Key Takeaways
- • Herbert Smith Freehills Kramer partner Stuart Brinkworth, a London-based corporate and leveraged finance lawyer, describes how private equity legal advisory has shifted from transactional execution to strategic, integrated client relationships.
- • Brinkworth says single private credit funds can now underwrite more than £1 billion of debt, compared with the need for multiple funds to finance any deal above £50 million in the early years of his practice.
- • Brinkworth identifies trust, commercial judgment, and sector expertise as the factors now differentiating top advisers, alongside legal excellence.
- • The interview covers the evolving relationship between banks and private credit funds and the influence of AI on deal execution.
Summary
Herbert Smith Freehills Kramer has published a video interview with London-based corporate and leveraged finance partner Stuart Brinkworth as part of its "Private Capital In Focus" series, covering private credit, acquisition finance, LBOs and MBOs in the United Kingdom. The article is dated 27 October 2026.
Brinkworth traces his career to the early unitranche deals of 2013, when the market took off, acting for funds as lenders. He moved increasingly to the sponsor side from 2015 onward, and sponsor work now accounts for most of his practice. He became a partner in 2006 and says the relationship between private equity sponsors and their legal advisers was then largely transactional, focused on technical execution and risk management.
According to Brinkworth, that relationship is now far more strategic and integrated. Sponsors expect advisers to understand their investment strategy, sector priorities and commercial objectives, and the best advisers help shape transactions and anticipate execution challenges. Legal excellence remains essential, but he argues that commercial judgment, responsiveness and sector expertise now differentiate advisers.
On market scale, Brinkworth notes that early private credit deals above £50 million typically required more than one fund, whereas single funds can now underwrite over £1 billion of debt across different parts of the capital structure. He describes the market as "infinitely more sophisticated and complex." He also names Will Allen, now at Newbrook Capital, and Max Mitchell at ICG as influences on his approach, the latter on financial covenants.
The article notes the interview also addresses the changing relationship between banks and private credit funds and how AI is altering deal execution. The source is a contributed video piece and provides no transaction-specific deal values or named transactions beyond these general market observations.
Brinkworth traces his career to the early unitranche deals of 2013, when the market took off, acting for funds as lenders. He moved increasingly to the sponsor side from 2015 onward, and sponsor work now accounts for most of his practice. He became a partner in 2006 and says the relationship between private equity sponsors and their legal advisers was then largely transactional, focused on technical execution and risk management.
According to Brinkworth, that relationship is now far more strategic and integrated. Sponsors expect advisers to understand their investment strategy, sector priorities and commercial objectives, and the best advisers help shape transactions and anticipate execution challenges. Legal excellence remains essential, but he argues that commercial judgment, responsiveness and sector expertise now differentiate advisers.
On market scale, Brinkworth notes that early private credit deals above £50 million typically required more than one fund, whereas single funds can now underwrite over £1 billion of debt across different parts of the capital structure. He describes the market as "infinitely more sophisticated and complex." He also names Will Allen, now at Newbrook Capital, and Max Mitchell at ICG as influences on his approach, the latter on financial covenants.
The article notes the interview also addresses the changing relationship between banks and private credit funds and how AI is altering deal execution. The source is a contributed video piece and provides no transaction-specific deal values or named transactions beyond these general market observations.
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