Reed Smith LLP today announced that Susan Alker, a former partner in the firm’s Los Angeles office from 2007 to 2013, has re-joined its Financial Industry Group as a partner in San Francisco. For the past two years, Alker was a partner in the Los Angeles and San Francisco offices of Winston & Strawn LLP, and was firmwide chair of the Women’s Leadership Initiative.

“We are delighted to welcome Susan back as a key member of our financial services transactional team,” said Tamara Box, Global Chair of Reed Smith’s Financial Industry Group. “In the past two years, we have added a number of attorneys in our Financial Industry Group in California, and her return continues our growth and strength in this area on the West Coast.”

Alker brings financial industry experience negotiating corporate transactions, particularly in the area of debt finance. She represents major corporations, banks, financial institutions, private equity funds, and hedge funds, and frequently advises clients in connection with syndicated credit facilities, leveraged acquisition financings, cross-border transactions and investment grade credit facilities. Her experience extends to handling subordinated debt transactions, mezzanine debt and second-lien loans.

“Susan is a recognized thought leader in the financial transactions field in California and throughout the United States,” said David Weiss, Reed Smith’s San Francisco Office Managing Partner. “She has a large number of colleagues here who are very enthusiastic that she will again be one of us.”

Prior to joining Reed Smith in 2007, Alker was counsel at O’Melveny & Myers, which she joined after graduating from The University of California, Los Angeles, School of Law in 1997, and earning an MBA in international business from California State University in Los Angeles in 1993.

“I deeply value the collaborative culture at Reed Smith, and its integrated approach to meeting clients’ needs worldwide,” Alker said. “I am very pleased to be returning to Reed Smith where I can expand my practice and provide a broad range of services to my clients. The firm’s team approach to client services is well aligned with my own.”

Alker is ranked in Chambers USA and was nominated for “Up and Coming Finance Lawyer of the Year” by the Chambers USA Women in Law Awards in 2012. Her recent community service includes membership on the Altadena Children’s Center’s and Harriet Buhai Center’s board of directors, as well as president of the board of Friends Outside Los Angeles County.

Her professional involvement and contributions are also extensive. Alker served as an executive committee member and vice president (2009-2011), and chair of the Business Law Section (2004-2009) of the Women Lawyers Association of Los Angeles (WLALA); is a member of the Association for Corporate Growth, for which she served as program chair for the Entertainment Industry Program (2008) and the Private Equity Program (2009 and 2010); and was co-chair of the LACBA/WLALA Joint Task Force on the Retention and Promotion of Women in the Legal Profession (2011-2015).

Reed Smith’s Financial Industry Group of more than 240 lawyers is one of the largest practices dedicated to clients in the financial sector, advising domestic and global banks, insurance companies, credit card companies, mortgage bankers, investment banks, and investment management companies and advisors. It represents nine of the 10 top U.S. banks, the top 10 banks in Europe, and the top 10 banks in Asia, leveraging the skills of financial litigation, finance and lending, investment management, financial regulatory, commercial restructuring and bankruptcy, and M&A practices to serve clients in multiple jurisdictions.

Alker is the fourth addition to the firm’s Financial Industry Group in as many months. Michele D. Ross, a former partner at Emmet, Marvin & Martin, is a recent addition to the Group in Washington, D.C.; and in April, the New York office added George Pavlenishvili from Stoel Rives and Ilene Froom from Jones Day.

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