Crowell & Moring > London, England > Firm Profile
Crowell & Moring Offices
TOWER 42
25 OLD BROAD STREET
LONDON
EC2N 1HQ
England
Crowell & Moring > The Legal 500 Rankings
Finance > Asset based lending Tier 3
Led by 'industry specialist' Andrew Knight, Crowell & Moring has forged a strong offering for a lender-focused client base in the ABL market since he established the firm's "greenfield" offering in 2019. Much of this success can be attributed to Knight's robust ties with a number of well-established independent ABL lenders, most notable of which is PNC Bank. As well as advice on transactional work, which includes the use of ABL for working capital purposes and to facilitate event-driven mandates including M&A, Knight also regularly advises on product development and restructuring matters. Clients also benefit from the expertise of a number of strong insolvency practitioners with deep ABL product knowledge, including Cathryn Williams and Paul Muscutt, in the event of formal processes.Practice head(s):
Andrew Knight
Other key lawyers:
Paul Muscutt; Robert Weekes; Cathryn Williams; Laurence Winston; Seye Olufunwa; Mark Forster; Bethany Bradley; Phillipa Lai
Testimonials
‘Andrew Knight has a comprehensive understanding of our business and has been advising us for well over a decade.’
‘Andrew Knight is an industry specialist.’
Key clients
PNC Financial Services UK Ltd
PNC Bank NA
BZ Commercial Finance DAC
Leumi UK Group Limited
Secure Trust Bank PLC
FGI Worldwide, LLC
Cubitt Trade Holdings – includes financial subsidiaries Upstream Working Capital, Pulse Cashflow Finance and Regency Trade Finance
Work highlights
- Advised PNC Business Credit on the provision of a £70m super senior term loan and revolver to Phenna Group, a portfolio company of Oakley Capital.
- Advised BZ Commercial Finance on the provision of an $AUS 97m multi-jurisdictional acquisition and working capital ABL facility to Minova and its subsidiaries in the context of their acquisition by Aurelius.
- Advised Secure Trust Bank on the provision of a £25m ABL facility to Butcher’s Pet Care Limited.
Finance > Derivatives and structured products Tier 4
Crowell & Moring joins the ranking having built its presence in the structured finance space since hiring a team from McGuireWoods London LLP in 2021. Partners Jennifer Kafcas and Charles Wakiwaka have become key advisers to investment banks, commercial banks, alternative capital providers, corporates, and private equity funds on a range of instruments, among them deal-contingent transactions, finance-linked swaps, and private equity fund and holdco structured hedging transactions. Since arriving at the firm, they have handled more than 225 structured derivatives products for clients, among them Goldman Sachs and Citibank, in an aggregate notional amount of approximately £12bn.Practice head(s):
Jennifer Kafcas; Charles Wakiwaka
Key clients
Banco Santander S.A.
Bank of America
Citibank
Goldman Sachs
Investec Bank plc
JS Capital LLC
MUFG Bank
Nomura International Plc
Work highlights
- Handled over 225 structured derivatives products for Banco Santander S.A., Bank of America, Citibank, Goldman Sachs, Investec Bank plc, JS Capital LLC, MUFG Bank, Nomura International Plc in with an aggregate notional amount of approximately £12 billion.
Corporate and commercial > Venture capital Tier 6
The arrival in June 2022 of David Ramm from Baker Botts (UK) LLP has significantly enhanced Crowell & Moring‘s venture capital credentials in light of his longstanding investee-side expertise throughout the investment life cycle. Ramm combines transactional prowess with deep tech-related industry knowledge, enhanced by his credentials as a former scientist and engineer. He co-heads the firm’s overarching corporate and transactional team alongside Simon Evers .Practice head(s):
David Ramm; Simon Evers
Other key lawyers:
Stephen Bowman
Key clients
Electric Aviation Group
Alliants
Jellagen
Health Medical Bank
PLIM
Glint
Lockdown Liquor
My Wealth Cloud
sQuidcard
Swing Fitness
Work highlights
- Advised Glint Pay on its equity financing by Seedrs and Sibanye-Stillwater.
- Advised Jellagen on its equity financing by Cardiff County Council, Development Bank of Wales and Thai Union.
- Advised Serac Life Sciences on its equity financing by various high net worth individuals.
Dispute resolution > International arbitration Tier 7
'A star performer in this arena', Crowell & Moring's international dispute resolution group is jointly headed by Laurence Winston, whose recent experience includes a high-value ICC arbitration matter involving the construction of an airport; and Robert Weekes, who has extensive experience in acting for clients based in the Middle East.Practice head(s):
Laurence Winston; Robert Weekes
Other key lawyers:
Nicola Phillips
Testimonials
‘This firm is staffed by a high-quality team whose powers of communication, planning and thinking are superior to other firms.’
‘Robert Weekes – remarkable ability to read, retain and comprehend facts, and to develop his facts into a strategy for the case.’
‘Robert Weekes is a superb strategist.’
‘Nicola Phillips is a mastermind in her co-ordination of a case.’
‘Strong expertise and a flexible commercial attitude. A star performer in this arena.’
‘They think beyond legal technicalities and give sound strategic advice.’
‘Clients always have a very good experience with Laurence Winston and Robert Weekes.’
‘Gordon McAllister has brilliant insight and Lauren Blanchard is an invaluable asset for any case.’
Key clients
Broadsheet
Zendbox
Don’t Look Media
Advertise Purple
Goldman Sachs
Katoen Natie
Giant Group
Rasmala Trade Finance Fund
Work highlights
- Represented Broadsheet, an Isle of Man LLC, against the Government of Pakistan in a breach of contract-related international commercial arbitration.
Crowell & Moring > Firm Profile
Established in 1991, our vibrant London office supports leading individuals and companies and advises on a range of matters, including dispute resolution, competition matters, corporate, finance, energy and infrastructure, restructuring and insolvency, regulatory issues and international trade.
A significant amount of the work that we do has an international flavour, which is reflective of the broad range of clients for whom we act and our office network. Our aim is to work with our clients to understand the nature of their business interests and how we can best assist to achieve their aims to enable us to provide the bespoke and cost-effective advice they require. The London lawyers work closely with colleagues in mainland Europe, MENA and the U.S., offering seamless, cross-border service. We are constantly evolving our London offering to ensure that we can provide our clients with the very best, commercial and solutions-driven legal advice across a wide range of practice areas, wherever our clients are located.
Crowell & Moring U.K. LLP is a firm of solicitors and registered foreign lawyers which is authorised and regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority (“SRA”) under SRA ID number 8003476.
Main Contacts
Department | Name | Telephone | |
---|---|---|---|
London Office Managing Partner; Global Litigation and Financial Services | Robert Weekes, Managing Partner, London | rweekes@crowell.com | +44.20.7413.1320 |
Lawyer Profiles
Photo | Name | Position | Profile |
---|---|---|---|
Mr Robin Baillie | Consultant | View Profile | |
Mr Peter Broadhurst | Partner | View Profile | |
Mr Simon Evers | Partner | View Profile | |
Mr Matthew Hughes | Partner | View Profile | |
Ms Jennifer Kafcas | Partner | View Profile | |
Mr Andrew Knight | Partner | View Profile | |
Mr Andrew Martin | Partner | View Profile | |
Mr Gordon McAllister | Partner | View Profile | |
Mr Paul Muscutt | Partner | View Profile | |
Ms Nicola Phillips | Partner | View Profile | |
Dr David Ramm Ph.D. | Partner | View Profile | |
Mr Charles Wakiwaka | Partner | View Profile | |
Mr Robert Weekes | Partner | View Profile | |
Ms Cathryn Williams | Partner | View Profile | |
Mr Laurence Winston | Partner | View Profile |
Solicitor Profiles
Photo | Name | Position | Profile |
---|---|---|---|
Lauren Blaber | Counsel | View Profile | |
Alvino Van Schalkwyk | Counsel | View Profile |
Staff Figures
Number of UK partners : 14 Number of other UK fee-earners : 27Languages
German Russian Hebrew Dutch Italian Mandarin SwedishMemberships
Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (CIArb) London Court of International Arbitration (LCIA) R3Diversity
At Crowell & Moring, diversity is about creating a culture of inclusion. We are a multinational firm that embraces different backgrounds, ideas, traditions, and perspectives, where people are recognized for who they are—for their unique talents and perspectives.
Demonstrating the firm’s willingness to commit significant resources to this effort, we:
· Achieved Mansfield 2.0 Certification status in 2019. The Mansfield Rule measures whether law firms have affirmatively considered women, lawyers of color, and LGBTQ+ lawyers — at least 30 percent of the candidate pool — for significant leadership and governance roles in the firm (for example, practice group leaders and management board) as well as promotions to equity partner and senior-level lateral hiring.
· Launched Sponsorship 2.0—Yearly Cohort. Building on our foundation of sponsorship, we collaborated with an external consultant to create an opportunity for 36 lawyers—associates, counsel, and partners—to participate in sponsorship circles, with workshops and informal gatherings. The purpose of the program is to: 1) build and maintain a strong pipeline of talent; 2) promote access to critical relationships across the business; 3) broaden diverse talent visibility; 4) accelerate key development opportunities; and 5) encourage application of intangible leadership success.
· Hosted our second bi-annual Diversity Retreat in 2019. We brought together the firm’s LGBTQ+ attorneys and attorneys of color for two days of networking and professional development opportunities. Topics discussed have included building your personal brand; cultivating communications skills; increasing cultural competency in order to acknowledge, discuss, and use to our collective advantage ours and others’ differences; defining your own path to success; bringing your authentic self to work; and the ways in which our diverse attorneys feel that the firm can increase our resources in all of these areas. We have also hosted a panel of diverse, in-house counsel that underscored many of these themes. Our next retreat will take place in 2021.
Other items of note:
· We continue to foster community-building within the firm. The firm has affinity and inclusion networks for African American attorneys, Asian American and Pacific Islander attorneys, Hispanic and Latino attorneys, LGBTQ+ attorneys, women-identifying attorneys, Caregivers (for both attorneys and staff), and balanced-hours attorneys.
· We are actively engaged with organizations dedicated to furthering diversity in the profession, including the Leadership Council on Legal Diversity, the Center for Talent Innovation’s Task Force for Talent Innovation, Minority Corporate Counsel Association, Diversity & Flexibility Alliance, and California Minority Counsel Program. Firm lawyers are not just active but leaders in bars including the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association, Hispanic National Bar Association, National LGBT Bar Association, and local affiliates of these organizations.
· We have ranked among Working Mother’s “Best Law Firms for Women” for the past eight years.
· We have received a 100% score on the HRC’s Corporate Equality Index for eight consecutive years and were listed among the top law firms for minority attorneys in Law360’s Diversity Snapshot.