ABOUT
ANNIE WALLIS is a partner in the Chicago office. She practices in the Global Finance group. Her practice includes secured and unsecured lending transactions, cash flow and asset based leverage facilities, merger and acquisition financing, mezzanine and second lien financings, debt restructurings, private debt and financings of alternative assets, including financings for investment funds and asset managers (such as NAV facilities, fund-of-fund facilities, margin loans, and capital call facilities), and film, media and entertainment financing. She represents lenders, participants, agents, sponsors, originators and borrowers in single-bank and syndicated credits. Her clients include investment banks, commercial banks, hedge funds, private equity funds and public and private companies.
Variety has named Annie to its Legal Impact Report for 2019 and 2021, and its Dealmakers Impact Report for 2020. She was recognized for her work on behalf of MUFG Union Bank in connection with the Weinstein Co. and Open Road Films bankruptcies, representing The Raine Group in the launch of Thrill One Sports & Entertainment, and for her work in representing film production and distribution company Neon Rated.
Prior to becoming a lawyer, Annie was a business consultant and then worked in the treasury group of a Fortune 500 company.
Annie graduated from Washington University in St. Louis magna cum laude in 2000 and Northwestern University School of Law cum laude in 2006. She was the editor-in-chief of the Northwestern University Journal of International Human Rights and served as a judicial extern for the Honorable Joan Humphrey Lefkow of the Northern District of Illinois.
Memberships & Activities
- Chicago Bar Association
- American Bar Association
- Member of Board of Directors, Shriver Center on Poverty Law
- Auxiliary Board of the Joffrey Ballet
Publications
- Co-author, “NAV Financings and “Bankruptcy Unlikely” Special Purpose Vehicles,” Sidley Update, February 2, 2023.
Co-author, “Security Interests: Fund Finance,” Thomson Reuters Practical Law, 2023. - Co-author, “U.S. Credit Markets: Interconnectedness and Risks,” Sidley Update, November 23, 2020.
- Annie is a co-author, with colleagues Anny Huang and Ken Bellaire, of a series of primary articles on The Credit Agreement for the Lexis-Nexis author series in the “Practice Advisor: Banking and Finance” module launched in 2014.
Admissions & Certifications
- Illinois
Education
- Northwestern School of Law (J.D., 2006, cum laude, Editor-in-Chief, Northwestern University Journal of International Human Rights)
- Washington University (B.S., 2000, magna cum laude)
