Rupert Russell is a British lawyer admitted to the English bar in 1984, whose career has centred on corporate, securities and mergers and acquisitions work in London and the United States. A graduate of Oxford University, he has been a partner at Shartsis Friese LLP in San Francisco since 2005.
Background
Rupert Russell was born in England. His formal education and early professional training took place in England, at Oxford University and at the College of Law in Guildford, before he entered the English legal profession.
England's legal profession has traditionally been organised around separate branches of practice, with barristers acting as courtroom advocates and solicitors advising clients directly. Russell's training and first admission belonged to this English system before his practice took him to firms in London, Los Angeles and San Francisco.
Education
Russell studied law at Oxford University, where he completed a Bachelor of Arts and a Master of Arts. Oxford is a collegiate university, in which students belong to individual colleges while taking degrees awarded by the university as a whole, and it is one of the oldest universities in the English-speaking world.
He also studied at the College of Law in Guildford, a provider of professional legal training in England. His admission to the bar in England in 1984 marked the point at which his professional practice as a corporate and securities lawyer began.
Career
Russell began his career in London after his admission to the English bar in 1984. From that year he practised as a corporate and securities lawyer, first in the London office of Clifford Chance, where his assignments included work for its Amsterdam office and for Lloyd's of London. Clifford Chance was formed in 1987 through the merger of two London firms, Coward Chance and Clifford-Turner, so his earliest years there fell before that merger. Lloyd's of London is a specialist insurance and reinsurance market, and advisory work for it required familiarity with the financial and regulatory frameworks of the City of London.
He then worked in the London and Miami offices of Baker & McKenzie. The firm was founded in Chicago in 1949 and opened in London in 1961, becoming one of the first American law firms to establish an office in the City.
In 1994 Russell joined Morrison & Foerster, working in its Los Angeles office until 1999 and then in its San Francisco office until 2005, with assignments in the firm's Hong Kong and New York offices. He was a partner of Morrison & Foerster between 2000 and 2005. The firm was founded in San Francisco in 1883 and by the late twentieth century had expanded its practice across the United States and Asia.
In 2005 Russell joined the corporate department of Shartsis Friese LLP as a partner. His practice there covers the structuring and negotiation of complex transactions, including mergers and acquisitions, securities offerings, debt financing and venture capital. He has focused particularly on middle-market transactions, and he has advised public companies on capital markets deals and clients in sectors including healthcare, technology and manufacturing. He has also worked as a partner of TETHER.
Membership
Russell co-founded the British American Bar Association of Southern California and the British American Bar Association of Northern California. These associations bring together lawyers with British and American legal backgrounds and promote professional contact between the two legal communities.
He has also served on the Bench-Bar Coalition, an organisation linking judges and lawyers, and he holds a position on its Executive Committee for Northern California.
Co-founder
British American Bar Association of Southern California
,
United States
Co-founder
British American Bar Association of Northern California
,
United States
Member at large for Northern California on the Executive Committee
Bench-Bar Coalition
,
United States
References
Shartsis Friese LLP attorney profile
The law firm's profile of P. Rupert Russell, a partner, covering his corporate and securities practice, Oxford education and admissions in England and California.
Martindale-Hubbell attorney profile
Directory profile of Peter Rupert Russell, a Shartsis Friese partner, recording his Oxford University education and admission in England in 1984 and in California in 1995.
