Winckworth Sherwood bolsters social housing banking and finance team

Law firm Winckworth Sherwood has strengthened its housing finance team with the appointment of two senior finance lawyers.

Louise Forrest joins the firm as a partner and head of banking and finance and Zofia Kordek as a senior associate.

Forrest was formerly a partner at DLA Piper in its finance practice and has more recently worked as a consultant principally through Peerpoint, Allen & Overy’s global flexible resourcing platform.

“She brings to the firm a breadth of experience of secured lending and other finance transactions, as well as senior leadership experience and experience in legal project management and legal operations,” Winckworth Sherwood said.

Kordek’s expertise meanwhile covers lending in the housing sector acting on LMA loan agreements and restatements, private placements and note issuances.

Winckworth Sherwood said its banking and finance team has advised on in excess of £1.5bn of funding into the housing and social housing sector in 2019/20, acting for both housing associations, funders and other developers.

Andrew Murray, Partner and Head Social Housing, said: “The demand from housing associations for cash to fund development programmes and from funders looking for a long-term returns remains high, and Winckworth Sherwood is at the forefront of some of the largest and most innovative deals on the market. We are delighted by Louise and Zofia’s decision to join the firm and look forward to working alongside them both.”