Managing the relationship between a magic circle
firm and a £4.7bn company is pretty good going for
an associate.
Linklaters corporate associate Aisling Walsh
stepped into the breach left by partner Raymond
McKeeve when he joined Kirkland & Ellis in March
2006. Walsh has been the firm’s client relationship
lawyer for supermarket Somerfield ever since.
In 2006 she also undertook work for other major
corporate clients such as Tate & Lyle, which she
advised on the disposal of part of its European foods
business.
Yet Walsh, who qualified in 2001 and who is a
home-grown Linklaters lawyer, has maintained a
good mixture of M&A and private equity. Indeed, the
Somerfield relationship arose out of the work she
did for the private equity consortium of Apax,
Barclays Capital and Tchenguiz, which acquired Somerfield in December 2005.
Her Linklaters colleagues speak of a mature and
charming lawyer who is a dab hand at working client
relationships – definitely one to watch.
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