SFNet New Member Spotlight: Sidley Austin

Sidley Austin LLP
1 S. Dearborn St.
Chicago, IL 60603

Sidley’s Global Finance group is a destination practice for high-value, complex financings across a broad spectrum of platforms, industries, and asset types. The firm is consistently recognized as having one of the world’s leading finance practices, with more than 200 lawyers practicing on all continents and across a wide variety of industries.

Kelechi Adibe is a partner in Sidley Austin LLP’s Global Finance practice who represents banks and other financial institutions, private credit funds, private equity sponsors and their portfolio companies, and public companies in complex financing transactions. He serves as a trusted advisor on a broad range of lending matters, with particular depth in asset-based and cash-flow facilities, split-lien structures, cross-border financings, and other secured lending arrangements.

Kelechi was recognized by Chambers USA as an “Up and Coming” lawyer for Banking & Finance in Illinois (2026). He was also named to the Secured Finance Network’s 2023 “40 Under 40” list.

Kelechi’s work spans a wide range of industries, including healthcare, technology, transportation, manufacturing, steel, consumer products, education, energy and utilities, life sciences, insurance, and financial services, and he brings practical judgment to complex financing transactions, helping clients evaluate legal risk, resolve structuring challenges, and execute transactions efficiently.

Kelechi is based in the firm’s office in Chicago and can be reached at kadibe@sidley.com.

Drew Cardonick is a partner in Sidley Austin LLP’s Global Finance practice who represents private credit lenders and national and international commercial banks in an extensive range of finance and restructuring matters. His finance experience is wide-ranging, and covers syndicated, club, and single lender financings, including private equity-sponsored and non-sponsored asset-based, cash flow, split lien, and unitranche loans throughout the United States and internationally. In connection with those financings, he has negotiated and documented a multitude of intercreditor agreements of numerous different types. Drew also has extensive experience in restructuring matters, having represented the largest secured creditors in two of the largest bankruptcies in the history of the United States and written extensively on debtor-in-possession financings, cash collateral, substantive consolidation, fraudulent conveyance, and other bankruptcy structuring issues.

Drew is based in the firm’s office in Chicago and can be reached at acardonick@sidley.com.

James Croke is a partner in Sidley Austin LLP’s Global Finance practice who represents commercial banks, direct lending funds, investment banks, hedge funds, insurance companies and asset managers. He provides legal guidance for these clients in a wide range of financing transactions, including senior secured and unsecured credit facilities, first lien and second lien transactions, syndicated and bi-lateral financings, unitranche financings, mezzanine financings, and cash-flow, asset-based and split-lien transactions, as well as work-outs, restructurings, debtor-in-possession facilities and other distressed financings.

James was named to the Secured Finance Network’s 2025 “40 Under 40” list.

James is based in the firm’s office in Chicago and can be reached at james.croke@sidley.com.

Jamie Snyder is the co-head of Sidley Austin LLP’s Chicago Global Finance group and co-leader of the firm’s Private Credit and Syndicated Finance practice. He focuses on helping his clients structure and execute on complex debt financing transactions, including corporate lending facilities, leveraged acquisition financings and other specialty debt investments. 

Jamie has been recognized in the 2014–2026 editions of Chambers USA for Illinois Banking & Finance.

He represents a diverse collection of prominent clients that include money-center banks, asset managers, BDCs, credit funds, private equity firms, hedge funds and other investors in connection with senior secured and unsecured credit facilities, unitranche financings, first lien and second lien transactions, mezzanine and subordinated financings, and asset based as well as cash flow transactions. Jamie also has extensive experience representing lenders in connection with debtor-in-possession financings, bankruptcy exit facilities, workouts and restructurings. His practice covers a broad range of deal sizes, from bi-lateral domestic financings for middle market companies to broadly-syndicated credit facilities for publicly traded companies with extensive cross-border operations.

Jamie is based in the firm’s office in Chicago and can be reached at james.snyder@sidley.com.