Ross joins from the London office of leading global law firm Paul Hastings LLP, the top ranked firm on The American Lawyer’s 2015 A-List, where he had been a partner since 2012. During his five years at Paul Hastings, Ross’ practice was a mix of public and private cross-border M&A and capital markets work for corporates, institutional investors and investment banks. In 2014, he was seconded for seven months to Citigroup’s ECM execution team where he worked on numerous high profile offerings and live ECM transactions.
He started his career with Herbert Smith in London where he qualified into the corporate department in 2004 before being seconded to the firm’s Singapore office in 2006 to focus on cross-border M&A and capital markets.Within a year of being made partner, Ross was recognised in The Legal 500 UK 2013 as a recommended M&A lawyer and also as a Rising Star in Superlawyers UK, a peer recognition rating service.
Sarah Coates joins Penningtons Manches from Thomson Webb & Corfield where she had been a partner since 2013. Described by The Legal 500 as “efficient and professional”, Sarah has extensive experience of all areas of real estate practice, with particular expertise in the acquisition and set-up of commercial and residential development sites, development finance, pension fund sales and purchases, and secured lending and refinance work.
She qualified in 2006 and has spent the majority of her time since practising within the Cambridge area including three years in the real estate development and regeneration team at Eversheds LLP where she acted for public sector bodies and residential developers on large mixed-use projects.
Sarah also has a long-standing interest in the charitable and social enterprise sectors and uses her connections to facilitate cross-professional pro-bono support. She has been the chair of Cambridgeshire ProHelp since 2011 and a trustee of Cambridge Cyrenians since 2009.
Commenting on the new partner appointments, David Raine, Penningtons Manches’ chief executive, said: “Ross and Sarah join our Cambridge office at an exciting time following a highly successful 12 months for Penningtons Manches. Their experience will be invaluable in building the firm’s presence in the Cambridge market – particularly in securing more international opportunities and developing our multidisciplinary offering for the technology, life sciences and real estate sectors.
“Ross will also be working with the corporate teams in our London, Basingstoke, Guildford, Oxford and Reading offices to develop the Penningtons Manches’ ECM offering.”
Image: Sarah Coates and Ross McNaughton
Two new partners join Penningtons Manches’ Cambridge office
17 September 2015
The Cambridge office of Penningtons Manches LLP has further strengthened its corporate and real estate teams with the appointment of Ross McNaughton, a cross-border M&A and equity capital markets (ECM) specialist, and real estate partner, Sarah Coates.