Sandrine Sauvel has breathed much-needed new life into Norton Rose’s capital markets team, or ‘BT6’, as it is dubbed internally.

Sauvel, who is a French, New York and UK-qualified lawyer, joined the firm as a partner in early 2006, having spent eight years as an associate with Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer. Within the year five more Freshfields associates followed her to Norton Rose’s London and Paris offices.

While Sauvel admits that she has been “fighting hard” for deals, she has also managed to impress new client Dresdner Bank. So much so that, within two months of acting for it on a rail securitisation, the bank instructed Sauvel and her team on a further two deals.