Travers Smith LLP is delighted to announce the promotion of six lawyers to Senior Counsel as part of its 2023 promotions round.
All appointments are effective from 1 July 2023. The new Senior Counsel and their principal areas are:
Zoe Dearmer, Employment
Zoe advises clients on all areas of contentious and non-contentious employment law. She has particular experience advising on, and conducting, workplace investigations. Zoe has undertaken in-house secondments in a variety of sectors, giving her practical experience of the day-to-day challenges faced by HR and legal teams and she incorporates this experience into the advice she gives to her clients. Zoe regularly provides training to clients on employment law issues.
Kirsty Emery, Finance (Restructuring & Insolvency)
Kirsty specialises in advising on high-profile, complex debt restructurings and insolvencies. She provides restructuring and insolvency advice to the full spectrum of stakeholders, including private equity sponsors, corporates and their boards, insolvency practitioners, turnaround professionals, distressed investors, and other creditors.
Ingrid Hodgskiss, Competition
Ingrid has broad experience in acting for and advising clients on UK and EU competition law matters. Ingrid advises on international merger control matters and a wide range of national security and foreign-direct-investment issues, behavioural competition law matters, and competition damages litigation. Her experience covers a variety of industry sectors including technology, life sciences, energy and infrastructure, retail and consumer goods, and maritime shipping. Prior to joining Travers Smith, Ingrid was a legal advisor to the UK Competition & Markets Authority.
James Ravden, Funds
James advises alternative asset management firms and institutional investors on a full range of alternative liquidity solutions including, GP-led transactions and continuation fund deals (single asset, concentrated or portfolio basis), LP secondary transactions, fund and manager restructurings, co-investments and GP-stake M&A (minority and majority).
Cindy Smith, Derivatives and Structured Products
Cindy is an experienced finance lawyer whose practice is predominantly focussed on advising pensions clients. Cindy advises pension scheme trustees and sponsoring employers on scheme funding and covenant matters. Cindy has expertise in security and contingent funding arrangements in the context of pension scheme funding negotiations and corporate activity. She has advised a number of large UK pension schemes on contingent asset solutions including guarantees, asset-backed contribution structures and escrow arrangements and on the legal aspects of investment management and risk transfer. Cindy also advises large DC and master trust clients on a broad range of matters. Cindy is a key member of the team which advises Nest.
Gareth Wynne, Real Estate
Gareth advises clients on a range of investments, sales and acquisitions, developments, financings and commercial lettings. He has particular experience working for funds across a number of sectors, including healthcare, logistics and hotels and leisure, advising from acquisition through to any development and financing of assets. Gareth also advises clients on their occupational lettings.
Managing Partner, Edmund Reed, said:
"Congratulations to all of our new Senior Counsel on their promotions. This is a significant career milestone and reflects for each of them the sector expertise, dedication and exceptional legal skills needed to join our senior counsel cohort. I look forward to seeing their ongoing success in their new roles."
