| Employment, Pensions & Benefits Team of the Year |
Previous Winners
There is no doubt that Sacker & Partners is synonymous with marketleading pensions work. The firm’s sole focus on the area has garnered a formidable reputation, matched by one of the strongest financial records in the UK; its 55% profit margin makes it the most profitable major firm in the country, ahead of Slaughter and May and Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer. The niche specialist advises more of the top 100 pension schemes than any other law firm, including around 20 FTSE-100 companies, and its market share continues to grow. In 2008, the firm added the Royal Borough of Kingston Pension Fund, the London Borough of Lewisham and the Clwyd Pension Fund to its client list. These funds alone represent an asset value in excess of £2bn. 
Recent highlights for the 26-partner firm include advising the trustees of the Friends Provident Pension Scheme during an exercise to de-risk the scheme’s liabilities. This groundbreaking transaction involved the trustees entering into a bulk annuity ‘buyin’ with Norwich Union, under which the scheme’s pensioner liabilities, valued at around £350m, were re-assured. Notable for the inclusion of special protective features – namely a significant proportion of the premium payable to Norwich Union was retained for use by the trustees in certain circumstances – the pioneering deal was the first of its kind for a FTSE-100 company, and offers a valuable layer of protection in a turbulent market. HIGHLY COMMENDEDDAVIES ARNOLD COOPERChris SyderThe newly established employment group at Davies Arnold Cooper has hit the ground running, growing from one lawyer to 16 in less than two years. The firm had a particularly storming start to 2008 and fee revenue is expected to top £2m in 2008/09 due to a clutch of significant client wins, including Altium Capital, Zenith Hygiene Group and Finisterre Capital. LEWIS SILKINMichael Burd; James DaviesA top-choice employment adviser to the legal profession, Lewis Silkin hit the headlines in 2008 by successfully defending Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer in the first age discrimination claim brought against a law firm by a partner in the groundbreaking Peter Bloxham case. An employment tribunal dismissed the former partner’s claim that changes to the firm’s pension scheme were inequitable. OSBORNE CLARKEVictoria ParryOsborne Clarke’s group was the first port of call for Nomura when it needed advice on the employment aspects of its acquisition of Lehman Brothers’ European business. Acting alongside Nomura’s HR team, the firm managed to ensure that over 2,500 key employees remained at the bank. Other representative clients of this sterling 60-lawyer team include Anglo Irish Bank, Motorola and Thames Water. PAUL, HASTINGS, JANOFSKY & WALKERChristopher WalterLeveraging off its excellent employment practice in the US, Paul Hastings launched an employment offering in London three years ago and has already become one of the top names in the financial services sector. New client wins include J.P. Morgan and hedge funds such as Avenue Capital and Ellington Management Group. WHITE & CASEOliver BrettleA practice to watch, White & Case’s employment, pensions and benefits team is one of the hungriest in the market. Over the past year the firm has won instructions from a raft of major blue-chip clients, including Serco, ABN AMRO and Expedia. However, advising Visa International on the employee benefits aspects of its global restructuring and subsequent IPO stands out. Award sponsored by totallylegal.com |