Debevoise promotes two secondaries lawyers to international counsel

Debevoise & Plimpton has made several high-level promotions, including two secondaries lawyers.

The New York-headquartered law firm has promoted Benjamin Amos and Shawn Yang to international counsel effective 1 January, according to a statement. They are among nine promotions to the level of counsel or international counsel firm wide.

The title of counsel applies to US-based lawyers, and international counsel for those outside the US, a spokesman for the firm told Secondaries Investor. The position is roughly equivalent to non-equity partner at other firms, he added.

Amos is a member of the London-based investment management group, the statement noted. He advises private equity sponsors and limited partners on fund formation, restructurings, secondaries, spinouts and other fund-related transactions.

Among the deals he worked on last year was a €1.2 billion GP-led deal involving French infrastructure manager Antin Infrastructure Partners and one involving European life sciences investor Medixci, according to his corporate biography.

Yang is a member of the Hong Kong investment management group. He has advised on some of the region’s largest fund raisings and strategic investments as well as a number of notable secondary transactions, the statement added.

HarbourVest Partners is a regular client of Yang’s on the fund investment and secondaries side, according to his biography.

Debevoise & Plimpton worked on approximately $9.7 billion of secondaries transactions in 2019, all in private equity, according to Secondaries Investor‘s annual legal survey.