Weil’s London Restructuring team has been named “Restructuring Team of the Year” for its lead role instructing KPMG as Special Administrators in the ground-breaking and “historic” case of MF Global (MFG) UK’s special administration, at The 2014 Lawyer Awards ceremony held last night at London’s Grosvenor House Hotel. The award follows a hugely successful six months for the restructuring team after also winning the Legal Business “Restructuring Team of the Year” award in February.
Weil has been fielding a multi-disciplinary, cross-border team since the highly publicised collapse of the MFG group in October 2011. Since this time, the team has advised across all areas of the ongoing instruction, including: Restructuring and Insolvency, Banking, Litigation, Capital Markets, Pensions and Corporate. The core MFG team, under Adam Plainer’s leadership, includes partners Paul Bromfield and Mark Lawford, counsel Linton Bloomberg, and associates Paul Bagon, Tom Laidler, Kirsten Erichsen, William Needham and Kirsty Ewer. The wider London cross-practice team also includes Jamie Maples (Litigation), Joanne Etherton (Pensions), Michael Francies and Peter King (Corporate), Rupert Jones (Real Estate) and Steven Ong (Structured Finance)
The MFG case is both a ground-breaking case and one in which few to no legal precedents exist. The fact that the Weil and KPMG team has been successful in each of its developments and Applications to date is unprecedented, and has enabled us to continue to progress the case in favour of our clients. Michael Francies, London Managing Partner commented, “Being recognised again as ‘Restructuring Team of the Year’ further reinforces the significance of MFG as a precedent-setting case that will provide a framework for dealing with insolvent or failing investment banks. It is also testament to the Weil team and highlights our position at the forefront of the restructuring market.”
In addition to winning the award, which comes four months after the restructuring team’s win at the 2014 Legal Business Awards in February, Weil was also shortlisted for “Corporate Team of the Year” for its work on the take-private of Swiss-listed pharmaceuticals company Acino Holding by Avista Capital Partners and Nordic Capital.