Cleary Gottlieb Adds Partner Deborah North to Enhance Financial Regulatory and Transactions Practice

Cleary Gottlieb welcomes Deborah North as a partner in its New York office, focusing on derivatives and structured finance transactions.

“We’re delighted to have Deborah join our firm,” said Cleary Managing Partner Michael Gerstenzang. “In the current economic environment, clients across the market will continue to look for innovative strategies to navigate the regulatory landscape and handle complex transactions. As one of the foremost derivatives and structured finance practitioners, Deborah’s leadership in this area will further strengthen Cleary’s capabilities in helping our clients accomplish their goals.”

Deborah has over two decades of experience handling the regulatory and transactional aspects of a broad range of derivatives and structured finance transactions, with a focus on OTC derivatives and structured synthetic products. Deborah has been actively involved in advising on some of the most challenging issues currently facing global financial markets. She advises a broad range of market participants on transactions and regulations related to digital assets and decentralized finance, sustainability-related matters, including the development of voluntary carbon markets, and market dislocation caused by crises including COVID-19 and the Russia/Ukraine conflict. Deborah has also played a leadership role for the financial industry in the transition from IBORs to risk-free rates.

“Deborah is recognized as a market-leading derivatives regulatory and transactional lawyer, and she is the go-to advisor on the clearing of OTC derivatives,” noted partner Derek Bush. “Her expertise will perfectly complement our existing offering in this area, and we are excited to have Deborah join our team.”

Deborah led the design of client clearing of derivatives and has advised on the rulebooks for over 20 existing and prospective clearing houses and has engaged with the CFTC, the Federal Reserve Board, and the SEC on clearing-related matters. Deborah is currently advising a large buy-side institution on structuring and documenting the clearing of U.S. treasuries and the related current SEC proposal on the mandatory clearing of treasury repos.

“Cleary has a rich history of working across the entire range of industry issues and complex matters affecting financial markets,” Deborah said. “I’m excited and honored to join such a tremendous platform and look forward to working with my new colleagues to help our clients achieve their goals.”

Prior to joining Cleary, Deborah was a partner in the New York and London offices of a major global law firm since 2008. She regularly speaks and writes on derivatives and structured finance topics. Deborah recently contributed the U.S. chapter to a book on global derivatives regulation and was invited to speak on those issues by ISDA, FIA, SIFMA AMG, and ABA. She earned her LL.B., Law (Hons) from King’s College and her Diploma in Legal Practice (Distinction) from the College of Law.