Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe London finance partner Michael Crosby has left the firm to become the general counsel of investment company Gordian Knot.
Crosby joined Orrick in 2014 from Proskauer Rose’s London office to head up the firm’s English law banking and finance practice group. He served a similar role during his six-year tenure at Proskauer.
Crosby is experienced in representing alternative credit funds, hedge funds and other special situation lenders, private equity sponsors and banks in leveraged financings across Europe.
His predecessor at Gordian Knot Sean Breslin left the investment management business in June 2016 after 20 years, and now serves as group head of legal, compliance and risk at River and Mercantile Group.
Crosby had previously worked with Gordian founders Stephen Partridge-Hicks and Nick Sossidis while in private practice. In his new in-house role, he will continue to work with Orrick as well as other firms that already have an established relationship with Gordian, such as Clifford Chance and Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom.
“There’re huge opportunities for independent asset managers like Gordian to help banks and other highly regulated financial institutions with some issues they will find themselves in, particularly due to the balance sheet and the challenging regulatory environment,” said Crosby, on the reasons behind his latest career move.
“Equally, there are good opportunities for us to provide all-round solutions to these banks, especially in the post-Brexit world where independent managers can look at wider range of options and find the best solutions,” he added.
Crosby, who also holds a bachelor’s degree in economics, has honed in on structured finance during his 20 years of private practice. Other firms he had practised with include Addleshaw Goddard, O’Melveny & Myers, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, and Clifford Chance. Between 2003 and 2005 he served a two-year stint as legal counsel in the now-defunct Lehman Brothers.
Currently, there is one other in-house lawyer at Gordian, but Crosby is looking to build up the team.
In Europe, Orrick lost another partner recently in Paris. Corporate partner Philippe Rincazaux, who focuses on European and French antitrust and competition law, resigned from the firm at the end of December 2016. It is unclear where he is moving to.
Despite recent departures, Orrick has expanded its European partnership by hiring from King & Wood Mallesons’ (KWM) troubled EUME arm.
It has recruited venture capital head Ylan Steiner in London, as well as German corporate head Christoph Brenner in Munich. Last month, the firm also hired Olswang Paris managing partner and corporate head Guillaume Kessler.
Orrick was contacted for comments.
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