Capital markets
‘Capital markets’ is the term used for financial markets where debt or equity securities are traded. Capital markets lawyers work primarily with transactions involving the issue of debt or equity securities either to the public or to a group of investors. Capital markets practice is closely connected to derivatives and financial regulation. Capital markets lawyers conduct due diligence review on the issuer of the securities, draft the prospectus and other disclosure documents describing the issuer and its securities to the potential investors, negotiate agreements between the issuer and its advisers and navigate the transaction through regulatory hurdles. London’s pivotal position in the global debt and equity markets makes this a significant element of the City’s legal activity. Choosing a career is a long-term commitment, so it is important to think about whether you will continue to enjoy doing something years down the line – a consideration that was key in Macfarlanes partner Harry Coghill’s decision to become a solicitor. “I considered becoming a barrister when I was starting out, but I wanted to be part of a team and to be doing transactions,” he explains. Following a modern languages degree at Oxford and a law conversion, Harry trained as a solicitor at Slaughter and May, before making the move to Macfarlanes in 2011. As corporate lawyers, he and his team have “a broad practice which includes a mix of both private and public M&A, private equity and equity capital markets. I personally focus on the private M&A and public company sides,” he elaborates. City finance Equity capital markets work, Harry explains, is about “advising clients on the different
methods of raising equity finance and the regulatory framework around those methods. That involves drafting documents, but also management of the process. Equity capital markets deals can be large and complex because there are often a lot of advisers involved, so some types of transaction are six months in the making. On the regulatory side, we liaise with the UK Listing Authority, the regulator that reviews the transaction documents that we draft.” Mastering both the granular detail and the wide scope of these transactions takes time, so while trainees learn the ropes, at partner level the role is more centred around management. “A transaction will likely involve trainees verifying and drafting ancillary documents and associates being responsible for drafting the prospectus,” Harry explains. “Being at partner level means I now spend more time giving advice and managing the team.” The scale of finance in this practice area naturally means that transactions often involve household names. “The biggest highlight of my career so far is probably the landmark Verizon-Vodafone transaction in 2014,” he recalls. “It involved issuing $60 billion of shares and listing them on the London Stock Exchange – I don’t think I’ll be doing that very often!” Building client relationships is part of the fun of the job and the clients with whom I have the best relationships are those who end up calling me about all sorts of different things – not just corporate law, but about their wider businesses
For more firms that work in this practice area, please use the “Training contract regional indexes” starting on p205.
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