If market commentators thought the world was ready to get back on an even keel after two years of global pandemic, events of recent months have very much put paid to that notion. But while law firms and their clients still have much volatility to contend with, the 2022 financial results season has once again underlined the resilience of the global legal market, with a steady stream of firms posting more than healthy revenue and profit hikes.
And the leading offshore law firms are no exception, with booming deal markets, post-pandemic restructuring work and emerging trends such as environmental, social and governance (ESG) contributing to a landmark year for many.
‘We’ve been doing well – we’ve surprised ourselves, although maybe we shouldn’t be surprised.’ So states Christian Hay, head of dispute resolution and Guernsey managing partner of Collas Crill. ‘As a firm with a strong emphasis on litigation, when the world is in trouble, we do well.’
Maples managing partner Jonathan Green concurs: ‘We had an extremely strong year. Notwithstanding the challenges posed by the continuing pandemic, our clients have showed considerable resilience and were able to call on our expertise to complete complex transactions. Almost all our core practice areas and business lines experienced significant growth.’
For Carey Olsen, the latest financial year also proved particularly fruitful: ‘All of our offices and practice areas had a very busy second half to last year and first six months of 2022, culminating in a record year of revenue for the financial year,’ comments Russell Clark, managing partner of the firm’s Guernsey office.
‘The Cayman team has grown 30% in two years – our focus on litigation, insolvency and restructuring means we’ve been really busy coming out of the pandemic.’
Stephen Leontsinis, Collas Crill
Picking up the pieces
One of the main drivers behind this success is the inevitable restructuring and insolvency boom coming out of the pandemic. Christian Luthi, chair of Conyers, notes: ‘Given current macroeconomic growth headwinds, we expect an increase in the need for restructuring and corporate recovery, and we are well positioned to meet these needs across our jurisdictions.’
Stephen Leontsinis, managing partner of the Collas Crill Cayman office, agrees: ‘The Cayman team has grown 30% in two years – our focus on litigation, insolvency and restructuring means we’ve been really busy coming out of the pandemic.’
Ogier’s managing partner Edward Mackereth flags the likely impact of spiralling inflation on this trend: ‘Over the past 12 months we have been seeing more restructuring work (out of court) and initially fewer formal insolvencies due to the level of liquidity in the market. This is now changing with inflation and interest rates rising in the UK and the US, putting pressure on corporate groups with a lot of debt.’
For the team at Harneys, while this trend is indeed global in nature, work coming out of China is another key driver. Phillip Kite, co-head of litigation, insolvency and restructuring, comments: ‘Over the last 12 months, there has been an increase in restructuring and insolvency work for the BVI, Cayman and Bermuda as companies struggle. We have also seen work from companies in these jurisdictions affected by solvency issues in the PRC.’ Paul Sephton, co-head of the banking and finance and corporate groups, adds: ‘There has been a marked increase in pre-insolvency restructuring advisory work, particularly in relation to debt issued by China real estate companies, many of which are Cayman incorporated vehicles listed on the Hong Kong stock exchange, which is a direct consequence of the distress in the China property market.’
‘Over the last 12 months, there has been an increase in restructuring and insolvency work for the BVI, Cayman and Bermuda as companies struggle.’
Phillip Kite, Harneys
Sustainable growth
One trend making more headlines than most is of course ESG, an area which has been steadily moving up the agenda for offshore firms for some time. As Green highlights, firms with established expertise in ESG issues, particularly sustainable finance work, have thrived in this arena: ‘We were an early adopter in the ESG space and sustainable finance has been a core part of our strategic plan over the past few years and will continue to be for the next decade and beyond.’ With particular expertise in ESG financing work, Maples’ recent mandates include advising on green bond issuances, assisting with a new climate growth fund, and advising on ‘blue bonds’, a comparatively new form of debt instrument supporting investments into ocean sustainability.
Mackereth agrees: ESG is a consistent topic for our lender clients. While the number of ESG-linked loans is currently relatively small, this is growing steadily. One lender we work with is predicting that within a few years ESG will soon become standard and banks will look to move away from lending to any clients that aren’t ESG compliant – for example, oil and gas-focused clients.’
Clark and the team at Carey Olsen have also seen a similar trend: ‘We already had a solid transactional record in ESG-related matters before Covid-19 with many of our clients wanting their investments and products to create positive change as well as profit. As the regulatory environment for ESG criteria and sustainability reporting continues to evolve, we are seeing activity across all our core practice areas supporting this developing area.’
Tales from the crypto
The offshore markets also remain a key vantage point from which to view the ever-changing world of digital assets and cryptocurrencies, with several offshore jurisdictions attracting cryptocurrency investors and firms expanding on their fintech knowledge to cover NFTs and other innovative financial technologies. Harneys is particularly active in the space, with managing partner Ross Munro noting: ‘The boom in crypto provided new opportunities for our digital assets practice, which is probably the largest in the offshore markets. Our regulatory, funds and corporate practices were kept busy with fund vehicles and NFTs targeting this space.’
‘All of our offices and practice areas had a very busy second half to last year and first six months of 2022.’
Russell Clark, Carey Olsen
Walkers has also seen an uptick in activity in mandates involving digital assets, as global managing partner Ingrid Pierce explains: ‘Instructions relating to virtual assets touch most of our practices. Our London insolvency and disputes group is seeing interesting work arising out of the drop in cryptocurrency values, while our Jersey teams have worked on a succession of crypto funds and our private capital and trusts groups have worked on some novel deals.’
Caribbean jurisdictions have also actively carved out niches in the global market for fintech and crypto work, with the BVI attracting notable NFT mandates and Bermuda becoming a hub for crypto financial services clients.
Playing by the rules
The watchful eyes of regulators are, as ever, a consistent source of work for those operating in the offshore markets, with the initial wave of economic substance advice and the move towards increased transparency bringing with them further waves of regulatory change.
Clark comments: ‘We are seeing an increase in new offshore regulations coming into effect. This has obviously led to an increased need for offshore legal services and, for us at least, has seen the firm expand its spectrum of regulatory practices to cope with demand. As offshore jurisdictions continue to revise legislation to adhere to global best practices and increase transparency, we expect to see a continued growth in the need for offshore regulatory advice.’
Green says this is an area in which Maples has invested heavily: ‘Maples clients operate in heavily regulated sectors and have been facing increased compliance, risk and reporting burdens – we have hired a number of senior lawyers to enhance our global regulatory offering.’
Beyond borders
The increasingly global nature of the offshore market has also led to new collaborations and increased activity stemming from less traditional origins. As Pierce comments: ‘We are seeing increased interest from US-based clients in our Guernsey and Jersey law offering, often in parallel with the Cayman, BVI and Bermuda law products with which US clients are more familiar.’
Carey Olsen’s Caribbean teams have also been notably involved in a changing landscape, as Clark notes: ‘In the Caribbean, we have been at the forefront of the Cayman Islands’ burgeoning reputation as the premier jurisdiction for Latin America start-ups and venture capital firms’ financing and structuring needs, advising start-ups from Chile, Brazil and Mexico, among others.’
Maples’ Green adds: ‘Demand for our multi-jurisdictional capabilities continues to set us apart from other firms. Our European legal practices in Luxembourg, Jersey and Ireland play an integral role on cross-border transactions and this year, the team has acted in a number of first-of-its-kind transactions.’
Below are snapshots of the ten largest offshore firms in 2022 and how they’ve fared in the last 12 months.
Appleby
Continuing the trend of the previous 12 months, Appleby has excelled in corporate and finance work in 2022, handling a broad range of mandates for financial services clients. The team has acted on a large volume of CLO matters and has led on over 50% of the SPAC deals involving Cayman vehicles. The firm’s global network, including offices in all three Crown Dependencies, has also allowed for involvement in notable international insolvency and restructuring matters.
In team news, Ulrich Payne joined the firm’s Cayman office in June 2022, adding to the team’s litigation expertise. In the month prior, the Cayman office also saw Sailaja Alla announced as head of funds and investment services, leveraging her experience in offshore hedge funds and private equity matters. Further partner changes also saw Richard Grasby join the firm’s Hong Kong office to lead the private client and trusts practice, Duncan Card adding to the Bermuda office’s commercial capabilities, and Faye Moffett stepping down as managing partner of the Isle of Man office with Mark Holligon subsequently taking up the mantle.
The firm leverages its Appleby Global Services offering; the specialist corporate and trust services provider assists clients, including high-net-worth individuals and multinational corporates, with administration, reporting and fiduciary services mandates.
Lawyers: 200, including 73 partners
Offices: Ten (Bermuda, BVI, Cayman Islands, Guernsey, Hong Kong, Isle of Man, Jersey, Mauritius, Seychelles, Shanghai)
Group managing partner: Malcolm Moller (Mauritius)
Focus: Corporate, dispute resolution, private client/trusts, property, technology and innovation, and regulatory
Recent standout work: Advising Artisan Acquisition Corp on its de-SPAC business combination with Prenetics Group, creating Hong Kong’s first unicorn to list on NASDAQ; advising Atrium European Real Estate on the issuance of a €350m deeply subordinated hybrid green bond; assisting S&P Global with its merger with IHS Markit.
Bedell Cristin
With a strong offering across its core areas of banking and finance, corporate and M&A, disputes, funds and private client, Bedell Cristin has enjoyed another solid year. Key mandates have included providing Guernsey advice to PGIM, the $1.5trn global investment management business of Prudential Financial, on its acquisition of Montana Capital Partners; advising Blackstone on more than £2.5bn of corporate real estate acquisitions and sales and accompanying financings and re-financings; and acting for KPMG on the acquisition of its Cayman Islands and BVI restructuring business by Teneo.
After moving into new offices in the Cayman Islands in early 2021, the firm also took a larger base in Singapore in late 2021, a move that global managing partner Tim Pearce said was in preface to the firm’s plans to ‘recruit more locally based lawyers with an international focus’. Corporate finance and real estate transactions specialist Pearce, who has now spent almost 20 years at the firm, is closing in on three years as global managing partner after succeeding David Cadin, who remains at the firm as Jersey managing partner.
Recent partner hires have included the June 2021 appointment of experienced private client and offshore litigation specialist Joanne Verbiesen, who joined the firm’s Singapore office from HSBC in Hong Kong, and wealth planning expert Elena Gogh, who joined the international private client team from Babbé in Guernsey.
Lawyers: 82, including 32 partners
Offices: Six (BVI, Cayman, Guernsey, Jersey, London, Singapore)
Group managing partner: Tim Pearce (Jersey)
Focus: Banking and finance, corporate and commercial, employment, funds, insolvency and restructuring, international private client, litigation, pensions, regulatory and compliance, wills and probate
Recent standout work: Advising a group of investors on the Jersey aspects of a $62m debt facility to develop sustainable energy use in Africa; acting as British Virgin Islands counsel to investment vehicle Gopher Investments on its $250m acquisition of Finalto, the financial trading division of Playtech; advising Ocorian Services Ltd as lead counsel on its acquisition of Trust Corporation, one of the most significant M&A transactions in Guernsey in 2021.
Carey Olsen
Carey Olsen enjoyed a record-breaking year in 2021-22, with revenues rising to a new high. While core practice areas such as investment funds and listings remained strong, the firm also saw increased activity relating to regulatory matters and environmental, social and governance (ESG), including advising RBS International on a €1.455bn ESG-linked financing for European investment firm Triton Partners.
The firm also recently became the first offshore law firm to join the United Nations Global Compact, committing to provide an annual report on its progress in the organisation’s principles, which cover human rights, labour, environment, anti-corruption and sustainable development.
This positive trajectory was also underlined by the firm’s recent promotions round, which saw five new partners made up and a further 16 senior promotions – the firm’s largest ever. The promotions include London funds partner Matthew Brehaut, formerly of RBS and Clifford Chance, as well as a trio of new partners in the firm’s fast-growing Bermuda base, which was established at the end of 2017.
Guernsey managing partner Russell Clark says: ‘The Bermuda promotions are particularly significant as all three are Bermudians who we were able to persuade to join us soon after opening our office there. Having Bermuda law capabilities not only in Bermuda but also on the ground in Asia and London is a real differentiator for us as a firm and vindicates our decision to open there.’
Other jurisdictions of focus for the firm include the key Asia offshore markets, where the firm is building up in both Hong Kong and Singapore, with trusts and private wealth earmarked as a priority.
The firm’s efforts in this are now led by Rachel Yao, who joined at the start of 2022 from Taylor Wessing, where she led the Greater China international private wealth team.
Lawyers: 292, including 68 partners
Offices: Nine (Bermuda, BVI, Cape Town, Cayman, Guernsey, Hong Kong, Jersey, London, Singapore)
Group managing partner: Alex Ohlsson (Jersey)
Global senior partner: John Kelleher (Jersey)
Focus: Banking and finance, corporate and commercial, investment funds and private equity, listing services, dispute resolution, restructuring and insolvency, private client, trusts and private wealth, property, employment, regulatory and insurance
Recent standout work: Advising Permira funds on the take-private of Mimecast, which valued the company at $5.8bn; advising the Jersey government on its £500m bond issuance; advising Guernsey-incorporated special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) Hambro Perks Acquisition Company Ltd, the first SPAC to list in London under the UK’s new listing rules.
Collas Crill
Collas Crill has also been benefiting from booming activity levels over the past year, with revenues up 17% on 2020. As global disputes head Christian Hay says the upside is not only in litigation: ‘Corporate is also coming to the party – we’re benefiting from pent-up demand as the market is getting more confident.’
Key recent hires include BVI managing partner Ellie Crespi, who joined in March 2021 from Harneys, and former Osborne Clarke chief executive Simon Beswick, who joined the firm’s strategy board as chair in May 2021.
While in the past Collas has made a point of choosing non-lawyers as non-exec chairs to offer a fresh perspective, the firm decided that, given its international ambitions, the time was right to bring in a law firm veteran with the credentials of Beswick to offer first-hand experience of major international expansion. A 12-year tenure at OC saw Beswick spearhead significant growth across Europe and Asia. On the expansion point, a number of options are on the table, with Collas potentially looking to extend its footprint to mid-shore locations.
‘The market has become much more fluid – people are moving a lot more than they would have in the past, but we think we’ve got the right culture.’
Christian Hay, Collas Crill
In Cayman, the team under the leadership of managing partner Stephen Leontsinis has grown 30% in two years, with a focus on litigation, insolvency and restructuring ensuring the base has been busy coming out of the pandemic.
On the recruitment front, while Leontsinis says potential recruits are ‘banging down doors’ to come to Cayman, pointing to a string of recent hires, Hay acknowledges that offshore firms face new challenges, given that onshore firms are increasingly taking work/life balance more seriously.
However, Hay – who has been part of a working group which is aiming to galvanise the firm’s flexible working policies drawn up during the pandemic – is sanguine: ‘The market has become much more fluid – people are moving a lot more than they would have in the past, but we think we’ve got the right culture. We have a one-firm feel across our offices.’
Lawyers: 88, including 38 partners
Offices: Five (BVI, Cayman, Guernsey, Jersey, London)
Group managing partner: Jason Romer (Jersey)
Global chair: Simon Beswick
Focus: International wealth and private client, dispute resolution (particularly trust litigation and insolvency), risk and regulatory, commercial property, corporate, banking and finance and funds
Recent standout work: Advising former Nissan chief executive Carlos Ghosn in defence of tracing and other claims for fraud and breach of fiduciary duty valued at over $35m brought by Nissan; acting for a claimant in the American Arbitration Association against two large audit firms, seeking $300m damages for auditor’s negligence; acting for the US SEC receiver of the TCA Group of Companies, which were placed in receivership as a result of a fraud on investors perpetrated by its principal founding member.
Conyers
In a stable year for Conyers’ team, 2021 and early 2022 ensured a high level of deal volume across the board, with key practice areas particularly thriving. As noted by Christian Luthi, the firm’s global chair: ‘Our insurance teams in both Bermuda and Cayman have been particularly busy with Conyers handling almost 70% of Cayman insurance licences issued in the first half of 2022. Structured finance and asset finance transactions have also notably increased over the course of the year.’
The capital markets growth seen in previous years has slowed, with deal volumes decreasing in the second quarter of 2022 thanks to the influence of global economic uncertainty. However, Luthi sees the silver lining: ‘This slowing of global economic activity is usually said to give rise to an increase in corporate restructuring and insolvency work, and we have seen this across the firm. In particular, fintech insolvencies have been a busy area and, earlier in the year, we completed several energy industry restructurings in Bermuda and several cross-border matters for Bermuda and Cayman companies in Hong Kong.’ The firm’s BVI office has remained a key location for private client and trust disputes alongside a steady flow of security enforcement exercises.
At a personnel level, the firm announced two promotions in early 2022: Robert Alexander in Bermuda and Anna Lin in Hong Kong were promoted to the partnership as members of the corporate and litigation teams respectively.
‘This slowing of global economic activity is usually said to give rise to an increase in corporate restructuring and insolvency work, and we have seen this across the firm.’
Christian Luthi, Conyers
Anna-Lise Wisdom was also recruited into the Cayman fund finance team, adding her experience in finance, fund and corporate mandates.
Lawyers: 150, including 67 partners
Offices: Six (Bermuda, BVI, Cayman, Hong Kong, London, Singapore)
Chair: Christian Luthi (Bermuda)
Focus: Corporate (including aviation, banking and finance, capital markets, investment funds, insurance, M&A, private equity/venture capital and shipping), litigation and restructuring, private client and trust
Recent standout work: Advising IHS Markit on its merger with a subsidiary of S&P Global, creating an information services provider with an enterprise value of $140bn; acting for Recruit Holdings as part of a consortium of investors on the take-private of 51job Inc; advising Sogou on its $2.1bn privatisation; handling the corporate restructuring of All Year Holdings.
Harneys
Early 2022 saw a changing of the guard at Harneys, with a raft of management changes and partner promotions across the board and substantial shifts in the focus and diversity of the firm’s global offices; six of the firm’s nine offices are now managed by female partners. Ross Munro took over as global managing partner, with former head Peter Tarn continuing as a partner in the firm’s BVI office. Vanessa Molloy and Rachel Graham were appointed managing partners of the Luxembourg and London offices respectively, while Peter Nagle became chief executive of Harneys Fiduciary, the firm’s independent fiduciary services provider.
Felice Swapp (group COO) and Maria Pia Buchi (managing director for the Americas) become the first non-practising lawyers to become partners, while Ian Clark in Hong Kong, Francesca Gibbons in London, Joshua Mangeot in BVI and Charles Moore and James Smith in Cayman were also promoted to the partnership. The firm also expanded its presence in Shanghai with the recruitment of corporate partner Calamus Huang and litigation partner Wenhao Han into the office.
The firm has also extended its global footprint by reinstating its physical presence in Bermuda and entering an arrangement with independently owned and controlled Jersey law firm Harneys (Jersey), allowing the firm to directly provide Jersey legal advice.
‘The past two years have been exceptionally strong for the firm. On the litigation, insolvency and restructuring side, they were the best years we have had.’
Ross Munro, Harneys
Reflective of the expansion, the firm has gone from strength to strength in terms of mandates. As Munro notes: ‘The past two years have been exceptionally strong for the firm. On the litigation, insolvency and restructuring side, they were the best years we have had. There was no slowdown in cases as clients generally needed to pursue their matters with vigour, and we saw a higher than average number of new matters.’
Work stemming from China has also enhanced the firm’s corporate practice with Hong Kong-based corporate partner Raymond Ng commenting on the increased volume of homecoming IPOs of Chinese companies seeking to list or relist in Asia. BVI-based corporate partner George Weston adds: ‘The firm set up a dedicated practice group and gave a significant marketing push that has led to a number of de-SPACs.’
While the firm can easily demonstrate its strength in traditional areas of legal practice, it is also increasingly involved in innovation and has recently been notably active in digital asset work, including advising on fund vehicles and NFTs targeting the digital asset space and increasingly handling contentious crypto work and digital asset tracing mandates.
Lawyers: 173, including 59 partners
Offices: 11 (Bermuda, BVI, Cayman, Cyprus, Hong Kong, London, Luxembourg, Montevideo, São Paulo, Shanghai, Singapore)
Global managing partner: Ross Munro (London)
Focus: Litigation, insolvency and restructuring, commercial and corporate, private wealth/trusts, investment funds, tax and regulatory, banking and finance, international arbitration
Recent standout work: Acting for an ad hoc group of bondholders in the Evergrande Group on various potential enforcement actions and a possible debt restructuring package; advising the Kaisa Group on an issuance of US dollar denominated high-yield bonds, raising a total of $3.6bn; represented Convoy Collateral in a multijurisdictional fraud claim against a former director who was alleged to have misappropriated assets at the parent company level; assisting XPeng and Chaoju Eye Care Holdings on their listings on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, raising HK$14bn and HK$1.4bn respectively.
Maples
For Maples, 2022 is a year for celebration, with the firm recognising the 25th anniversary of its London office, the tenth anniversary of the Singapore base and the 55th anniversary of its presence in the Cayman Islands.
The group has also seen a generational shift, with the retirement of Nicholas Butcher leading to Peter Stapleton being appointed managing partner of the Dublin office. Kieran Walsh and Matthew Gardner have taken over as joint global practice group leaders for the corporate group following Edward Miller’s retirement, and the recently retired Jon Fowler has been succeeded by Michael Richardson as head of the funds global practice group. Further changes include Nick Evans being appointed head of the Jersey office and Dan Beckett relocating to Maples’ London office to expand the UK-based Cayman fund expertise.
‘We had an extremely strong year globally across the Maples Group. Almost all our core practice areas and business lines experienced significant growth.’
Jonathan Green, Maples
The firm’s Luxembourg office has also been a focal point of growth with lateral hires into the tax team, investment fund and management practice and corporate group, reflecting an increased demand for Luxembourg legal advice.
The firm has also had a successful year workwise with several departments reporting strong activity throughout 2021 and 2022. According to Jonathan Green, global managing partner, based in Cayman: ‘We had an extremely strong year globally across the Maples Group. Almost all our core practice areas and business lines experienced significant growth. Financial services was a particularly active sector followed closely by a boom in corporate, M&A and IPO activity.’
The group has also expanded its expertise in ESG transactions and sustainable finance work with recent mandates spanning green bond issuances, advising on a climate growth fund, and assisting with the issuance of blue bonds, which contribute towards marine conservation.
Lawyers: 371, including 142 partners
Offices: Nine (BVI, Cayman Islands, Dubai, Dublin, Hong Kong, Jersey, London, Luxembourg, Singapore)
Global managing partner: Jonathan Green (Cayman Islands)
Focus: Disputes, corporate, finance, funds, insolvency and corporate restructuring, insurance, IP/technology/telecoms, private equity, property/construction, regulatory/financial services, sports/media/entertainment, tax and trusts
Recent standout work: Advising GOGOX Holdings on its IPO and listing on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange; acting on the first ever SPAC to be listed in Hong Kong; advising on the first Middle East unicorn company to trade on NASDAQ; assisting NIO Inc with its listing of Class A ordinary shares on the main board of the Singapore Exchange Securities Trading Limited, making it the first Cayman Islands company to be listed on three stock exchanges.
Mourant
Mourant further added to the general sense of buoyancy across the offshore markets by setting new records for promotions in 2022, with seven new partners made up in February and 58 further global promotions in May. The partner promotions were spread across Jersey, Hong Kong and the Cayman Islands, strengthening the firm’s capabilities in funds, corporate, litigation, insolvency, regulatory, banking and finance.
The Hong Kong base, which is now ten years old, has recently been involved in an eye-catching matter advising Prenetics Group, the first Hong Kong unicorn to list on NASDAQ. A Hong Kong team led by corporate and funds partner Jessica Lee and Hong Kong managing partner Paul Christopher worked alongside Cayman-based colleagues to advise on the listing, which gave the company an enterprise value of $1.25bn, after previously advising on its merger with a special purpose acquisition company which facilitated the listing.
Elsewhere, the firm’s Jersey corporate and litigation teams have recently been busy advising Mimecast in relation to its acquisition by funds advised by Permira, a deal which valued the company at around $5.8bn and is thought to be the first time a NASDAQ listed target has been acquired using a Jersey scheme of arrangement.
Recent partner hires have included Michael Popkin, who joined the firm’s Hong Kong litigation team in April 2022 from fellow offshore firm Campbells; Ian Montgomery, who returned to the firm to head up its BVI corporate team after four years at Harneys, where he was managing partner of the BVI office; and disputes specialist Jenni Jenkins, who joined from Memery Crystal in London.
Last year the firm also took on its first inclusion manager, recruiting Jennifer Watson from Eversheds Sutherland in London to help drive a new strategy to create ‘an authentically inclusive workplace’ and lead the way among offshore firms.
Lawyers: 248, including 68 partners
Offices: Six (BVI, Cayman, Guernsey, Hong Kong, Jersey, London)
Group managing partner: Jonathan Rigby (Jersey)
Global senior partner: Jonathan Speck (Jersey)
Focus: Corporate; banking and finance; regulatory; investment funds; restructuring and insolvency; dispute resolution; and international trust and private client
Recent standout work: Providing Guernsey law advice to Sequoia Economic Infrastructure Income Fund on the refinancing of a sustainably linked £325m revolving credit facility with a margin premium linked to the ESG score; advising Astorg, a global private equity firm with €15bn assets under management, on its acquisition of IQ-EQ; advising Apex Group on the £1.51bn acquisition of Sanne, a global provider of outsourced alternative asset and corporate business services.
Ogier
The last 12 months have been a period of dramatic expansion for Ogier, with headline developments including a major merger in Ireland, 23% year-on-year headcount growth, and launches in both Singapore and Beijing.
According to the firm, all of its existing bases are expanding, with Cayman a notable standout, where the firm has seen 25% headcount growth on the back of an uptick in both contentious and transactional work. This year also saw the firm’s partnership reach the 100 mark with the hire of former King & Wood Mallesons lawyer Sophie Peat as head of its global intellectual property group.
‘We believe we can better serve our existing clients by offering Irish law expertise, and that the combined offering will be accretive to our Luxembourg offering as well.’
Edward Mackereth, Ogier
The Beijing and Singapore launches, which build on the firm’s established Asia presence across Hong Kong, Tokyo and Shanghai, were motivated in part by increasing client demand for support in Asia time zones. The Singapore launch last August was followed by the February launch of a BD-led base in Beijing, a move which makes it the first firm with a significant offshore footprint to open an office in the Chinese capital.
And in March 2022, Ogier sealed a merger with Dublin-based commercial firm Leman Solicitors – the firm’s first tie-up in 16 years.
The combined Irish practice, which now operates as Ogier Leman, has a 52-strong team led by eight partners, covering practices including corporate, real estate, dispute resolution and employment.
Global managing partner Edward Mackereth says a key driver for the merger was the significant levels of investment into Europe channelled through the Irish market: ‘We believe we can better serve our existing clients by offering Irish law expertise, and that the combined offering will be accretive to our Luxembourg offering as well – in fact the very first request for Irish law advice which came from the Ogier network came from our Luxembourg office. The asset managers, corporate service providers and finance clients we serve from Cayman, Hong Kong and the Channel Islands all have Irish-related work, so we are just joining the dots.’
Lawyers: 331, including 100 partners
Offices: Twelve (BVI, Cayman, Guernsey, Hong Kong, Ireland, Jersey, London, Luxembourg, plus representative offices in Beijing, Shanghai, Singapore and Tokyo)
Group managing partner: Edward Mackereth (Jersey)
Global senior partner: Rachael Reynolds (Cayman)
Focus: Corporate, dispute resolution, investment funds and restructuring and insolvency
Recent standout work: Acting for Invesco as adviser to the issuer on its launch of the Invesco Physical Bitcoin exchange traded notes (ETN) programme; Invesco’s first issuance of a physically backed ETN linked to cryptocurrency; acting as BVI and Cayman counsel for Beijing Deep Glint Technology on its IPO on the Shanghai Stock Exchange STAR Market; advising on one of the largest current trust restructurings in the world by value, with contentious and non-contentious teams in Cayman and Jersey submitting multibillion-dollar momentous blessing applications to Cayman and Jersey courts, co-ordinating tax advice in Switzerland and managing the tax position of US-domiciled family members.
Walkers
Walkers’ 2021 and 2022 continued the previous trends of growth at both a workload and team level, with the firm seeing its largest ever round of promotions in early 2022. In total, 47 practitioners were promoted, with 26 of those promoted to the partnership. The firm has also added resources to its regulatory teams in Asia and the Middle East and expanded its Walkers Professional Services offices with the appointment of Andrew Gibson as head of legal, while Jonathan Sheehan was made managing partner of the firm’s Ireland office in late 2021. The teams in Guernsey and London are also in the process of moving to larger premises to accommodate growing headcount, which includes David Cooney’s recruitment into the Guernsey private capital and trusts team, adding to the firm’s opportunities in the Swiss market.
Ingrid Pierce, global managing partner, says: ‘We are fortunate enough to have had another strong year. We are in an excellent position heading into the back end of 2022.’ The raft of recruitments and expansion have afforded the firm additional capacity for instructions in its cornerstone practices of corporate and finance, investment funds, insolvency and dispute resolution. Beyond the cross-firm growth in its key specialist fields, specific offices and practice areas have also seen notable activity. Pierce adds: ‘Our CLO practice and the re-emerging European CMBS space in Ireland have been key areas in the last 12 months, along with our Cayman Islands investment funds, corporate, private capital and regulatory teams and our London and Jersey finance practices as well as the Channel Islands investment funds and corporate groups.’
‘We are fortunate enough to have had another strong year. We are in an excellent position heading into the back end of 2022.’
Ingrid Pierce, Walkers
The global nature of the firm’s work has also benefited from the new presence of Bermuda-registered associates in the firm’s Hong Kong and Singapore offices, enhancing the capacity for Caribbean advice in the European and APAC time zones beyond the already existing BVI and Cayman expertise.
The Walkers Professional Services offering has also had a notable year, expanding into the BVI market and launching myriad compliance products, specifically relating to AML and ATF compliance.
Lawyers: 445, including 139 partners
Offices: Ten (Bermuda, BVI, Cayman, Dubai, Hong Kong, Guernsey, Ireland, Jersey, London, Singapore)
Global managing partner: Ingrid Pierce (Cayman)
Focus: Banking and finance, corporate, funds, insolvency and dispute resolution, listing services, private capital and trusts, private equity, real estate, regulatory and compliance, re/insurance, structured products/capital markets and taxation (Ireland).
Recent standout work: Advising crypto financial services company BlockFi on its Class F Digital Assets Business Licence for its Bermuda subsidiary; acting for Queen’s Gambit Growth Capital on its combination with Swvl; assisting Athene Holding on the Bermuda law aspects of its merger under Apollo Global Management; acting for Pfizer on its proposed $11.6bn acquisition of Biohaven Pharmaceuticals. LB