Amanda Quaine, Deputy General Counsel – EMEA

Amanda Quaine is Deputy General Counsel – EMEA at Cleveland & Co, where she supports the firm’s investment management and funds practice. With 27 years of experience across global financial institutions, asset managers, and private practice, Amanda is a highly respected legal strategist and commercial adviser to clients navigating fund structuring, financial services regulation, trading, governance, and investment operations.

Dual-qualified in England & Wales and Victoria, Australia, Amanda brings deep technical expertise and market understanding to her role, advising institutional investors, fund operators and asset managers on the full lifecycle of investment management, fund formation, distribution, and legal risk management. Her areas of focus include UCITS, AIFs, hedge funds, platform and distribution agreements, securities lending, and cross-border investment mandates. She also supports clients on complex issues spanning product governance, global regulation, and investment management agreements.

Amanda’s career includes senior in-house legal roles at leading institutions such as Columbia Threadneedle, Morgan Stanley and, at the time, Credit Suisse. She was part of the UK legal team brought in after the collapse of Lehman Brothers, where she worked with the administrators to maximise value for creditors, advising on creditor claims against the estate, Lehman’s claims against its debtors, the close-out and unwinding of countparty positions and complex and novel legal issues, providing a rare and invaluable experience that deepened her understanding of systemic risk, counterparty exposure, and legal resilience under crisis conditions.

This frontline exposure to both global market operations and institutional legal infrastructure shapes Amanda’s ability to anticipate shifts, deliver practical advice, and align legal frameworks with business strategy. She has also advised on corporate governance and legal policy at enterprise level, giving her a uniquely holistic view of legal risk and stakeholder accountability.

Amanda’s work reflects Cleveland & Co’s values of excellence, clarity, and responsiveness. She is known for her adventurous mindset, commercial pragmatism, and unwavering determination, helping clients stay ahead of regulatory change while safeguarding their commercial interests. Her approachable style and instinct for mentoring make her not only a trusted adviser to clients, but also a natural leader within the firm and the wider industry.

Her portfolio of expertise includes investment research and dealing commissions, AIFM and ACD agreements, prime services, EMIR, MiFID II, SMCR, ESG regulatory alignment, insolvency, and capital markets. Amanda also advises on strategic initiatives such as suitability frameworks, distribution oversight, legal due diligence, and legal change management.

Outside of work, Amanda is passionate about travel and the outdoors, and enjoys restoring balance through movement, creativity, and quality time with friends and family.