Sidley announced that Philip Hertz and Melissa Coakley have joined the firm’s global Restructuring group as partners in London. Both joined Sidley from Clifford Chance, where Hertz was global co-head of the Restructuring and Insolvency group and Coakley led the London Restructuring team.
Hertz and Coakley each have more than two decades of experience advising on complex cross-border restructurings. Their clients have included corporates, sponsors, distressed investors, senior lenders, and creditors.
Hertz will lead Sidley’s international Restructuring team. Coakley will lead the firm’s European Restructuring team.
Hertz has a broad international practice focused on restructuring and insolvency matters across regulated industries and complex capital structures. He has been ranked as “Hall of Fame” for Corporate Restructuring & Insolvency by Legal 500 UK and Band 1 for Restructuring/Insolvency by Chambers UK.
Coakley advises stakeholders on consensual and nonconsensual cross-border and domestic restructurings, workouts, reorganizations, and formal insolvencies. She has been highly ranked for Corporate Restructuring & Insolvency by Legal 500 UK and for Restructuring/Insolvency by Chambers UK.
Sidley said the additions build on the firm’s continued growth in London. The firm has added several private capital leaders in recent years across leveraged finance, capital markets, private equity, and related practices.
The firm also said it has promoted 15 lawyers to the partnership in London during the same period. Sidley’s London office has continued more than a decade of year-over-year revenue growth.
Sidley’s global Restructuring group works on major restructurings across the U.S., Europe, and Asia. The group includes nearly 70 full-time restructuring lawyers across offices including Century City, Chicago, Dallas, Hong Kong, Houston, London, Los Angeles, New York, and Washington, D.C.
The restructuring team represents companies in in-court and out-of-court restructurings, official and ad hoc creditor committees, agent lenders, and participants in distressed M&A processes. Sidley has approximately 2,300 lawyers across 21 offices globally.
KEY QUOTES:
“Philip and Melissa are widely regarded as leading international restructuring partners with a strong client following who will further elevate our market-leading global restructuring practice. Adding Philip and Melissa is a continuation of the transformative growth to our London platform and highly synergic to our strategic investments in our London Leveraged Finance, Capital Markets and Private Equity practices.”
Thomas Thesing, Managing Partner of Sidley’s London Office and Member of Sidley’s Management and Executive Committees
“We continue to aggressively add collaborative top tier talent to our world-class client focused platform. Having significant depth and breadth in London is critical to continue to best serve our clients, this is particularly important for the most complex cross-border restructurings as the needs of our clients evolve.”
Brian Fahrney, Chair of Sidley’s Executive Committee
