Having built a 21-strong dedicated banking and finance practice over the last seven years, Clarion is continuing to grow its specialist team with the appointment of Gresa Bakolli as an associate solicitor.
Gresa trained at an international law firm where she worked with a number of UK clearing banks and corporate borrowers on transactions involving debt, development, real estate and acquisition finance.
Andrew Curtis was also promoted from senior associate to legal director after joining the firm’s banking and finance practice four years earlier as an associate. With 13 years’ banking experience, he has worked with debt and equity providers and corporates on a wide variety of finance deals, including real estate finance, leveraged finance, private equity and general corporate finance.
Ben Slack, partner in Clarion’s banking and finance team, said: “In 2023, we completed transactions with a combined debt value in excess of £950m, and our workstreams and client base are continuing to grow. It is vital that we continue to develop the careers of the lawyers within the team and recruit new talent to keep pace with the growth of our clients and our client base. The arrival of Gresa is a welcome boost to the team and we are delighted to see Andrew’s well deserved progression.
“We believe a key part of our success is our ability to advise on the full spectrum of financial services and the size and skillsets within the team. As a result, we are rising above the current economic challenges and going from strength to strength. We are proud that a team of just four lawyers at its inception in 2016 has gone on to become one of the largest dedicated banking and finance teams in the North. During that time, not only has the size and complexity of the transactions we have worked on increased, but our geographic and international reach has also expanded.”
Clarion’s 21-strong banking and finance team, which includes three partners, provides a full range of financial advice to support clients’ funding needs from advice on corporate banking, leveraged finance and real estate and development finance to asset-based lending, alternative lending platforms, banking disputes, restructuring and security enforcement.
