By Hannah Collins
In the past, finance teams expanded when M&A boomed and contracted when markets cooled. Today, leveraged finance, private credit, restructuring, and structured finance are all active at the same time, for different reasons.
The result? Sustained demand for finance lawyers across levels, especially mid-to-senior associates.
Here’s what’s driving it.
- Leveraged Finance: Activity Has Shifted, Not Stopped
Even where headline M&A volumes soften, finance teams remain busy with:
- Refinancings
- Amend and extend transactions
- Repricings
- Covenant resets
- Incremental facilities
Sponsors and lenders are negotiating harder and structuring more creatively. That increases documentation complexity and keeps deal teams stretched.
What firms want: Associates who can run deals independently and manage process under pressure.
- Private Credit: Now a Core Market, Not an Alternative
Private credit is no longer niche; it’s a major source of deal flow.
Direct lenders move quickly and structure flexibly, which often means more bespoke documentation and negotiation. Growth areas include:
- Unitranche structures
- NAV based lending
- Hybrid facilities
- Complex intercreditor arrangements
As capital shifts away from traditional bank balance sheets, legal work becomes more customised.
Impact: Firms are building serious private capital benches and competing for experienced talent.
- Restructuring: More Pre-Insolvency, More Complexity
Restructuring isn’t just about formal insolvency filings anymore. Much of the work now happens before a company enters distress proceedings.
Drivers include:
- Refinancing pressure
- Maturity walls
- Higher borrowing costs
- Liability management transactions (LMTs)
Sponsors and lenders are using increasingly sophisticated strategies to protect value. That means more negotiation, more documentation scrutiny, and often litigation risk in the background.
What firms need: Lawyers who understand intercreditor dynamics, creditor conflicts, and fast-moving negotiations.
- Structured Finance: Recurring Work + Product Innovation
Structured finance remains active because it’s driven by issuance cycles and investor demand.
Work often includes:
- New securitisations
- CLO issuance and resets
- Warehouse facilities
- Regulatory-driven structuring
When markets open, they move quickly and specialist lawyers are in short supply.
The Bigger Picture: Complexity Is the Real Driver
The key shift isn’t just volume, it’s complexity.
Across finance practices:
- Capital structures are layered
- Stakeholders are more aggressive
- Documentation is more technical
- Cross-border elements are common
Even when there are fewer deals, each one involves more legal work.
That’s why firms aren’t just hiring more juniors, they’re fighting for experienced associates who can:
- Manage clients confidently
- Anticipate risk
- Drive negotiations
- Run signings and closings
Why This Isn’t Going Away
Several forces appear structural:
- Continued growth of private capital
- Mainstream adoption of liability management tools
- Ongoing refinancing cycles
- Product innovation in structured markets
Even if traditional M&A rebounds, finance work isn’t likely to retreat, it will simply layer on top.
What This Means for Lawyers
If you work in leveraged finance, restructuring, structured finance, or private credit, you’re in a strategically strong position.
The market rewards:
- Technical precision
- Commercial judgement
- Process leadership
- Comfort with complex capital structures
Contact Us
If you would like to discuss the legal recruitment market, please email Hannah Collins. Email: hannah.collins@wearebuchanan.com