Emma Simmonds
Partner
Areas of Focus
- Corporate & Finance
- Europe Financial Restructuring
- Financial Restructuring
- Institutional Private Placements
- Leveraged Finance
- Oil & Gas
- Private Credit
- Special Situations
- Special Situations & Private Credit
- Focuses on advising creditors on complex cross-border restructurings and insolvencies.
- Recognized for restructuring and insolvency by Chambers UK, The Legal 500 UK and IFLR 1000.
- Member of the firm’s Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Council and chair of the London office’s Inclusion Council.
Emma has advised creditors on numerous high-profile restructurings of distressed bonds, private placement notes and loans in Europe. She has more than 15 years of experience working with a broad range of financial institutions on complex cross-border restructuring and insolvency matters across various industries and jurisdictions. Emma is ranked for Restructuring/Insolvency in Chambers UK, where clients describe her as “responsive, knowledgeable and able to bring in the right people for the right stuff.” She is also noted as “excellent” and for being “on top of the details, very clear and good at problem solving." Emma is also recommended by The Legal 500 UK, where clients note that she “is extremely knowledgeable and adept at bridging the gap between the legal and commercial worlds” and for being “a constant source of creative ideas.”
- VEON: Counsel in relation to a scheme of arrangement to extend the maturity of certain USD bonds and other related matters.
- Nordic Aviation Capital: Counsel to the private placement noteholders in relation to a waiver and deferral arrangement implemented through an Irish scheme of arrangement, and on the restructuring of more than $6 billion of the group’s debt through a chapter 11 plan.
- intu Metrocentre: Counsel to the ad hoc committee of holders on the restructuring of £485 million in notes issued by intu Metrocentre Finance plc against the intu Metrocentre shopping centre and adjacent retail park in the United Kingdom.
- Polarcus: Counsel to the largest secured bondholder of Polarcus Limited, a marine seismic exploration business, on the liquidation of Polarcus Limited and the transfer of secured assets to a company owned by the bondholders.
- Dolphin Drilling: Counsel to the largest lender on the financial restructuring of Dolphin Drilling ASA (fka Fred. Olsen Energy ASA), an offshore drilling rig company headquartered in Aberdeen, Scotland.
EducationL.P.C., Oxford Institute of Legal Practice, 2001
P.G.D.L., The College of Law, Guildford, 2000
M.A. (Cantab), University of Cambridge, 1999
L.P.C., Oxford Institute of Legal Practice, 2001
P.G.D.L., The College of Law, Guildford, 2000
M.A. (Cantab), University of Cambridge, 1999
Bar AdmissionsSolicitor, England and Wales
Solicitor, England and Wales
- Euromoney, Expert Guide: World's Leading Women in Business Law 2022, Restructuring and Insolvency.
- Diversity Journal, Women Worth Watching in Leadership, 2022.
- IFLR1000 Women Leaders 2022, UK.
- ‘Insolvency & Restructuring – Lawyer of the Year’ at Euromoney’s European Women in Business Law Awards 2021.
- Awarded ‘Outstanding Winner’ for 'Collaborative Leadership' at The American Lawyer's Women, Influence & Power (WIPL) in Law UK Awards, Class of 2021.
- Chambers UK, Restructuring/Insolvency, 2020-2024.
- The Legal 500 UK, Leading Individual: Corporate Restructuring and Insolvency.
- IFLR 1000, Notable Practitioner, Financial Restructuring and Insolvency.
- Euromoney’s Expert Guides: Women in Business Law, “Leading Practitioner: Restructuring & Insolvency”, UK, 2021.
- Turnarounds and Workouts, Outstanding Restructuring Lawyers, 2020.
- Member, 100 Women in Finance.
- Member, Insolvency Lawyers’ Association.
- Member, International Women’s Insolvency & Restructuring Federation.
- Member, Association of Business Recovery Professionals.
- Member, American College of Investment Counsel.
- “The Restructuring Plan – Update on Themes and Market Trends,” ELFA and Akin Gump Webinar, November 2021.
- “COVID-19 – Financial Restructuring Update and Key Issues for Investors,” ELFA and Akin Gump Webinar, May 2020.
- “UK Financial Restructuring During COVID-19,” Podcast, London, May 2020.
- “An Anatomy of a Bond Restructuring,” Akin Gump Client Seminar, March 2016.