Victoria’s cross-border practice, in which she acts for clients in jurisdictions across West Europe, Central and Eastern Europe, Asia, the Middle East and Africa, touches on several key areas of focus for Reed Smith. Her asset finance work covers aircraft, shipping finance, equipment and other large assets, and involves leasing transactions, financing and taxdriven structures, secured and unsecured syndicated lending and export credit financing. Her project finance practice has a particular focus on transportation and social infrastructure, as well as conventional and renewable energy and oil and gas. Her clients include multi-lateral financing institutions and commercial banks, industrial sponsors and financial investors. Victoria has a strong focus on Central and Eastern Europe and Turkey which follows from her three-year stint in White & Case’s Budapest office. Her international project finance experience complements the highly-respected infrastructure capabilities of Reed Smith’s global Energy and Natural Resources (ENR) practice.
“A strategic objective of our firm is to deliver a seamless international finance capability to our clients, who are often engaged in complex multijurisdictional transactions which require top-notch legal advice. Victoria’s appointment marks a significant step forward towards meeting our goal,” said Ed Estrada, global chair of Reed Smith’s Financial Industry Group.
“Our practice’s clients demand more from us than just legal guidance on finance matters – they also expect us to understand the intricacies of the projects that they engaged on. This is an area in which Victoria excels,” said Ana Atallah, head of Reed Smith’s transport and international trade practice in Paris and member of the firm’s Paris Council. “Her practice, along with that of current Paris finance partner Fernand Arsanios, will add depth to an area of strength for our team and extend it for the benefit of our clients.”
Victoria brings to Reed Smith a stellar reputation in the industry. Elected as 2018 Lawyer of the Year in asset finance law by Best Lawyers, and recognized in Chambers Europe for her expertise in public-private partnerships, international projects, aviation finance, and shipping finance, Victoria strengthens a global asset finance practice that has been bolstered by the return of London-based ship and aircraft finance partner Richard Hakes from Allen & Overy and the arrival of renowned aviation and aerospace finance lawyers Liz Evans in New York and Del Smith in northern Virginia, and William Veatch and Catherine Young Hagerty in San Francisco in, all of which occurred in 2017.
Reed Smith’s Paris office has undergone significant growth over the past year, including the additions of Peter Rosher to the Energy practice in July, an eight lawyer team from Winston & Strawn to the tax practice in March and a 19-strong team comprising of seven partners, one counsel, 10 associates, and one jurist from King & Wood Mallesons in January 2017.
“We are thrilled that Victoria has decided to join us. Her arrival is a testament to the effort we have made in growing our Paris office with an emphasis on diversifying our offerings to our clients in France and globally,” said Tamara Box, managing partner for Europe and the Middle East. “Furthermore, Victoria brings with her a rare quality that is of tremendous value to the France legal market: experience in delivering legal services under both English and French law and in both the English and French languages. Her stellar reputation among her clients is well-deserved.”
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