McDermott Will & Schulte, a global law firm

Leads firmwide strategy and culture as firm chairman

Advises healthcare clients on high-stakes mergers, acquisitions, and disputes, with a private equity focus

Grégoire Andrieux advises on mergers and acquisitions with a particular emphasis on leveraged buyouts and other complex private equity transactions.

He represents private equity institutions, family shareholders and entrepreneurs in domestic and cross-border acquisitions, refinancings, divestitures, build-ups and debt restructurings. 

Holger H. Ebersberger advises private equity and venture capital funds as well as strategic investors on transactions.

Holger specializes in advising financial sponsor clients on all forms of leveraged M&A and portfolio assistance at all stages of the investment cycle, including management incentive plans, corporate governance measures and restructurings. His M&A expertise covers matters such as auctions, dual-track processes, public takeovers, carve-out transactions and joint ventures.

Holger has particular expertise in the digital business, TMT, life sciences & healthcare and industrials & manufacturing sectors.

Sharon Lamb focuses her practice on transactional and regulatory advice in the health and life sciences sector and leads McDermott’s UK Health and Life Sciences Practice Group.

Sharon advises on global transactional mandates, including mergers and acquisitions and joint ventures in health services, pharma and life sciences, digital health and health technologies. Sharon also provides strategic, regulatory and commercial support to UK and international clients on UK health and life sciences with a focus on health services, pharmaceuticals, medical devices, digital health and health data.

Sharon is widely recognized for her expertise on NHS and public law procurement, regulatory and contracting matters, including payment and reimbursement and market access. She has particular experience advising strategic and private equity investors in transactions and investments in health and life sciences.

Sharon is also well-versed in health care services governance and regulatory matters, NHS public private partnerships, procurements, joint ventures and shared working arrangements, mergers, acquisitions, health data and competition issues.

Sharon has practiced health and life sciences law in the UK since 2002 and is recognized in Chambers and Legal 500. Sharon has written and lectures widely on health and life sciences issues and has a wealth of experience with NHS law and policy, having worked on a 4-year part time secondment with the NHS and national health bodies in London.

Aymen Mahmoud is the European Head of Finance and Co-Head of both the London Transactions Group, and the London Finance, Restructuring and Special Situations Group. He is also Managing Partner of the Firm’s London office. He focuses his practice on complex debt financing transactions for private equity funds and their portfolio companies, hedge funds, corporate borrowers and issuers and other financial institutions including banks, direct lenders, family offices and other alternative sophisticated capital. His experience includes acting in respect of direct lending, leveraged buyouts, domestic and cross-border syndicated senior, second lien and mezzanine lending, distressed debt trading, portfolio acquisitions and restructurings, emerging markets and other debt securities, including high-yield debt offerings. Aymen also has significant experience in connection with pre-EBITDA and recurring revenue financings.

Aymen has been described as a “uniquely commercial and creative transaction leader” as well as “savvy, knowledgeable, always available and always on the ball” by Legal 500 and Chambers note him to be “extremely commercial and pragmatic.” He played a key role in first establishing the Loan Market Association forms of leveraged and high yield documentation and has been recognized in numerous significant awards, including Global Restructuring Review’s global “40 under 40” rankings in 2022, Mergerlinks‘ Top 30 Financing Lawyers in EMEA in 2023 and Financial News “Most Influential Lawyer” list in 2026.

Fatema is an award-winning private equity partner whose practice focuses on providing strategic counsel to European and US private equity sponsors. She has pan-European cross sector experience on the full range of corporate matters, including leveraged buyouts, strategic mergers and acquisitions, divestitures, joint ventures, structured and minority equity investments, equity and debt restructurings, and management equity plans, as well as related advisory work.

Fatema has received acknowledgement from numerous industry ranking guides:

• Chambers UK 2024 – Ranked for Private Equity: Buyouts: £500 million and above. Sources note, “Fatema is deeply knowledgeable and infinitely approachable.” “Fatema has very high capability and the ability to be creative and think outside of the box.” “Fatema’s ability is wide-ranging and she prioritises client relationships.”
• The Legal 500 UK 2024 – Fatema has been ranked as a “Leading Individual” for Private Equity: Transactions – Mid-Market Deals. Sources note, “Fatema is an outstanding PE lawyer. We particularly value Fatema’s ability to find creative solutions in complex situations, working with clients to find viable paths forward where one is not obvious —– this really sets her apart from others in the industry. We also appreciate how dedicated she is to her clients. Fatema is always on top of both the details and the bigger picture, even at short notice. Fatema is our go-to PE lawyer.”

Fatema is distinguished by her work in promoting diversity in the legal profession. She has been included in the Class of 2021 at Law.com’s Women, Influence & Power in Law UK Awards as “Mentor of the Year” for which Fatema was the top “Outstanding Winner”.

Fatema has also been actively involved in initiatives across the City, including her roles as co-founder of “Women in Law, London” (WILL) a network with over 2,000 members across London aiming to promote and engage the next generation of women leaders in law, an Events Committee member of the “City Women’s Network” (CWN), and advisory panel member of “Oxford Women in Law” (OWL).

Advises clients on private equity transactions, mergers & acquisitions, and general corporate matters

Represents private equity sponsors, strategic buyers, public corporations, and private companies in a range of transactions

Leads cross-border transactions teams

Emmanuelle Trombe is the co-head of the Firm’s Life Sciences industry practice. She represents pharmaceutical, medical device and bio-pharmaceutical companies globally in transactional matters in relation to M&A and divestitures, joint ventures and strategic partnerships, large-scale projects, outsourcing projects, product development, licensing agreements and regulatory matters. She also advises venture capital funds and bio-pharmaceutical companies in connection with a broad range of financing activities. As well as co-heading the Firm’s Life Sciences Group, Emmanuelle serves as an elected member of the Firm’s Management Committee.

Emmanuelle is distinguished in Chambers Europe and Legal 500 EMEA in life sciences transactions, where she is highly recommended for her experience in the pharmaceutical, healthcare, biotech and medical devices industries and described as very responsive, smart, flexible and business-minded. She has been distinguished as the Lawyer of the Year in Life Sciences for 2024.

Kristian (Krist) Werling is the global head of McDermott’s Health & Life Sciences practice, which provides regulatory and transactional counsel to health and life sciences industry leaders, changemakers, and investors.

Krist and the McDermott Health & Life Sciences team lead the most significant transactions, critical regulatory issues, and litigation matters that shape the health and life sciences industry. In his own practice, Krist represents life sciences companies, health service providers, private equity firms, and venture capital investors in a wide variety of transactional and regulatory matters. He has led cutting-edge industry transactions that have introduced cancer and gene therapy products to the global market, expanded access to fertility services, increased the availability of cost-effective outpatient surgical services, and transformed the delivery of physician services in a broad range of specialties.

Krist's decades of experience on the buy-side and sell-side of health and life sciences dealmaking spans the healthcare and life sciences landscape. He leads cross-disciplinary teams and delivers business-focused legal guidance to help clients pursue their most innovative strategies, working across borders and health and life sciences subsectors to connect and advise industry stakeholders. Krist is also skilled at developing creative transaction structures, conducting sector-specific due diligence, and providing forward-looking counsel to mitigate issues that can derail transactions or stunt long-term growth. His deep understanding of sector-specific regulatory nuances allows him to efficiently close transactions and maximize client outcomes.

Representative PE clients include Ampersand Capital Partners (buy-side and sell-side); Amulet Capital Partners (buy-side and sell-side); Windrose Health Investors (buy-side and sell-side M&A, and joint venture matters); Iron Path Capital (investments, carve-out acquisitions and new platform formations), Quad-C (new platform formation and investment and sell-side), PPC (buy-side).

Representative healthcare and life sciences companies include Baxter International and Vanda Pharmaceuticals (cross-border sales and acquisitions; licensing); REGENXBIO (strategic partnership with AbbVie); Cleveland Clinic, Hospital for Special Surgery and Northwestern Medicine (strategic innovation investments and joint ventures); numerous founder-owned businesses in strategic transactions with investors.

Eleanor (Ellie) West centres her practice on private equity transactions and mergers and acquisitions.  Ellie works across a wide range of sectors, and has particular expertise in the health care and life sciences industries.

Ellie regularly advises domestic and international private equity sponsors on transactional matters (including leveraged buy-outs, growth capital investments, add-on acquisitions and the implementation of management incentive plans).  She also advises a range of multi-national corporations on cross-border acquisitions, disposals and restructuring transactions.

Graham White focuses his practice on providing strategic counsel to European and US private equity sponsors. He has global cross sector experience on the full range of leveraged buyouts, strategic mergers and acquisitions, divestitures, structured and minority equity investments, equity and debt restructurings and management incentive plans.

With over three decades of senior experience at top tier global law firms, Graham's exceptional knowledge of the London legal market uniquely positions him to assist in developing the strategic growth of the London office.

Graham has received numerous acknowledgments by Chambers, The Legal 500 and various other legal ratings agencies and publications.

Jason Zemmel focuses his practice on private equity and mergers and acquisitions matters with a particular focus on health and social care transactions. Jason has pan European experience advising a wide range of clients, including private equity sponsors, management teams, corporates, and advisers on corporate matters, including leveraged buyouts, mergers and acquisitions, disposals and management incentive programmes, together with related advisory work.

Prior to joining McDermott Will & Schulte, Jason was co-head of the global private equity practice at an international law firm.