Insurance Team of the Year

This award will recognise an insurance team that has handled innovative work and stands out for attracting the most impressive instructions of 2011 in this constantly changing market. Judges welcome submissions highlighting one example from a variety of work, including standout transactions, disputes and arbitration, as well as regulatory issues.

Previous Winners:

Bateson and his team had ample opportunity to demonstrate their outstanding pedigree for corporate insurance work in 2010, taking a leading role in three major transactions. In February, the firm advised PartnerRe on the UK’s largest ever longevity reinsurance deal amid very difficult market conditions. PartnerRe reinsured Abbey Life, owned by Deutsche Bank, which assumed the longevity risks of nearly £3bn of pensions liabilities from BMW’s UK pension scheme.

Two months later, the firm advised HSBC on a high-stakes broking transaction, the £135m deal with Marsh for provision of insurance broking services to HSBC’s corporate and private banking clients internationally and to HSBC Group companies. The team also completed the largest acquisition in the UK life sector this year, acting for AXA UK on the sale of the majority of its UK life business to Resolution’s Friends Provident Group for £2.75bn. Taking these deals into consideration, it is not difficult to see why 2010 was a year that few in Bateson’s team will forget in a hurry.

HIGHLY COMMENDED

Barlow Lyde & gilbert

Simon Konsta

Barlow Lyde & Gilbert continued to develop its flagship practice, seizing the opportunity to acquire a 17-partner insurance team in Manchester from Halliwells in 2010. BLG was also successful in the year’s only reported reinsurance case, acting for CX Re in the arbitration and subsequent appeal of a case brought to recover substantial reinsurance balances arising from a variety of long-tail US liability claims.

CLYDE & Co

Andrew Holderness

Clyde & Co has enjoyed a superb couple of years, not least because of the quality of its highly respected insurance team. The European corporate insurance group doubled its partner headcount in 2010, achieving the critical mass to ensure deals such as Glacier Re’s disposal of Glacier Insurance to Torus Insurance have come along with impressive regularity.

DWF

Paul Berry

Much of the recent success enjoyed by this North West heavyweight can be attributed to its excellent insurance practice. The group achieved 12% revenue growth in the six months from April 2010, having achieved a 22% increase in fee income to £35m the previous financial year. Successes in 2010 included a high-profile collaboration with the fraud team at client QBE
to see criminal charges brought against ‘crash for
cash’ conspirators.

Eversheds

Matthew Allen

Eversheds’ international credentials were in evidence in 2010 as the firm landed with a bang in Latin America after handling critical matters for Brazilian reinsurer IRB-Brasil Re. In two important cases worth $450m, Allen’s group managed a team of international law firms to solve myriad issues surrounding the two complex claims, which ultimately led to a much-needed settlement between the counterparties and IRB.

kennedys

Nick Williams

The Firm of the Year winner in 2010 had yet another remarkable 12 months, with its continued involvement in a string of premium insurance instructions contributing to a 31% leap in turnover and 42% increase in PEP. One standout matter included representing the entire market following the collapse of the Erinaceous Group.

Russell Jones & walker

Richard Langton

Langton successfully represented claimants in the largest UK group litigation order to date – around 90% of the 5,000 people who have suffered injuries from exposure to banned toxic fungicides used in the manufacture of leather sofas..