Bruce Michael Buck (born March 1946) is an American lawyer and founding managing partner of the

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

office of

law firm A law firm is a business entity formed by one or more lawyers to engage in the practice of law. The primary service rendered by a law firm is to advise consumer, clients (individuals or corporations) about their legal rights and Obligation, respon ...

Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP and Affiliates (known as Skadden) is an American Multinational corporation, multinational law firm headquartered in New York City. The firm comprises approximately 1,700 lawyers and is the fourth highest ...

. He was also the Chairman of

Chelsea Football Club Chelsea Football Club is a professional football club based in Fulham, West London, England. The club was founded in 1905 and named after neighbouring area Chelsea. They compete in the Premier League, the top tier of English football, pl ...

from 2004 until 2022. His practice areas are European

mergers and acquisitions Mergers and acquisitions (M&A) are business transactions in which the ownership of a company, business organization, or one of their operating units is transferred to or consolidated with another entity. They may happen through direct absorpt ...

project finance Project finance is the long-term financing of infrastructure and industrial projects based upon the projected cash flows of the project rather than the balance sheets of its sponsors. Usually, a project financing structure involves a number of eq ...

and capital markets.

Early life and education

Buck received a B.A. degree from Colgate University and a

Juris Doctor A Juris Doctor, Doctor of Jurisprudence, or Doctor of Law (JD) is a graduate-entry professional degree that primarily prepares individuals to practice law. In the United States and the Philippines, it is the only qualifying law degree. Other j ...

degree from Columbia Law School.

Law career

Bruce Buck has been practising law in Europe since 1983. He left

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

for England in 1983 for a “standard tour of duty” of two or three years with his previous law firm

White & Case White & Case LLP is a global white-shoe law firm based in New York City. Founded in 1901, the firm has 46 offices in 31 countries worldwide. History The firm was founded on May 1, 1901, when two Wall Street lawyers, Justin DuPratt White, 31, a ...

. Five years later he was headhunted by M&A specialists Skadden Arps to develop the firm's European practice from scratch and has stayed on ever since. As the partner in charge of Skadden's European offices, his work includes a broad range of transactions in the capital markets area. Buck represents both European and non-European clients in a full range of crossborder financing transactions, generally in connection with equity offerings or high-yield and other debt financings.

Chelsea F.C.

Buck's involvement with Chelsea began through his position as European head of the American law firm Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom. Skadden Arps specialises in mergers, acquisitions and capital market transactions, and Buck had personally done legal work on a number of acquisitions for the Russian company Siberian Oil (

Sibneft Gazprom Neft (; formerly Sibneft, ) is the third largest Petroleum industry, oil producer in Russia and ranked third according to Oil refinery, refining throughput. It is a subsidiary of Gazprom, which owns about 96% of its shares. The company is ...

), through which he came to advise Russian-Israeli billionaire

Roman Abramovich Roman Arkadyevich Abramovich (born 24 October 1966) is a business oligarch and politician. He is the former owner of Chelsea F.C., Chelsea, a Premier League football club in London, England, and is the primary owner of the private investment com ...

, formerly the majority shareholder in Sibneft. The £140 million acquisition of all of the outstanding shares of the

London Stock Exchange The London Stock Exchange (LSE) is a stock exchange based in London, England. the total market value of all companies trading on the LSE stood at US$3.42 trillion. Its current premises are situated in Paternoster Square close to St Paul's Cath ...

-listed company Chelsea Village plc was his first experience of taking over a football club. Buck remained in his role, despite the ownership change at Chelsea in May 2022. This changed on 20 June 2022, when the club announced that he would be stepping down from his role effective 30 June, although he would continue to work for the club as a Senior Advisor. He was succeeded by club co-owner Todd Boehly as chairman.

Personal life

Buck has a wife and three sons. He took an interest in football after moving to London in the 1980s, and became a season ticket holder to Chelsea in 1991.

References

External links

Bruce Buck's biography
Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom {{DEFAULTSORT:Buck, Bruce 1946 births Living people American soccer chairmen and investors Chelsea F.C. chairmen and investors Colgate University alumni Columbia Law School alumni New York (state) lawyers