Cleveland & Co Promotes Caroline Donald to General Counsel, Governance & Trading

Cleveland & Co is delighted to announce the promotion of Caroline Donald to General Counsel, Governance & Trading.

Caroline joined Cleveland & Co as Deputy General Counsel, Governance, Regulation & Trading in 2025, and her promotion to General Counsel represents an important step as a senior leader within the firm. It reflects the experience she brings from a distinguished career in financial services law and her growing contribution to the firm and its clients.

Caroline began her legal career at Slaughter and May, where she specialised in asset management. She then transitioned in-house, spending over a decade at Goldman Sachs in senior legal and Chief of Staff roles across both the buy and sell-side, with responsibility spanning public funds in Europe, regulatory engagement, derivatives, governance, and legal operations.

A significant chapter of Caroline's career was her time at First State Investments (now First Sentier Investors), where she held senior roles including EMEA General Counsel and Global Managing Counsel. She led international legal teams and was involved in major strategic projects, including the divestment of First State Investments from its parent bank, initially by preparing for an IPO and ultimately being acquired by a Japanese investor. She subsequently served as General Counsel and Company Secretary at Saranac Partners, advising on contentious and non-contentious regulatory and commercial matters, Board strategy, and entity expansion in Europe. Caroline has also co-advised extensively on C-Suite HR related matters.

In her new role as General Counsel, Caroline will focus on governance and trading matters, advising investment managers, financial institutions, and market participants on governance arrangements, transactional activity, employment and related legal issues. She will work closely with Cleveland & Co's other General Counsels to ensure clients benefit from the firm's full breadth of senior legal expertise across all their needs.

Emma Cleveland, CEO of Cleveland & Co, commented:

"I'm excited to announce Caroline's promotion to General Counsel. Her experience across private practice and in-house has given her strong foundations in governance and transactional work, and a genuine understanding of the complexity our clients navigate. I'm looking forward to working with Caroline as she takes on this role and to the contribution she'll make to our clients, our team, and the continued growth of the firm. Congratulations, Caroline!"

Caroline Donald commented:

"I am genuinely excited to be stepping into this role. It is a real opportunity to grow — as a leader and as an adviser — and to take on greater responsibility for some of the most interesting and complex governance and trading work in the market. I am looking forward to working closely with the wider team and with our clients as we continue to build Cleveland & Co's practice in this space."