Ariel White-Tsimikalis

Ariel White-Tsimikalis is a partner in Goodwin’s Technology and Life Sciences group and leads the UK Capital Markets & Public Company practice in London. She specialises in advising corporates (with a particular focus on growth companies), underwriting banks and investors (from both the private equity and venture capital space) on equity capital markets transactions (including IPOs and secondary offerings), late stage private financings (including cross-over rounds, private placements and secondary transactions on the new Private Securities Market) and general public company advisory matters (including take privates).

She co-chairs the firm’s ESG & Impact group and regularly advises companies across the entire lifecycle (from early stage to listed) on their ESG obligations, particularly on governance and reporting matters. Ariel has particular experience advising banks and other financial institutions, having spent time on secondment at global investment banks Goldman Sachs, Jefferies and Citi.

Drawing on her cultural background and time spent living abroad, Ariel has a keen interest in the emerging markets of Greece and Africa, particularly in the Tech sector, as well as the Nordics where she attended law school on exchange and maintains a strong network particularly in the Life Sciences space.

Prior to joining Goodwin, Ariel was a partner in Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner’s M&A and Corporate Finance team in London, where she also served as the Global Co-Leader of the firm’s Banking sector group. She previously spent over 10 years in the London offices of Davis Polk & Wardwell and Latham Watkins. Ariel began her legal career at Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer where she trained and qualified and also spent six months working out of the Freshfields New York office.

Ariel regularly advises UK-based clients on accessing the US markets and is also a vocal practitioner in the City as regards ways to improve the competitiveness of the UK capital markets particularly as regards their appeal to founders of and investors in growth companies in the Tech and Healthcare sectors.

She currently serves as a member of the:

• DBT Working Group for Africa and the Capital Markets – established by the UK Government’s Department of Business and Trade to support efforts to foster more cross-border investment between the UK and Africa particularly through the capital markets.
• Lexis Nexis Editorial Board – a practitioner advisory group shaping the direction and quality of LexisNexis’ legal and regulatory publications with her contributions particularly focused on the growth company perspective.

As one of only a handful of black female partners at a top law firm in the UK, Ariel is passionate about contributing to a stronger pipeline of diverse lawyers in the legal profession and is therefore particularly active in the Inclusion space both within the firm and externally as well as part of her broader ESG practice.

She currently serves as a:

• Member of the Parker Review – an independent committee established by the department formerly known as the UK Government’s Department of Business, Enterprise and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) to support efforts to improve the representation of ethnic diversity on UK boards (with a focus on the FTSE 250 and largest 50 private companies in the UK).
• Member of the University of Edinburgh Law School Advisory Board – where Ariel regularly counsels her alma matter on strategic direction and external engagement particularly as regards ways to attract more diverse students to the law school.

Ariel maintains a strong commitment to pro bono service and giving back through providing legal support to underserved entrepreneurs, early stage founders and community organisations. She advises on corporate structuring, fundraising and corporate governance matters, with a particular focus on women led and minority led ventures. Ariel has advised on over 10 pro bono matters in the recent period, including Morgan Stanley on its investments as part of its Inclusive & Sustainable Ventures programme.

• Recognised by Legal 500 UK for Equity Capital Markets and Chambers & Partners for Diversity & Inclusion. 
• Included in the 2025 Pro Bono Recognition List issued by Lady Chief Justice of England and Wales, The Baroness Carr of Walton-on-the-Hill.
• Included in the 2024 Empower Role Model Lists issued by Involve People and supported by YouTube.
• Included in the UK’s 2023 Power in the City List, sponsored by J.P. Morgan, celebrating the 25 most influential senior Black executives from the financial services, technology, and legal sectors across the UK.
• Winner of STRETCH25 award for Top 25 Black and ethnically diverse women advancing equity, diversity and inclusion in Corporate UK 2023.
• Awarded Mentor of the Year at the 2023 Law.com’s Women Influence & Power in Law Awards in London.
• Included in Cranfield University’s 2020 list of “Top 100 Women to Watch” for FTSE 100 board positions.  
• Headlined in the Next 100 Voices series by the Next 100 Years project which is the UK's first digital museum dedicated to women leaders in law.

As a leading capital markets and corporate governance specialist, Ariel’s thought leadership is widely featured across major industry publications, including Governance + Compliance, City A.M., The ESG Investor, Mergermarket, Thomson Reuters Practical Law, Law360, Sifted and publications produced by the Law Society and the BioIndustry Association. She is also a regular contributor to the annual LexisNexis Market Tracker Trend Report and has authored or co-authored more than 30 articles for Goodwin’s Insights & Resources platform.

Her recent commentary spans key developments in the UK listing regime, UK v US listing dynamics, secondary transactions on the new Private Securities Market, ESG regulation and SPAC activity, frequently being sought and quoted by leading media outlets such as Bloomberg, IFLR, PE Hub and Pitchbook.

A sought after speaker, Ariel regularly presents on topics including IPO readiness, investor liquidity, CSRD implementation and global regulatory trends. She has spoken at Africa’s largest tech gatherings — Moonshot by TechCabal and the Africa Tech Summits in Nairobi and London — as well as at events hosted by the L Suite VCGC Euro Summit, European Women in Venture Capital, and multiple Goodwin and investor focused forums.

Recognising the importance of being a visible role model, she frequently speaks on panels in support of diverse lawyers and lends her time and support to initiatives with organisations such as the Oxford Women in Law Society and the Black Counsel Forum.