Profile

John E. Estes ’95 is a member of the New York Law School Board of Trustees and a Distinguished Adjunct Professor at the School. He joined Sullivan & Cromwell in New York in 1995 and became a partner of the Firm in 2002. He focuses his practice on leveraged finance transactions and cross-border financing.

Professor Estes has particular expertise in debt and equity capital markets transactions (SEC-registered and Rule 144A), acquisition finance, both for private equity and strategic, leveraged financings, secured and unsecured credit agreements, including revolvers, asset-based business loans (ABL) and bridges, and high yield financings. His capital markets experience includes a variety of structured debt instruments, hybrid capital, convertibles and preferred stock, initial public offerings, secondary offerings, and government privatizations. He has represented issuer and borrower clients in a variety of industries, including mining, oil and gas, telecommunications, financial institutions, and industrial, as well as a number of underwriter and lender clients. He also has experience in private mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures and natural resource-based project finance.

Professor Estes was a resident in the firm’s Melbourne, Australia office for more than 10 years and was the managing partner of the firm’s Australian practice from 2005 to 2010. He returned to New York in 2010 and is co-head of the firm’s Credit and Leveraged Finance practice.

Professor Estes has received recognition for his work by Best Lawyers in America; Chambers Global – U.S. and Australia Chambers USA; IFLR1000; The Legal 500 United States; The Legal 500 Latin America; Best Lawyers Australia; PLC Cross-border Capital Markets Handbook; PLC Which Lawyer? Yearbook; and Asia Law & Practice: AsiaLaw Leading Lawyers