Dual-qualified in England and the United States, Kate Ashton is a leader of the firm’s Private Fund Transactions Group. She regularly counsels investors on private fund restructurings, recapitalisations and tender offers; listed fund transactions; purchases and sales of portfolios of LP interests; and domestic and cross-border co-investment transactions. Ms. Ashton is recommended by IFLR1000, which also named her in its “Women Leaders 2021” list. She is also recommended in The Legal 500 UK (2025) and Chambers UK (2025) for her prowess in Private Equity and in particular, for her work on secondaries transactions. She has also been lauded as “an excellent operator” and “highly rated” who “has decades of experience in the secondary market and is a professional and commercial lawyer, offering excellent advice.”
Beyond fund-related transactional experience, Ms. Ashton’s broadly international practice includes corporate finance, debt and equity offerings and financial restructurings. She is recommended for both Debt and Equity Capital Markets, as well as for Mergers & Acquisitions and Private Equity, by IFLR1000 (2022). Ms. Ashton recently served as the Co-Chair of the Capital Markets Forum of the International Bar Association and is a former trustee of the American College of Investment Counsel.
Ms. Ashton is a frequent author and speaker on topics relating to the alternative asset and secondaries market. Selected publications include “FDI scrutiny of private equity secondary deals on the rise,” Westlaw Today (June, 2024); “How co-investors are adjusting to an unsettled market,” Private Equity International (October, 2023); “Untold Potential,” Private Equity International (October, 2021); “All in this together,” Private Equity International (November, 2020); “Debevoise Discusses Private Equity Options in Face of Liquidity Crunch,” The CLS Blue Sky Blog (May, 2020); “Sharing isn’t always easy,” Private Equity International (December, 2018); “How to be a good coinvestor,” Private Equity International (October, 2018); “Debevoise On Material Omissions In Private Equity Secondary Transactions,” The CLS Blue Sky Blog (October, 2018); “Beware Pitfalls In Private Equity Secondary Transactions,” Law360 (October, 2018); and “GP-Led Restructurings: Shaking up the World of Private Funds,” Debevoise & Plimpton Private Equity Report (Spring 2018, Vol. 18, No. 1). Selected speaking engagements include “Continuation Funds – The Only Way Is Up?,” BVCA Secondaries Roundtable (February, 2023); “The Rise and Rise of Co-Investments,” BVCA Summit (October, 2019); “The current state of the secondaries market,” BVCA Secondaries Roundtable (December, 2018); “The Rise & Rise of GP-Led Deals,” European Secondaries Summit (September, 2018); and “From Fund Restructurings to GP-Led Solutions - Where Next?,” BVCA Secondaries Forum 2018 (March, 2018).
Ms. Ashton graduated magna cum laude from Harvard College and from Harvard Law School. She is a member of the Board of Trustees of the Royal British Society of Sculptors and of the American Trust for the British Library and is active in a number of other cultural and pro bono organisations. Ms. Ashton co-founded the Lawyers Volunteering for the Arts pro bono initiative in London, through which a consortium of law firms provides pro bono legal advice to low-income arts and cultural organisations in the United Kingdom, and serves on its Executive Committee.
Katherine Ashton cuenta con formación profesional tanto en Inglaterra como en Estados Unidos y es líder del Grupo de Transacciones Con Fondos Privados del despacho. La Sra. Ashton asesora regularmente a inversores en operaciones de reestructuración de fondos privados, recapitalizaciones y ofertas públicas de adquisición; operaciones de fondos cotizados; compras y ventas de carteras de participaciones de LP; y operaciones de coinversión nacionales y transfronterizas. IFLR 1000 la recomienda y la incluyó en su lista de "Mujeres Líderes de 2021". The Legal 500 UK (2024) también la recomienda en el área de operaciones de capital privado y, en particular, por su trabajo en transacciones secundarias. También ha sido elogiada como una "excelente operadora" y una "persona de referencia en transacciones secundarias".
Más allá de la experiencia transaccional relacionada con los fondos, la práctica internacional de la Sra. Ashton incluye finanzas corporativas, ofertas de deuda y capital y reestructuraciones financieras. Está recomendada por IFLR1000 (2022) para los mercados de capital de deuda y de acciones, así como para las fusiones y adquisiciones y capital riesgo. Recientemente, la Sra. Ashton ha actuado como copresidente del Capital Markets Forum (Foro de Mercado de Capitales) de la International Bar Association (Asociación Internacional de Abogados) y fue miembro del American College of Investment Counsel (Colegio Estadounidense de Asesores de Inversión).
La Sra. Ashton es autora y conferencista frecuente en temas relacionados con el mercado de activos alternativos y secundarios. Algunas de sus publicaciones recientes incluyen “How co-investors are adjusting to an unsettled market,” Private Equity International (octubre de 2023); “Untold Potential,” Private Equity International (octubre de 2021); “All in this together,” Private Equity International (noviembre de 2020); "Debevoise Discusses Private Equity Options in Face of Liquidity Crunch", The CLS Blue Sky Blog (mayo de 2020); "Sharing isn’t always easy", Private Equity International (diciembre de 2018); "How to be a good coinvestor", Private Equity International (octubre de 2018); "Debevoise On Material Omissions In Private Equity Secondary Transactions", The CLS Blue Sky Blog (octubre de 2018); "Beware Pitfalls In Private Equity Secondary Transactions", Law360 (octubre de 2018); y "GP-Led Restructurings: Shaking up the World of Private Funds", Debevoise & Plimpton Private Equity Report (primavera de 2018, vol. 18, nº 1). Entre las conferencias seleccionadas se encuentran “Continuation Funds – The Only Way Is Up?,” BVCA Secondaries Roundtable (febrero de 2023); "The Rise and Rise of Co-Investments", BVCA Summit (octubre de 2019); "The current state of the secondaries market", BVCA Secondaries Roundtable (diciembre de 2018); "The Rise & Rise of GP-Led Deals", European Secondaries Summit (septiembre de 2018); y "From Fund Restructurings to GP-Led Solutions - Where Next?", BVCA Secondaries Forum 2018 (marzo de 2018).
La Sra. Ashton se graduó con mención magna cum laude de la Universidad de Harvard y de la Escuela de Derecho de Harvard. Pertenece al consejo directivo de la Royal British Society of Sculptors y de la American Trust for the British Library, y participa activamente en otras organizaciones culturales y sin fines de lucro. Cofundó en Londres la iniciativa sin fines de lucro Lawyers Volunteering for the Arts, a través de la cual un consorcio de despachos de abogados brinda servicios jurídicos gratuitos a organizaciones artísticas y culturales con pocos recursos en el Reino Unido. Actualmente, pertenece al Comité Ejecutivo de la organización.