Mourant podcast Mourant

Richard speaks with John O’Neil, the global head of the Investment Funds Group of Kirkland & Ellis. This conversation covers John’s first career as a software programmer, his route into law and his reflections on the growth of the Kirkland practice. The discussion also covers 'Funded', a new Kirkland platform designed to automate the subscription process for investors in private equity funds, and John’s thoughts on the potential for technology to change the way funds are raised in future.

Richard speaks with Sophie Smith and Mike James, who co-head the private funds practice at the London office of Cleary Gottlieb. Sophie joined the team in 2022, and in October was named among Europe’s 25 best up-and-coming private equity lawyers by Law.com International in its Rising Stars 2022 list. In the conversation, Sophie covers the firm’s plans to grow the practice out of London, as well as her thoughts on the London funds market more generally. Sophie and Mike also address the latest trends in the private funds market, including secondaries transactions, and longer-dated and 'evergreen' funds. They also take a look to the future including discussing 'Cleary X', the firm's legal technologies and services platform.  

Richard speaks with Jason Glover, who is Managing Partner at the London office of international law firm Simpson Thacher & Bartlett. The conversation covers Jason’s career and route into private equity, including his time in-house at Asian Infrastructure Fund and Duke Street Capital, as well as his reflections on the state of the funds market, the dynamics of negotiations between GPs and LPs, what makes a good funds lawyer, and what the future might hold for the industry and the lawyers who work in it.


 

Richard speaks with Kem Ihenacho, who is Co-Head of the Private Equity and Investment Funds practice at Latham & Watkins. The conversation covers Kem’s background and career story, his experiences doing deals in Africa, the interaction of the recent focus on ESG and African investment, the challenges that pandemic lockdowns presented for lawyer morale and work/life balance, and how technology might change M&A deal doing in the future.
 

Richard speaks with Marisa Beeney, who is General Counsel at Blackstone Credit. The conversation covers Marisa’s experiences through that time as the GSO business grew and developed, how her role and responsibilities have changed over time, how the Blackstone legal and compliance team is organized, the impact of regulatory change, Blackstone’s utilization of more retail-focused structures, dealing with conflicts of interests, and “BX TV”, a pandemic-inspired internal communication tool that became the subject of a holiday video starring Reese Witherspoon!

Richard speaks with Leonard Ng, who is the Co-Head of the UK/EU Financial Services Regulatory Group at Sidley Austin. Leonard has received numerous industry accolades, and most recently was selected as one Financial News Europe’s 50 most influential lawyers.
The conversation covers Leonard’s second life as a musician (including the moment he turned down the chance to go on tour with David Gray), a critical look back at the regulation of private markets in the EU and the US since the Global Financial Crisis, a look forward at the forthcoming changes to regulation in the EU, most notably AIFMD II, the impact of Brexit and the future direction of the UK, ESG regulation, and a number of other topics.