- Projects, energy and natural resources > Oil and gas
- Projects, energy and natural resources > Power (including electricity, nuclear and renewables)
- Corporate and commercial > Private equity: transactions - mid-market deals (up to £250m)
- Investment fund formation and management > Private funds
- Dispute resolution > Commercial litigation: premium
- Corporate and commercial > Financial services: contentious
- Crime, fraud and licensing > Fraud: civil
- Finance > Securitisation
- Finance > Bank lending: investment grade debt and syndicated loans
- Dispute resolution > Banking litigation: investment and retail
- Corporate and commercial > EU and competition
- Corporate and commercial > Financial services: non-contentious/regulatory
- Dispute resolution > International arbitration
- Corporate and commercial > Corporate tax
- Corporate and commercial > M&A: Upper Mid-Market And Premium Deals, £750m+
- Finance > Acquisition finance