John Dawson is a partner in the Corporate and Leverage Finance Team at Shoosmiths. John focuses his practice on advising borrowers, lenders and investors on the full spectrum of financings in the private debt markets. He has extensive experience working on public and private acquisition financings and special situations lending and restructurings. His clients include leading private equity funds, specialist investors, commercial banks, investment banks and corporate borrowers in the UK, Europe and internationally. With his expertise in special situations and distressed debt, John delivers clients comprehensive, end-to-end solutions, for complex financing and restructuring transactions. John has been a trusted adviser to clients for over 25 years, having previously been a partner at Magic Circle and US firms. He thrives on complexity, enjoys delivering innovative solutions and combines technical expertise with practical advice.

He has extensive board level experience as the secretary of the East End Community Foundation and as a trustee and secretary of both the Wells (All Saints) Pre-School and The Copped Hall Trust. He lectures on leveraged finance as part of the masters programme at the University of Cambridge and the University of Oxford.