DLA: Dear Paul, what exactly is the business model of your law firm?
Paul Péporté: Allen & Overy is an international legal practice with a strong presence across the globe.
We are expected to merge with US firm Shearman & Sterling in the course of this year, thus creating a firm of approximately 800 partners and 4,000 lawyers across 48 offices with combined revenues of approximately $3.5 billion and some of the greatest legal talents in the world. Together, we believe A&O Shearman will be a firm unlike any other in the world.
With combined experience advising many of the world’s leading corporations and financial institutions, governments and governmental organizations, A&O Shearman has a distinguished heritage – reflecting Allen & Overy’s roots as a City of London firm founded in 1930 and Shearman & Sterling’s founding in 1873 in New York City.
This merger will combine two of the world’s most prestigious law firms, with complementary strengths and cultures. Together, they will create an unparalleled firm with a forward-looking approach to delivering excellence and innovation for clients’ most complex matters. With a global offering of the highest quality, A&O Shearman will be ideally placed to provide local and cross-border support to clients as they navigate an increasingly complex legal, regulatory, and geopolitical environment. The firms will now embark on a period of active integration planning, while they work together toward final closing of the transaction, which is anticipated in or before May 2024. A&O Shearman will be the only firm fluent in US law, English law and the laws of the world’s most dynamic markets in equal measure..
DLA: What are your strategic priorities in view of the European Capital Markets Union?
Paul Péporté: Allen & Overy is at the heart of the world’s banking and financial markets. Operating from all of the world’s key financial centres, our global Capital Markets practice is a true global leader. We advise underwriters, arrangers and issuers on all aspects of international capital markets transactions. Among our clients are major international financial institutions and corporations, based in Europe and worldwide. As a leading international law firm that has recently advised on the first landmark transactions in the European digital bonds space and which regularly advises on green bonds issuances, Allen & Overy is closely following the developments of the European Capital Markets Union (CMU) and its implications for our clients and our practice.
Our strategic priorities in view of the CMU are:
to leverage our expertise and experience in the digital bonds space to advise our clients on the opportunities and challenges of the proposed EU framework for crypto-assets and digital operational resilience, which are part of the CMU action plan. We will also monitor the potential impact of the proposed pilot regime for market infrastructures based on distributed ledger technology (DLT), which could enable the issuance and trading of digital bonds on DLT platforms; to continue to support our clients in the green bonds space and to align our advice with the EU taxonomy and the EU Green Bond Standard and their potential benefits, which could increase the demand and visibility of green bonds among retail investors; and to explore new avenues and niches for our practice in the context of the CMU, such as the securitisation of non-performing loans (NPLs), the harmonisation of insolvency and debt recovery frameworks, the simplification of withholding tax procedures, and the promotion of long-term and equity investments.
DLA: Why was it important for you to become a member of our association?
Paul Péporté: We believe that the DLA is a valuable and influential organisation that promotes the interests and development of the lending industry in Europe and beyond. We share the DLA’s vision of creating a fair, transparent, and efficient digital lending market that benefits both borrowers and lenders, and contributes to the economic growth and financial inclusion. We also appreciate the DLA’s efforts in fostering dialogue and collaboration among the various stakeholders in the ecosystem, such as digital lenders, investors, regulators and service providers.
We are proud to join the DLA as a member to contribute to its mission and activities, and to benefit from its network and resources. We think that we can bring to the DLA our legal and market insights, our experience and reputation, and our commitment and expertise for the digital lending industry. We also look forward to learning from and collaborating with the other members of the DLA, and to participating in the initiatives organised by the DLA.
DLA: Thank you very much for the interview, Paul. We are really happy Allen & Overy is part of our trade body now.
Foto credits: Allen & Overy