Graham Penn is Sidley Austin Brown & Wood’s man in Europe. The partner will more often than not be found in the main financial centres around Europe working on deals for the securitisation practice.

Over the past few years, Penn has spent a large part of his professional time in Germany, so he was certainly the best man for the job when it came to Sidley launching in Frankfurt. The firm is set to open in Germany’s financial centre in the New Year and Penn was the partner-in-charge.

He quickly set about securing a team of securitisation lawyers from Lovells to launch the operation and he will play an active role in the development of the office. He is also the co-head of Sidley’s London-based international finance group, which has seen significant growth in London and which continues to win new European clients, including Deutsche Bank, Morgan Stanley and US fund Fortress.