Rebecca Perlman
Rebecca is a corporate partner, specialising in ESG, sustainable investment and impact finance. She is Head of ESG for the UK, US & EMEA and she leads the firm's global Sustainable & Impact Investment Practice.
Rebecca advises clients on matters relating to ESG-related regulation, soft law standards and voluntary compliance frameworks, ESG market disclosure and reporting, and matters relating to accredited organisations such as B Corps.
She also helps clients with ESG-related risk management, stakeholder engagement and corporate sustainability strategy, and she frequently advises on ESG issues in the context of transactions. She has extensive experience advising on sustainable and impact investment transactions.
Rebecca is one of only five lawyers globally to be ranked as a Band 1 leading advisor for ESG by Chambers Global. She is listed as a Next Generation Partner by The Legal 500 rankings, in which she is recommended for “providing a stellar service, with advice that is commercial, practical and technically excellent” and for “excellence in propelling the work of her clients”. She is also ranked by Chambers UK, with one client describing her as "the single most impressive solicitor" they "have ever worked with". Rebecca has been recognised in Financial News as one of 25 Rising Stars of the legal industry and in Real Deals' list of Future 40 ESG Innovators. She is listed in NatWest's WISE100 list of the UK's most influential women in impact investment and was the first ESG lawyer to feature in The Lawyer’s Hot 100, which describes her as “one of HSF’s most talented lawyers” and “a star pushing HSF forward in the ESG space”.
Rebecca is a non-executive director of the Impact Investing Institute, The Big Issue CL CIC and the UN Refugee Agency’s UK charity. She is a member of the City of London Law Society’s ESG Committee and of the Global Impact Investment Network's Policy Innovation Group. She is also the Lead Expert (Legal) to the CFA UK’s Impact & Investing Panel.
Background
Rebecca studied Modern History at the University of Oxford, after which she completed her law conversion in London.
Experience & expertise
Selected matters
- Numerous listed clients in relation to disclosure and reporting matters, including the preparation and review of climate, annual and sustainability reports and advising on regulatory matters, including under CSRD and the EU Taxonomy, and in relation to regulatory inquiries regarding ESG and climate-related claims.
- Numerous clients, including a multi-national LSE-listed extractives sector company, a global LSE-listed financial institution and a fast-growing SaaS business in relation to board and management structures for governing ESG and sustainability risks and opportunities across the business, as well as related policies and their implementation
- Various clients regarding ESG issues in transactions, including developing specialist ESG due diligence frameworks and tools to identify and assess ESG risks as part of BAU and M&A transactions, as well as the integration of ESG considerations into supply chain and sourcing frameworks.
- Numerous clients on ESG regulatory and contentious risks, including most recently a listed financial institution on contentious risks across the bank, a global NASDAQ-listed tech giant on ESG-related regulatory risks in the UK and EU, and a FTSE 100 company on risks regarding sustainability disclosures.
- A confidential client on regulatory matters relating to forced labour across 15 jurisdictions and another confidential client regarding matters relating to child labour in India.
- One of the world's largest asset managers on a renewables investment by an SFDR Art. 9 fund, including in relation to specialist ESG due diligence and the negotiation of deal terms to enable the asset manager to comply with obligations at the fund level
- A UK-based impact investor in relation to its investments in the Energy Entrepreneurs Growth Fund and a US-based renewables investment firm
- A global asset manager on its private markets sustainable investment strategy, including in relation to its engagement with portfolio companies
- A UK-based pension fund on the implementation of its net zero investment strategy
- A Bahrain-based energy transition issuer on its large cap Series A, including specialist ESG due diligence and related advice
- A consumer tech manufacturer in relation to circular economy regulation and a potential entry into the second hand/ refurbished products market
- A UK-based impact investor on an investment in an avocado farm in Kenya by way of mezzanine loan and detachable warrant
- AgDevCo on its impact investment in a West African agricultural company focused on sustainable palm oil
- Children's Investment Fund Foundation on Asian and US impact investments targeting carbon reduction
- A consumer goods business focussed on reducing food waste, on various fundraising rounds
- A market-leading precision fishing technology company in relation to various funding rounds
- HSBC on its ESG and impact product classification and labelling framework to apply across its entire product range in the context of SFDR compliance
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