International law firm Clifford Chance has announced five new appointments to its leadership team to continue advancing its strategy of growth.
Sarah Jones has been appointed as Global Head of Corporate. Sarah is currently Co-Head of the Americas Corporate practice and Head of our global Consumer Goods group. She has extensive experience in advising multinational corporations on high profile, complex, cross-border M&A and joint ventures across a wide variety of industries. Sarah has been a partner with the firm since 2001 and has been based in its New York office since 2006.
Emma Matebalavu has been appointed as the Global Head of Global Financial Markets. Emma is currently Co-Head of Global Financial Markets in our London Office and specialises in Real Estate Finance and structured debt. She has significant experience of securitisation of personal loan, credit lenders, whole businesses and residential mortgages. She joined the firm in 1999 and became a partner in 2008.
Steve Jacoby has been appointed as the Regional Managing Partner for Continental Europe. He is currently the office managing partner for Luxembourg and co-heads the Luxembourg Banking, Finance and Capital Markets practice. He advises on finance and capital markets matters and has a significant expertise in financial regulatory work, with a focus on digital finance and capital markets. He joined the firm in 2000 and became a partner in 2002.
These appointments follow the completion of Guy Norman’s and Rob Lee’s second terms in these critical roles as well as the election of Charles Adams as Global Managing Partner and vacancy for the Regional Managing Partner Continental Europe this created.

In addition, two new leadership roles have been created to focus specifically on the firm’s priorities of growth and operational excellence:

Nicholas Wong is appointed Clients, Markets and Products Partner. Nick will focus on the client-centric growth strategy, further development of the global client portfolio across key segments and enhancing client experience. Nick specialises in project development and finance in the global energy and infrastructure markets. He currently co-heads the Worldwide Projects Group, consistently rated one of the world’s leading projects law firms, as well the Global Financial Markets practice in the Asia Pacific region.
Jessica Littlewood is appointed Global Operations and Business Transformation Partner. In this new role, she will focus on the firm’s operations to ensure they are closely aligned to the client and people strategy, as well as programs to continuously modernise the firm and the way it operates. Jessica leads the firm’s European CLO practice and is a recognised market-leading expert in synthetic securitisation. She was previously a member of the firm’s Partnership Council.
Global Managing Partner, Charles Adams comments:

“I am proud to announce the appointment of such a strong and diverse bench of talented people to our leadership team. I am excited by the opportunities ahead and I know that each of them will bring their unique expertise, energy and focus to build on the firm’s strong legacy, while continuing their market leading work for our clients.

“These new appointments to the leadership team are critical as we continue to advance our strategic plans, with particular focus on our growth in the Americas, Europe and across the Financial Investors segment.

“I would also like to thank Guy and Rob for their contributions over the last 8 years. They have championed the firm’s strategy and played key roles in driving the firm’s success.”