Paul Hastings Enhances #1 Global Finance Platform With Premier Private Credit Partner in New York

Paul Hastings LLP announced today that premier private credit lawyer Peter Williams has joined the firm as a partner in New York, further strengthening its elite Global Finance platform.

Joining from Cahill Gordon & Reindel, where he co-headed the firm’s Chambers-ranked Private Credit practice, Williams has extensive experience structuring and executing private credit transactions across the capital structure, including traditional first-lien, unitranche, stretch senior, second-lien and subordinated-loan transactions, as well as preferred equity, structured equity and equity co-investments. He regularly advises leading private credit investors on their most complex and high-profile transactions. Prior to Cahill, Williams was a managing director at KKR, where he worked alongside the senior investment team and oversaw outside counsel’s structuring and documentation of hundreds of acquisition financings and other transactions.

“We believe that we have systematically built the leading global finance and credit platform across leveraged finance, private credit, investment-grade finance and fund finance, and Peter’s deep experience and long-standing client relationships will further strengthen our leading position from sponsor-backed acquisition financings to traditional bank lending as well as with opportunistic private credit lenders,” said firm Chair Frank Lopez. “With established relationships with the leading asset managers in credit, he will play a pivotal role in deepening and expanding our institutional partnerships as we continue to evolve and strengthen our premier, globally integrated finance offerings and gain additional market share at the top of the finance market.”

Recognized by Chambers, Williams has advised on a wide variety of high-profile, large-scale private credit transactions across the market. He works with a blue chip base of private credit lenders with transactions ranging from jumbo acquisition financings representing the likes of Blackstone Credit and Insurance, Blue Owl and KKR Credit to middle market and more opportunistic financings for clients such as Silver Point Capital and the Credit and Structured Solutions team at Francisco Partners to advising leading digital asset firms like FalconX on bespoke lending transactions involving digital currencies.

Representative matters include representing Francisco Partners in connection with its strategic investment in ActivTrak; representing direct lenders in connection with a unitranche credit facility consisting of $2.65 billion first lien term loans, $940 million delayed draw term commitments, and $250 million revolving commitments; and representing financing sources in the acquisition of Service Logic by Bain Capital, in partnership with Mubadala Investment Company.

Williams’ arrival further strengthens Paul Hastings’ top-tier Global Finance platform, which has tripled in size and revenue over the past five years. He reunites with former colleague Jennifer Daly, chair of Private Credit & Special Situations, who joined the firm in 2024 along with a premier restructuring and private credit team comprising over 10 partners and nearly 20 total attorneys.

“Paul Hastings has built the leading private credit and broader global finance platform, with strong momentum across the market,” said Williams. “The firm’s deep relationships with leading direct lenders and investment banks — combined with its strength across all areas touching credit, including infrastructure and projects, asset-backed and structured credit, real estate and restructuring and special situations — align seamlessly with my practice. I’m also especially pleased to be reunited with Jennifer and look forward to collaborating with her and my new colleagues to continue the firm’s growth trajectory.”

Williams joins other high-impact additions across Paul Hastings’ global finance platform, including an elite 15-lawyer team led by partners Mo Nurmohamed and Ross Anderson from Latham & Watkins in London; a premier three-partner group from the Band 1 practice at Cahill Gordon & Reindel LLP in New York; an eight-partner team comprising more than 25 lawyers from the Band 1 practice at Vinson & Elkins LLP in Texas; and a market-leading funds finance team comprising lawyers from Haynes Boone, Cadwalader and Mayer Brown in Charlotte.

The firm’s market-leading Global Finance practice scored 15 No. 1 year-end rankings and more than 30 top five rankings in 2025 from Bloomberg, LSEG and Debtwire. The team started 2026 off strong with multiple No.1 rankings in Q1, including in the Lead Bank’s Counsel, US Syndicated Loans (by deal volume and deal count) category of LSEG’s league tables and in Bloomberg’s Lead Lender’s Legal Counsel Global Bridge Loans and US Loans-New Money categories (by volume). Additionally, the practice is ranked Band 1 in Chambers USA for Banking & Finance in the Nationwide, as well as Band 1 for Private Credit – Nationwide, and was recognized as “Americas Law Firm of the Year – Transactions” by Private Debt Investor (PDI) in 2025. The team was named “Banking Law Firm of the Year” at the 2024 Chambers USA Awards. 

As the world’s leading legal advisers for private credit, leveraged finance and fund finance, Paul Hastings represents virtually every top investment bank and direct lender.

About Paul Hastings

With widely recognized elite teams across 17 core practices, Paul Hastings is a premier law firm with a culture of excellence focused on providing intellectual capital and superior execution globally to the world’s leading investment banks, asset managers and corporations.