AJANI HUSBANDS

Ajani Husbands is a capital markets associate at Latham & Watkins, where he represents private equity firms, investment banks, and public and private companies in a variety of financing and other transactions, including cross-border and leveraged buyout transactions as well as debt and equity offerings. Prior to joining Latham, he worked on a range of regulatory legal matters at previous law firms, including regulatory compliance for financial technology startup companies utilizing blockchain technology, FCPA enforcement proceedings, and advising asset managers, banks, and financial institutions on securities-related compliance matters. As an attorney, Ajani's pro bono practice focuses on a mix of asylum cases and transactional matters for social enterprises and nonprofits. Ajani has won asylum on behalf of clients from Jamaica and Sierra Leone, and has advised nonprofit organizations on a range of corporate governance matters. Before practicing law, Ajani served as a U.S. diplomat for nearly a decade in Eritrea, Haiti, South Sudan, Pakistan, and the State Department’s Office of Monetary Affairs. Throughout these assignments, he tackled a variety of endeavors, including managing strategic funding for grassroots development in eastern and southern Sudan; evacuating more than 1,100 individuals from South Sudan while simultaneously organizing the Ambassador's advisory youth council to tackle peacebuilding efforts; advising U.S. companies on economic growth sectors in Haiti; briefing U.S. ambassadors on recent trends in fiscal transparency in Africa and advising on areas for potential reform; and creating a long-term partnership between the U.S. Embassy in Islamabad and the Phillips Collection (the oldest modern art collection in the United States) resulting in art-as-a-social-tool workshops for more than 100 Pakistani emerging artists. He is the recipient of numerous Meritorious Honor Awards, a Superior Honor Award, and the Public Diplomacy Achievement Award. Ajani earned his J.D. from NYU School of Law, an M.A. in International Development from American University, and a B.A. in International Relations from Stanford University.