Travers Smith LLP has announced today the promotion of 11 lawyers to its partnership, with effect from 1 July 2022. This is the largest promotion round to date. The new partners and their principal areas of practice are:
Victoria Bramall – Private Equity & Financial Sponsors
Victoria specialises in international private equity and M&A transactions. Her clients include alternative asset managers, senior management teams, and founders. Victoria advises on a range of liquidity solutions for financial sponsors and their investors including, minority and majority GP-stake M&A, GP-led and LP-led secondary transactions, transfers of assets into continuation vehicles and fund-to-fund transfers. Victoria also advises on corporate governance issues as well as restructurings and reorganisations of alternative asset managers.
Sam Cottman – Pro Bono
Sam became the firm's first Director of Pro Bono in March 2020. Prior to that he was a senior litigator, co-leading the team which won Commercial Litigation Team of the Year at all three major legal awards. Sam created the firm's pro bono programme which has since tripled in size, winning multiple industry awards in the process. He specialises in tackling violence against women and girls but leads projects across all pillars of the practice: Climate, Diversity, Vulnerable Groups and Rule of Law.
Alex Dixon – Private Equity & Financial Sponsors
Alex is a corporate lawyer specialising in pan-European and international private equity M&A transactions. He regularly advises institutional investors, alternative asset managers, senior management teams and investee companies and has more than ten years' experience advising on a full range of transactions including leveraged buyouts, bolt-on acquisitions, carve-outs, exits and restructurings.
Sacha Gofton-Salmond – Funds
Sacha qualified into the Private Equity and Financial Sponsors Group before moving to the Funds Department. Her practice focuses on secondary transactions (including GP-led and LP-led secondary transactions, preferred equity financings and other structured secondary transactions), fund and manager restructurings, and co-investments for institutional investors.
Niamh Hamlyn – Pensions
Niamh has over ten years' experience advising pension scheme trustees, sponsoring employers and insurers on a wide range of pensions issues. These include strategic funding negotiations, M&A activity, scheme restructurings, ESG, benefit design and liability management. Niamh has particular expertise in pensions risk transfer, including advising on transactions worth over £1billion. In 2020, Niamh was shortlisted for "Rising Star of the Year" at the Professional Pensions Rising Star Awards. She sits on the PMI London Group Committee and is an active member of Travers Smith's Sustainability Working Group.
Hugh Hutchison – Corporate / Infrastructure
Hugh is part of the Corporate Department, specialising in corporate M&A. He focuses primarily on private M&A projects for infrastructure funds including advising on the investment in and acquisition or sale of assets in the UK and Europe. He also works with listed company clients on their private M&A projects. Hugh spent two years working in the Travers Smith Paris office, focusing on private M&A projects across Europe for French clients.
John Lee – Dispute Resolution
John advises and acts on a wide range of substantial, complex and high-profile commercial disputes, many involving multiple jurisdictions. His experience includes banking and finance, derivatives and capital markets disputes, professional negligence claims, business and human rights claims and competition litigation, acting for international banks, financial institutions, corporates and high-net-worth individuals.
Joseph Moore – Dispute Resolution
Joe's practice covers a broad range of commercial litigation, acting for both claimants and defendants. Since joining Travers Smith, Joe has been heavily involved in the defence of follow-on damages claims in the Competition Appeal Tribunal and also has extensive experience in relation to high value claims against various professionals (including solicitors and accountants).
Danny Riding – Financial Services & Markets
Danny specialises in advising financial market participants on the legal, practical and regulatory requirements affecting their businesses, with particular experience of working with UK, EU and non-EU alternative asset managers. He is the 2021 winner of Lexology's Client Choice Award for Private Funds in the UK.
Brent Sanders – Corporate / US Securities
Brent is a US qualified specialist in federal securities law and regulation with extensive experience advising on capital market transactions in the UK and internationally. Brent advises a broad range of clients including listed and private corporate issuers, investment funds and underwriters.
Sarah Walker – Real Estate
Sarah's practice centres on investment into real estate with a particular focus on healthcare, and the development of other non-core property assets. In addition, Sarah has specialist experience in real estate insolvency, having acted on most of the high-profile restructuring deals relating to leasehold property portfolios in the last few years.
Travers Smith Managing Partner Edmund Reed commented:
"Huge congratulations to all of our new partners. Their promotions reflect the strength of the innovative and high-quality advice they are already providing to our global client base. They will undoubtedly continue to grow their reputations and businesses over the coming years and each will make an important contribution to the continued success of the firm."
"This is our largest promotion round ever, which is a tangible demonstration of the confidence we have in our business as we continue to grow and invest in it – in just the last ten years the firm has more than doubled in size and revenue. We continue to believe and invest in the future of Travers Smith, not just by investing in all our people, including this cohort of partners, but also more widely with our upcoming move to Stonecutter Court with its strong environmental credentials, providing us with a London headquarters which will better reflect who we are as a firm and the importance we place on being a sustainable business."
Travers Smith Senior Partner Kathleen Russ commented:
"The election of our new partners reflects the firm's acceleration in our three core areas of focus: the international alternative asset management sector, in cross-border mergers and acquisitions and in our global disputes and investigations work. Their promotions are evidence of our confidence in both the continued growth of these areas of work, and in the quality of these individuals to support the firm in our ambitions. I am delighted that they will be joining our partnership."
