Lisa Collier prides herself on always listening to clients and using their industry experience to inform her perspective on the documents she negotiates. “As lawyers, we can advise on market trends and potential risks and pitfalls in a document, but our clients are the ones who teach us about the practical risks and concerns from their perspective — and those aren’t always obvious from the four corners of the document,” Collier says.

Collier began her career 12 years ago at a global law firm in New York, where she focused on leveraged finance, representing banks and other financial institutions in secured term loans, cash flow revolvers and high-yield bonds. She has broadened her practice over the years to focus on the asset-based lending product as well.

An exciting chapter of Collier’s career began in early 2023, when she joined the banking practice at Latham & Watkins. The firm’s practice advising on both syndicated and direct lending transactions offers her a great opportunity to work with clients on complex transactions that span practices and products.

Recently, private equity firms have become much more interested in using asset-based facilities in their portfolio companies’ capital structures. With her background in leveraged finance and leveraged buyouts, Collier is well-positioned to guide her ABL clients through what financial sponsors look for and expect, and to find ways to make the product work for all parties.

The transactions Collier works on, especially in the acquisition finance space, tend to move quickly, and she says it’s a challenge to balance the need for speed with the desire to reach a perfect result. Ultimately, Collier has come to the realization that she can achieve a great result even if she feels the agreement isn’t perfect. What’s more important than perfection is protecting a client’s interests with a document that all parties walk away satisfied with; that’s when Collier knows she’s succeeded.