Herbert Smith Freehills Kramer expands leveraged finance capabilities with new partner hire

Leading global law firm Herbert Smith Freehills Kramer announced today that Stuart Brinkworth will be joining the firm as a partner in the Finance practice in London.  

Stuart joins the firm from Mayer Brown, where he was a leveraged finance partner. A highly experienced lawyer with two decades practising as a partner, he acts for UK and international sponsors, bidding consortia and lenders on UK and cross-border leveraged finance transactions.

Across a range of sectors including healthcare, media, technology, sport, real estate, financial services, business services, retail and leisure, Stuart advises on private equity-backed leveraged buyouts, management buyouts/buy-ins, public bids, M&A and recapitalisations. He also has experience advising lenders, sponsors and borrowers on distressed situations and restructurings.

Highly-rated in the leveraged finance market, Stuart was at the forefront of the development of unitranche as a funding source in the European leveraged finance market and is ranked in Band 1 for mid-market leveraged finance by Chambers & Partners.    

Kristen Roberts, Managing Partner, Finance and Restructuring, UK and EMEA, commented: “Stuart is highly regarded for his commercial acumen, trusted client relationships and technical excellence. His arrival adds further bench strength to our leveraged finance and private capital offerings across our UK and EMEA platform, aligning with one of our strategic growth priorities. We warmly welcome Stuart to the firm."

Stuart Brinkworth said: "The opportunities at Herbert Smith Freehills Kramer to cross-sell between practices, such as private equity and restructuring, and across the firm’s international network, creates an exciting platform for me to build out my private equity-facing practice. I look forward to working with my new colleagues.”

Stuart’s arrival reflects a further investment in the firm's Finance capabilities across its European offices, following the hire of Dr Fritz Kleweta in Frankfurt, Laure Bonin in Paris, and Emanuela da Rin and her team in Milan.