Andrew Knight joined Crowell & Moring's London office as a partner in its Corporate and Financial Services practices to strengthen the firm's ability to advise clients on debt finance and asset-based lending.
Knight's practice focuses on international financial law in the context of asset-based lending, syndications, restructurings, loan and receivables finance book sales, secondary market transactions, and distressed debt trading. He represents banks and non-bank lenders, especially asset-based lenders in the United Kingdom and the United States. He has particular experience negotiating, documenting, and restructuring multijurisdictional credit facilities extended to transnational borrowers and groups, including cross-border insolvencies and pre-packed exits. He has served as the lead partner in high-profile matters, including the collapse of the Icelandic bank, Landsbanki, and he has also served as lead counsel to the lenders financing the acquisition of British Steel by Greybull Capital.
"Andrew is a highly regarded finance lawyer who brings a vast amount of experience to the firm," said Philip T. Inglima, chair of Crowell & Moring. "Our recent growth in London addresses growing client demand. This move means that we can offer clients a dynamic, high-profile team of finance lawyers to structure deals and craft solutions for clients."
Knight joins from the London office of Squire Patton Boggs, where he was a partner in the firm's Banking & Debt Finance Group. His arrival comes on the heels of Robin Baillie, Paul Muscutt, and Cathryn Williams joining Crowell & Moring's London office in February. Knight will be joined at the firm over the next several weeks by associates Seye Olufunwa and Mark Forster, with whom he worked at his previous firm.
"This is just another example of how we plan to strategically grow our team here and turn the office into a formidable force in London," said Robert Weekes, managing partner of the firm's London office, who joined in January to lead the firm's growth in the UK.
"I am thrilled to join forces with such a prestigious international firm," Knight said. "This is a wonderful opportunity to create a premier asset-based lending group at a firm that is clearly on the move in the London legal market. I look forward to reuniting with one of the industry's most highly-regarded teams of ABL specialists. Our team, which includes Robert Weekes, Cathryn Williams, and Paul Muscutt, has deep bench strength to solve clients' most challenging problems," Knight said.
"The new finance team has in-depth experience representing U.S. lenders and making facilities available to non-US borrowers in the UK, Europe, and Asia," Knight said. "Crowell & Moring has the strength and geographical coverage to develop this practice to the next level and beyond."
Knight's background also includes serving as pro bono counsel-by-invitation, from 2007 to 2012, to the Asset Based Lending Committee of the Asset Based Finance Association (now known as UK Finance)—an association that represents the interests of the UK's leading asset-based lenders. In that capacity, Knight led the Association's project to develop recommended forms of syndicated asset based lending documentation for use by UK market participants. Knight also served as a member of the Supply Chain Finance Working Group established at the request of the Bank of England and chaired by the Association of Corporate Treasurers.
Knight earned his law degree, with Honors, from the University of Liverpool. He has been a visiting lecturer at the University of Nottingham Law School and is a speaker at numerous legal and industry conferences in the United Kingdom and other countries.
Crowell & Moring's London Office continues to grow in other practice areas, with associate Lydia Taylor and counsel Stefanie Atchinson joining in April to work with Robin Baillie.