Ed Hyde reflects on his career journey so far and shares his advice for those embarking on training contract applications this season
“I am a one-firm lawyer, which is less and less common among City law firms these days,” says Ed Hyde, counsel in Weil’s finance team, who joined the firm as a trainee in 2014 and has never left. A decade on from qualification and two secondments later, Hyde sits down with Legal Cheek Careers to discuss life at the US firm, his journey as a leveraged finance lawyer and what lies ahead for his busy practice area.
Law wasn’t Hyde’s undergraduate degree of choice. “I didn’t study law at university, but I thought it would suit my skill set as a practical application of academic and commercial skills,” Hyde explains. “Nor was qualifying as a banking lawyer the plan when I started the training contract”, he says, smiling. Seats in private equity, fund formation and restructuring came first, and it was the shape of the work rather than the subject matter that settled things. “I found I was drawn to transactional work over contentious seats because of the tangible outcomes and regular milestones,” Hyde tells us. “You can move deals quickly to signing and closing, and there is a rewarding opportunity to build long-term client relationships through repeat transactions.” There is often a collaborative dynamic to finance work, too: “everyone is trying to get to the same end goal of signing and closing the transaction, so there is a balance in driving the best possible outcome for your client while reaching that successful conclusion.”
What has punctuated the decade since qualification are two secondments, first at Goldman Sachs as a junior lawyer in the bank’s legal team, then at investment manager CVC in its capital markets team. Each taught something different. “At Goldman, I learned about the operations of a leading bank and what lenders need to navigate their credit approval processes, which proved helpful in future advice to lenders and borrowers,” Hyde says. CVC offered a view from inside a top tier asset manager. “At CVC, I saw the inner workings of a private equity firm, from the deal origination process to the constant focus on fundraising across different strategies,” Hyde recalls. The role wasn’t a legal one, which was very much the point. “I was there in a non-legal capacity as a member of the capital markets team, helping to raise and manage the debt on the CVC investments. As a result I learned practical and commercial skills that I wouldn’t necessarily develop at a law firm.” Then there is the lesson for every junior lawyer: “being the ‘client’ allowed me to see what other lawyers were doing well — and what could be done better — which informs how I approach my own job”.
The period after coming back to Weil from the CVC secondment was, Hyde says, a professional highlight. “That six month period really stands out. We had a great run of mandates from new and existing clients, and it brought home just how much I’d learned in the capital markets role and how much I could now bring to my role as a senior associate and counsel – it was a real confidence boost”.
Weil itself was a deliberate choice. “I focused on US firms with an established London presence that offered a lot of responsibility from day one,” Hyde explains. “Weil fit that bill, and I liked the culture”, describing colleagues as “confident and driven, but ultimately very supportive”. The firm has not stood still in the intervening years. “Since I joined, the London office has grown in size and the scope of our clients has increased significantly. However, it still retains a collegial environment where you can build meaningful relationships with people throughout the office.”
The early responsibility afforded to trainees and newly qualified lawyers at Weil shows up in the day-to-day. “At the junior end, you focus on just one or two main transactions and take ownership of everything from ancillary documents to managing local counsel. You’re able to learn and develop quickly at Weil with that early exposure,” Hyde says. Seniority changes the job rather than adding to it: “As you become more experienced, you cover more deals and the focus shifts to prioritisation, transaction leadership, and managing relationships with clients on the one hand and your team of associates and trainees on the other.”
Much of that work crosses borders. “The vast majority of our deals are multi-jurisdictional. English law remains dominant in European financings, and we are constantly working with deal structures, target businesses and institutions set up across the continent and more widely,” Hyde says. This makes the core competency less glamorous than students might assume. “A key element of being a transactional lawyer is process management. We need to understand and manage the tax, regulatory, and local law considerations to shape how we structure our financings. Being able to spot potential issues early ensures complex cross-border transactions are as smooth as possible for the client.”
The pace of the work can also make for memorable times. “We recently did a full financing bid for a client over a single weekend,” Hyde recalls. “I took the call at 8am on Saturday, and by 10am on Monday, we had signed debt commitment papers with a group of banks. It’s not the norm and it was intense, but rewarding because it showed what can be done in exceptional circumstances to provide the best service and build trust with a client.” Over time, that trust can deepen into something more significant. “As you move up the ranks, you get more responsibility and become a trusted adviser to the point where you become the first port of call for clients.”
Looking ahead, Hyde expects financing and restructuring lawyers to have a busy few years. “Global events in recent years have destabilised markets, resulting in subdued new M&A activity in certain periods. For financing lawyers, there is a constant cycle of work whether businesses perform well, or not, and as loans approach maturity. An unknown element of particular focus currently is how deals done with private credit funds during the COVID era will perform,” Hyde explains. “A large volume of deals from that period will reach maturity over the next couple of years whilst M&A and exit opportunities remain challenging, which is likely to drive refinancing and liability management activity across the market.”
At the same time, sponsors are holding onto businesses for longer, which creates other sources of work. “There is often more to do during the lifecycle of an investment, such as dividend recaps or loan repricings where performance is strong,” Hyde says. “On the other hand, when businesses are struggling, finance lawyers are increasingly being asked to find creative solutions to raise additional financing or manage difficulties. We are seeing many new or evolving financing products and solutions that were not common a few years ago.”
For students considering a career in finance, Hyde’s advice focuses less on technical knowledge and more on the skills they can start developing now. “Technical ability and commercial understanding develop over time, but you can practise softer skills at any time. Being organised, efficient, and inspiring confidence in those you work with is vital,” Hyde says. “Interpersonal skills are also often overlooked; a big part of the role is building constructive relationships with your team, clients, opposing counsel, and other advisers.”
On vacation scheme and training contract applications themselves, Hyde is equally practical. “Research the firm properly and understand the practice areas that drive the business so you can tailor your application and explain clearly why you want to join that firm. Be yourself in interviews; if you are genuinely ambitious and interested, it will come across naturally.” The final word is one worth hearing in application season: “remember it is an iterative process — your application forms and interview skills will improve with each new experience”.
Ed Hyde will speaking at ‘How private equity finances multi-billion pound deals — with Weil’, a virtual student event taking place Monday 14 September. Secure your place now.
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