Rachel Richardson Head of ESG

Rachel is head of ESG at Macfarlanes. She provides strategic support on a wide range of ESG issues, in particular in the area of sustainable finance.

Rachel has oversight of the ESG practice at the firm and is committed to helping support our clients’ sustainability goals. In addition, she is driving change within the firm to ensure that we operate in a way that has a more positive impact on our stakeholders and community.

She is a technical expert in the area of sustainably linked lending, advising clients across the firm’s finance practice on legal and market developments connected to that area of finance. She is a founding member of the firm’s ESG working group and regularly works closely with the Lawtech team at Macfarlanes.

She leads on cross practice area ESG advice, including B-Corp accreditation. She has a particular focus in nature-based solutions, biodiversity issues, carbon credit generation and their use.

Rachel holds the Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership certificate in sustainable finance.

Rachel is chair of the ESG steering committee which comprises leaders across the firm, including lawyers, policy specialists, consultants and business services directors advising clients on ESG matters and formulating policies for the firm’s internal operations.
Prior to taking on this role in May 2022, Rachel had 12 years’ experience as a finance lawyer at the firm, spending three years as head of banking & finance policy in the finance team at Macfarlanes.

Rachel advised debt funds, private equity sponsors and other financial institutions on a wide range of financing transactions with a focus on all aspects of leveraged and acquisition finance transactions, acting for both the firm’s lender-side and borrower-side clients. She also advised on fund finance and specialty finance issues.

Rachel’s experience includes a secondment to a global financial institution during which time she advised on a broad range of transactions.

Rachel sits on the steering group of our DAWN staff network, a forum that focuses on the mental health and wellbeing of all of those at Macfarlanes and also offers support to staff who have direct experience of or support others with disabilities, neurodiverse conditions and other long and short term conditions.