European law firm Fieldfisher has appointed Will Sharp as a Partner in its London Financial Markets & Products (FMP) team, further strengthening the firm's structured finance and private credit capabilities.
Will joins Fieldfisher from Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft LLP, where he was Counsel. He joined Cadwalader in 2018, having previously worked at Slaughter and May and Simmons & Simmons LLP. He has extensive structured finance experience across asset-backed finance, securitisation, receivables and supply chain finance and fund financing structures. He advises a broad range of market participants, including banks, private credit funds, asset managers, corporates and technology platforms, on domestic and cross-border transactions. Will qualified as a solicitor in England and Wales in 2015.
Will's practice spans established asset classes including consumer credit, mortgages and equipment leasing, as well as more esoteric assets including litigation funding, inventory, and TV, film and sports revenues. He also has significant experience of loan-on-loan financings and other back-leverage arrangements via private securitisations, participations and trust structures, as well as ABCP programmes including repo conduits.
Emma Spiers, Partner and Co-Head of FMP at Fieldfisher, said:
"Will is an outstanding addition to our Finance team. He brings impressive structured finance credentials and deep technical expertise across asset-backed finance, private credit and increasingly sophisticated financing structures. His practice is also highly complementary to the direction of our wider business. Will has built relationships across banks, funds, corporates and technology platforms, and his expertise in areas such as supply chain and receivables finance creates significant opportunities for collaboration across our Financial Services, Corporate, Technology and Real Estate teams and wider European network."
Will Sharp, Partner at Fieldfisher, said:
"Structured finance is going through an exciting period of change. Private credit is playing a much greater role in funding the real economy, technology is reshaping areas such as supply chain finance, and capital is increasingly being deployed across more complex and diverse asset classes. For clients, that means transactions are becoming more sophisticated and often more international, which makes having the right breadth of expertise increasingly important. The firm has a strong finance platform alongside excellent corporate, technology and real estate capabilities and an international network that gives us the ability to follow transactions across markets. There is a real opportunity to build on those strengths in structured finance, particularly across private credit, supply chain and receivables finance and complex asset-backed transactions. I am very excited to be joining the team and contributing to the next stage of its growth."
The appointment builds on Fieldfisher's existing finance capabilities and strengthens the firm's offering to clients as private credit funds and other alternative capital providers play an increasingly important role in financing markets. Will's experience advising across the structured finance ecosystem also creates opportunities to work alongside the firm's wider Financial Services, Corporate, Technology and Real Estate practices. The firm has strengthened its European Financial Markets & Products practice in core jurisdictions to include ABL & Trade Finance, Asset Finance, Commodities, Debt Finance, Derivatives, Financial Regulation, Investment Funds, Project Finance, Real Estate Finance, Restructuring & Insolvency and Structured Finance and Securitisation.
