Alston & Bird LLP

Robert Ardern

Public and private clients, across a wide variety of sectors, welcome Rob's diversity of experience and ability to analyze their businesses from a practical perspective as they explore new avenues for capital raising, execute on complex cross-border transactions, and govern their organizations. He focuses his practice on international and domestic corporate finance transactions. He advises both public and private companies and financial sponsors across multiple sectors on a broad range of complex cross-border mergers and acquisitions, capital raising, joint ventures, carve-outs, restructurings, corporate governance, and other general corporate advisory matters.

James Ashe-Taylor

Clients contemplating mergers, acquisitions, investments, and joint ventures trust James to help them navigate EU and UK regulations and identify where antitrust boundaries lie. James focuses his practice on competition law at the European Union level and in the UK. He has broad experience encompassing competition litigation, merger control, state aid, and the antitrust aspects of joint ventures and distribution and agency agreements. In addition to his antitrust experience, James has extensive knowledge of EU payments legislation, is a frequent speaker at fintech conferences, and mentors startup companies in the fintech sector. Before joining Alston & Bird, James was a resident in Brussels for several years, served as partner-in-charge of the antitrust practices for both international and U.S. law firms, and spent two years at JP Morgan Inc.

Gupinder Assi

Gupinder helps clients navigate the complex world of global payments and fintech. His experience as head of legal for Asia at a major global payments company is an asset to clients in this rapidly evolving sector. He focuses his practice on advising companies on legal and commercial issues relating to fintech and the payments industry and negotiating commercial agreements with merchants, financial institutions, payment service providers, card schemes, and fintech companies. Before joining the firm, Gupinder was based in Singapore and served as head of legal for the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region for one of the world’s largest global payments companies, dealing with issues across APAC, including Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong, India, China, Vietnam, Thailand, Japan, Australia, and South Korea. His in-house counsel experience includes advising on merchant agreements, agreements with payment service providers including ISOs, MSPs, and payment facilitators, agreements with financial institutions for both issuing and acquiring services, and agreements with card schemes/associations and providers of alternative payment methods. Gupinder also advises payment industry participants on new market entry and new product rollouts, joint ventures, share and asset acquisitions and disposals, and shareholder agreements, as well as various commercial arrangements.

Sophia Bouygues

Clients rely on Sophia’s extensive knowledge on complex arbitration matters to resolve their legal issues effectively and efficiently. Sophia focuses her practice on commercial and investment arbitration. She has represented clients under the London Court of International Arbitration, International Chamber of Commerce, International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes, and United Nations Commission on International Trade Law rules.

Nick Brocklesby

Nick has extensive experience in commercial and financial services litigation, often encompassing an international element and includes cases in both the English Court of Appeal and Supreme Court. A go-to litigator, his clients depend on him to provide pragmatic strategies to their most complex, high-stakes disputes. Nick advises major corporate entities, investment banks, hedge funds managers, private equity houses, and other financial institutions on commercial litigation and banking and financial services disputes.

Thomas Dunn

Admitted in England, Wales, Ireland, and Brussels, Tom excels in cross-border structured and warehouse financing. He supports U.S. investment into Europe and the UK and works with European and UK-based entities on U.S. investments. Tom focuses on domestic and international structured, warehouse, and real estate finance transactions. He represents investment banks, commercial banks, issuers, debt and equity funds, noteholder groups, and other market participants on a variety of structured transactions (including CMBS, RMBS, CLO, and ABS), loan transactions (including private credit, loan syndications, and senior/mezzanine financings), and warehouse arrangements. Tom has particular expertise tailoring U.S. transactions to facilitate EU and UK investment (and vice versa), including risk retention and regulatory compliance. Tom has additional experience acting for both sellers and purchasers of whole loans, subordinate debt, and mezzanine loans, as well as acting for third-party loan servicers in their appointments. He has also acted on Shariah-compliant financings, including murabaha and ijara structures. Tom combines his experience with “real world” experience gained as part of the investment team of the European Real Estate Debt Fund at a leading institutional asset manager, where he focused on private credit whole and mezzanine loan originations across the UK, Western Europe, and the Nordics.

James Fisher

Corporate trustee and agency clients rely on James to advise them on a full spectrum of financial products throughout the life cycle of their financial transactions. James is a finance lawyer focusing on debt capital markets, structured finance, securitisation, and derivatives transactions, with a particular focus on advising corporate trust, agency, and issuer clients across a broad spectrum of cross-border and domestic financings. In addition to new deals, James has extensive experience in post-closing matters such as debt restructurings, defaults, remediations, bondholder meetings, and exercises of discretion.

Jonathan Garforth

Fintech and banking clients rely on Jonathan to be their quarterback attorney. From fintech startups looking for that first down to mature institutions finding themselves third and long on a highly strategic matter, Jonathan draws on his unique experience in consumer finance, payments, and digital assets to get his clients over the line. Jonathan Garforth established his career working with some of the world’s leading financial regulatory practitioners, initially at a top Australian firm before joining the Magic Circle in 2010. Before fintech was coined as a buzzword, Jonathan was following his passion for financial innovation, pivoting away from traditional high street bank regulatory work to focus on fintech clients and their disruptive business models. His fintech clients include digital payments and credit providers, P2P platforms, digital assets businesses, and others whose products harness blockchain technology and AI. He continues to advise banks and investors like private equity and venture capital firms on fintech and consumer finance deals. His clients are international, with clients – particularly those from North America and Australia – turning to Jonathan for strategic advice on new product launches, regulatory change projects, M&A, and corporate finance transactions in the UK and Europe. Jonathan works closely with his market-leading fintech team colleagues to serve his clients’ needs more broadly throughout the U.S. Beyond financial regulation, Jonathan’s become a trusted advisor to his clients who rely on him to navigate broader matters such as employment, IP, data protection, and tax, as well as regulatory breaches.

Paul Greaves

Dual-qualified in England and Wales and Belgium, Paul Greaves leverages his substantial international experience to deliver ready-to-implement solutions to his clients’ data and technology-related challenges. Paul advises on all aspects of privacy, cyber, and data law across a diverse range of clients - from global technology firms to life sciences startups expanding into Europe. His extensive experience includes advising on EU and UK GDPR compliance projects, cross-border data transfers, and personal data breaches. Paul also regularly advises multinational companies on EU digital strategy laws including the EU AI Act, Cyber Resilience Act, Digital Services Act, and Data Act. Paul also has experience working as an in-house privacy lawyer in a highly regulated sector and studied law in Paris.

Will Hooker

Clients rely on Will for his strong advocacy and pragmatic, strategic approach. With his experience handling over 50 arbitration matters across the globe, Will welcomes the challenge to take on the most complex, multilayered disputes. His goal is to always achieve the best results for his clients, working in tandem to provide meticulous counsel with their business objectives in mind. Will focuses his practice on complex commercial and investment arbitrations. He regularly represents clients in arbitration matters under the rules of the ICC, LCIA, SIAC, LMAA, ICSID, LAMC, and UNCITRAL, as well as in ad hoc arbitrations. Will’s practice is truly global in scale, representing clients on every continent. With his broad range of experience spanning over a decade, clients trust Will to help them navigate high-stakes and high-value disputes. Will’s experience includes handling cases with over $1 billion in matter value. Will has represented companies across a variety of industries, including oil and gas, financial services, telecommunications, mining, and energy. In particular, he has extensive knowledge and expertise in disputes between joint venture partners and in arbitration claims stemming from M&A deals. Additionally, Will has significant experience acting as an advocate before the English and DIFC courts in arbitration-related matters.

James Kousoulas

Jim guides his real estate clients through complex commercial loan transactions and litigation management strategies. Jim provides trusted counsel to banks, private equity firms, private lenders, debt funds, life insurance companies, and other corporate clients related to their commercial lending and transactional real estate matters. He has over 25 years of experience helping clients through a variety of complicated commercial loan transactions, including commercial mortgage-backed securities, mezzanine financings, secured and unsecured real estate and asset-based borrowing facilities, letter of credit facilities, secured and unsecured revolving lines of credit, and construction and bridge loans. Jim works with clients throughout the United States, often on multistate transactions, across a diverse array of asset types such as multifamily, office, industrial, retail, and mixed-use.

Steven Krivinskas

With nearly 25 years of experience in his field, including time as in-house legal counsel at a leading UK bank, clients rely on Steven for his unique expertise on structured credit matters and complex asset-backed transactions. Steven centers his practice on structured credit, representing many of the world’s leading credit funds, banks, and corporations on complex funding structures, portfolio sales, securitization transactions, and warehouse lines. He represents sponsors, originators, issuers, borrowers, lenders, underwriters, and other market participants in structured finance and securitization transactions. He advises on a wide range of asset-backed transactions, including consumer and buy-now-pay-later loans, small business loans, and student loans, as well as commercial and residential mortgages and other esoteric asset classes.

Patrick Lightbown

Clients rely on Patrick for his broad expertise in securitization and structured finance, derivatives, and structured products, and portfolio sales. Patrick represents a variety of market participants, including arrangers, investors, issuers, originators, trustees, and swap providers. He has advised on public and private transactions across a range of jurisdictions and asset classes, including consumer and mortgage loans, and his experience covers several sectors, including financial services, fintech, and transport.

James Litwinovich

James has extensive experience representing institutional lenders with respect to commercial real estate financing and a wide range of other financial services matters across the real estate and banking industries. He represents institutional lenders in sophisticated commercial real estate secured financing across a diverse array of asset types, such as multifamily, office, industrial, retail, and mixed-use. He works alongside clients across the United States with their complex real estate financing transactions, including acquisition and development loans, construction and bridge loans, permanent financing, and mezzanine and other subordinate financing.

Marcus Lovatt

Marcus is a go‑to adviser for high‑stakes securitisation and structured finance deals, known for steering complex, cross‑border transactions with calm precision and commercial insight that clients consistently trust. Marcus represents specialist lenders, banks, and asset managers on a range of public and private securitisations, asset-backed financing structures, structured products, and derivative transactions. He handles various asset classes, including residential and commercial mortgages, consumer loans, SME finance, auto finance, credit card receivables, lease receivables, non-performing loans, and esoteric assets such as litigation receivables. Marcus works closely with U.S. members of the firm’s Structured & Warehouse Finance Team to deliver seamless cross-border advice, including on 144A transactions. He draws on extensive experience – often advising on complex, novel, and multi-jurisdictional projects – to expertly guide clients through the deal process.

Anna Nolan

Anna draws on her restructuring and insolvency experience to deliver inventive and comprehensive solutions to stakeholders who are often involved in complex transactions with a cross-border element. With over a decade of experience, Anna works on high-stakes matters for debtors, creditors, trustees investors and insolvency practitioners. Anna has extensive restructuring and transactional experience with all stages of stressed and distressed, domestic, and cross-border transactions. Anna is business-focused counsel in complex restructurings, refinancings and difficult transactions often with a structured finance element. Anna provides creative and practical advice from contingency planning and investment analysis stage to implementation of formal turnaround processes, M&A deals and refinancings. Anna helps her clients find consensual solutions, although she also advises on schemes of arrangements, restructuring plans, CVAs, and administrations. Anna is actively involved in several restructuring and finance organizations and professional committees.

Alex Shattock

Alex’s extensive experience encompasses high value and complex commercial disputes, often with a cross-border element. Alex has run litigation in a wide variety of sectors and has a particular focus on corporate, financial services, payments, and contentious restructuring disputes. He is well versed in coordinating multijurisdictional proceedings and international enforcement strategies. Alex Shattock has 15 years of experience in financial services and commercial disputes. He has represented a range of clients including financial institutions, payments services institutions, trustees, agents, funds, corporations, life sciences businesses, and public authorities in cross-border, high value, and complex disputes across a wide variety of sectors.

Conor Shevlin

Conor is a commercial and financial services litigator who represents multinational corporations and financial institutions in complex disputes which often have an international element. Conor focuses his practice on complex commercial and financial services litigation and arbitration, advising major corporate entities, investment banks, hedge funds, private equity houses, and other financial institutions on a range of high-stakes contentious matters.

Natalia Souza

Clients rely on Natalia to guide them in a variety of structured finance, loan agency, and corporate debt transactions. Her fluency in Portuguese and Spanish broadens the array of clients she advises through complex corporate trust transactions. She represents corporate trust and agency clients across a broad spectrum of U.S. and UK cross-border financing transactions, including high-yield debt transactions, loan agency, project finance, and structured debt financings. Her prior experience as a bank analyst gives her unique insight to her clients’ complex financial transactions.

Phillip Taylor

Clients value the support, guidance, and leadership that Phillip brings to a situation, and his technical and commercial approach to delivering innovative solutions to the most complex issues involving international restructuring, special situations, and insolvency. Phillip has over 20 years of experience handling complex international restructuring, special situations, and insolvency matters and has been closely involved in many of the world’s most significant cases. He represents companies, creditors, and investors in all parts of the capital structure, as well as corporate trustees, agents, directors, and insolvency practitioners. Phillip routinely handles both contentious and non-contentious matters, in-court and out-of-court restructurings, and contingency planning and advisory mandates. Phillip’s clients include multinational corporations, private capital funds, banks, insurance companies, and restructuring office holders.

Richard Willis

For 25 years Richard has been a legal resource for the payments industry worldwide. Richard has extensive payments industry knowledge, particularly in leading sophisticated cross-border transactions and new market entry for his banking, payments, and fintech clients, and advises on regulatory and compliance matters for clients of all types and sizes. He focuses on the general representation of both public and privately held entities within the payments industry. Richard concentrates his practice on mergers, acquisitions, and strategic alliances and has particular experience with cross-border transactions. As part of serving payments industry clients, he routinely advises on regulatory and compliance matters, as well as new market entry, across the globe. Richard has extensive experience with complex, international acquisition, and long-term joint venture transactions. He also has nearly 20 years’ experience in counseling and serving as lead counsel to payments industry participants, including global financial institutions, merchant acquirers, card issuers, card schemes/associations, ISOs and MSPs, and B2B payment companies. Richard has served as lead counsel in scores of acquisitions and joint ventures/strategic alliances throughout North America, Europe, South America, and Asia (including Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Germany, Iceland, India, Ireland, Mexico, Norway, Poland, Spain, and the United Kingdom).