Hamilton Locke is delighted to announce a wave of new promotions effective 1 January, 2022. Special Counsel, Lauren Cloete will be promoted to Partner, continuing her specialisation in acquisition finance. Partner, Zina Edwards will be promoted to Head of Finance, leading the firm’s Finance practice. Lawyer Calyb Soekoe will be promoted to Senior Associate, part of the firms Finance practice.
Lauren’s promotion to Partner will see the firm’s Finance offering extended further, as she continues to grow the firm’s leveraged acquisition finance offering. Lauren specialises in debt finance transactions, including leveraged and acquisition finance, asset finance and corporate lending. She has extensive local and global experience advising financial institutions, sponsors and corporate clients.
Zina’s promotion to Head of Finance will see her leading the practice area and continuing to service clients across a range of service offerings. Zina specialises in the growing alternative lending market in Australia and advises numerous onshore and offshore credit funds, asset managers and other non-bank lenders in relation to investments in complex structured finance and hybrid transactions, asset finance, corporate loans, venture debt, restructuring and special situations. She also represents a number of high grow companies seeking debt capital solutions from credit funds and other lenders.
Calyb is a dual-qualified lawyer and specialises in corporate finance and project finance matters. He has extensive experience acting for financial institutions as well as corporate clients in both Australia and internationally.
Managing Partner, Nick Humphrey, said: “We are pleased to recognise the hard work and dedication demonstrated by Zina, Lauren and Calyb to their team and the wider firm. We are a people-centric business, and it gives us great pride to be able to recognise the contribution of these team members in delivering exceptional service to their clients while continuing to live and breathe our values-based model.”
Hamilton Locke was established in 2018 with 15 employees, and has grown exponentially, with a current headcount of 72. The firm continues its growth trajectory, alongside it’s holding company Halo Group Holdings, with the recent acquisition of leading regulatory and compliance law firm, The Fold Legal.