Seeking out the best up-and-coming private practice lawyers in the U.K. private equity industry was not an easy task. Legal Week spent months approaching many of the world's largest and most influential private equity firms to seek out recommendations before surveying a wide range of experienced partners for their views on who they rated.

Next, Legal Week approached the top U.K. and U.S. firms in the market, particularly the ones known for private equity work, to ask for their own recommendations.

Nominees were then assessed on the following criteria: quality of their client base; scale, significance and complexity of their deals; their client feedback and general market reputation; the standing of their mentor; and any other examples of career success and innovation.

The process was extremely competitive and many talented lawyers did not make the cut, not only because of the calibre of the other entrants but also because the number of lawyers that could make the list from any single firm was capped at three.

But the rigorous analysis ensured that the final list consists of the U.K.'s finest private equity legal practitioners aged under 40 as of the end of September, 2019.

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Susannah Amini, Kirkland & Ellis

Susannah Amini, Kirkland & Ellis

  • Year of birth: 1985
  • Joined firm: November 2013
  • Position: Partner, since October 2016
  • Key clients: Advent International, Bain Capital Private Equity, Investindustrial, and Sun European Partners

Just three years since she was made partner at one of the world's top private equity firms, Kirkland & Ellis, Susannah Amini has worked on several major international financing mandates for the likes of Sun European Partners and Bain Capital Private Equity. She is described as the "go-to partner for many sponsor and fund clients for their global financings" and is especially proud of working on the initial public offering financing of Nets for Advent and Bain Capital in 2016 as "the deal made the front page of the Financial Times and was complex and high profile". Amini says that she'd always wanted to be a lawyer, but admits that she had "anticipated leading a more glamorous jet-set lifestyle, heading out to signing meetings in Paris and New York, but so far the furthest I've been is the Hilton in Bath". Outside of work, Amini enjoys watching football matches – "I'm a season ticket holder at West Ham so I tend to spend my weekends in a constant state of disappointment."

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Harry Bacon, Slaughter and May

Harry Bacon, Slaughter and May

  • Year of birth: 1986
  • Joined firm: September 2009
  • Position: Partner, since May 2019
  • Key clients: Blackstone Group, InvestIndustrial, Palamon Capital Partners, Pollen Street Capital, Prudential, HM Treasury, and Venn Partners

Described by a major private equity client as "fantastic" and "a different breed of lawyer", Slaughters' Harry Bacon has had a big year: he was made a partner at the Magic Circle firm in May, and has recently advised Blackstone Group on its acquisition of a minority interest in Ireland's largest waste management provider, Beauparc Group. He was also praised by the client for his broad practice area. Bacon had originally wanted to be a barrister but says he "later realised that I wanted to do that as part of a team, and in the spirit of dealmaking, rather than deal breaking". He adds: "I had always thought of lawyering as more of a science than an art, and one thing I didn't expect is just how much energy you need to put into the people rather than the problem."

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