Behrens to build out Opportunistic Credit and Trading sub-practice

Polsinelli today announced that Jenn Behrens has joined its Restructuring & Strategic Capital Practice as a shareholder in New York. Behrens advises hedge funds, private credit funds and asset managers on distressed credit trading and special-situations investments across U.S. and global secondary markets. She is focused on the Opportunistic Credit and Trading sub-practice, which she will help develop under Chair David J. Karp. Her arrival follows the recent addition of Zach Manning, reflecting the group’s deliberate growth strategy as it continues to add experienced lawyers with the capabilities to counsel clients across all aspects of complex financial and capital structure challenges.

Private credit now sits at the center of many middle-market capital structures, and the positions held by funds and institutions often influence how a situation unfolds long before a filing. Multi-lender private loan trade volume is increasing alongside the volume increases in the broadly syndicated loan market. Prior to joining Polsinelli, Behrens spent years leading a global debt and claims trading practice. Her experience spans opportunistic credit, distressed-asset strategy and transactions involving loans, trade claims and private securities. Her practice also encompasses Credit Secondaries, complex financing and capital markets transactions, including secured debt and equity financings, and private investments in public equity.

“Opportunistic credit transactions often pair a debt acquisition with a capital solution, and the starting point is understanding what the debt holder wants out of the situation,” said Karp. “Jenn has deep knowledge of the players and an intuitive understanding of the playbook at every critical juncture of a trade. She understands how impact and fulcrum control positions are built and what drives the investors behind them. That experience benefits all our clients, whether we’re representing investors, a lender group, or helping companies and boards get a clearer view of the stakeholders across the table.”

Polsinelli’s Opportunistic Credit and Trading sub-practice advises buy-side clients, including investment funds, financial institutions, CLOs and private equity funds. The team counsels on primary and secondary market trades in par and distressed debt, private securities, bankruptcy claims and other obligations of distressed companies. Behrens works with clients throughout the transaction lifecycle and coordinates with attorneys across related disciplines to address the legal and commercial issues presented by complex and highly structured investments. The sub-practice works hand in hand with the firm’s Finance and Corporate & M&A practices, giving clients a single team with multidisciplinary perspectives to better understand the investment opportunities and risks within a company’s capital structure.

“Polsinelli understands that putting clients first means developing practical, commercially informed legal strategies that deliver results. Polsinelli has made a meaningful commitment to building an opportunistic credit practice that recognizes the importance of the secondary market, and that vision was central to my decision to join,” said Behrens. “As private credit has grown, so has the complexity of what changes hands when a credit comes under stress. Investors need counsel who understand the legal and commercial issues underlying each position, and that’s the team we’re building.”

Behrens is a frequent voice on distressed debt and secondary-market issues, with thought leadership published in the New York Law Journal, Bloomberg Law and Turnarounds & Workouts. She is a member of the Trade Practices and Forms Committee of the Loan Syndications and Trading Association and is active in the Loan Market Association, the American Bar Association and the New York State Bar Association.

Behrens received her J.D. from New York Law School and her B.S. from Cornell University.

For more information, visit Polsinelli’s Restructuring & Strategic Capital Practice.