Best brains in ...

Advising clients on their legal options and finding solutions in "sticky" situations, drafting complex pension scheme documentation in a user-friendly way and considering the legal issues relating to pension scheme investments.

Highlight of your career so far?

Working in a small team of senior lawyers to deliver an eight scheme merger and benefit re-design package within challenging timescales for a French multi-national. The legal work was complex and multi-faceted, the negotiations detailed and intense, but the sense of achievement on signing was enormous.

Most challenging job you've ever done?

Acting for a French multi-national in the preparation of complex pension scheme documentation for a career average revalued earnings pension scheme with a longevity adjustment factor to take account of changes in mortality. It was a challenge to understand how a longevity adjustment factor would be applied in practice. Making it work legally was the toughest task I have faced yet.

What about outside the UK?

Working with Trustees of UK defined benefit pension schemes of a European outsourcing company to negotiate a legally binding letter of undertaking from the French parent company. The letter was an essential component of funding plans for the schemes as a part of the actuarial valuation. This job involved liaising closely with the Trustees, the company's in-house legal counsel as well as the Trustees' French lawyers.

An example of your great client service?

I invest time in my clients to understand their businesses and what matters to them. Against this backdrop, I can focus my advice so that it is helpful and provides commercial solutions. I look for new ways of presenting legal advice to make it useful and always "go the extra mile" to become an integral part of the client's team

When have you ever given a client a real competitive edge?

Acting for trustees of three pension schemes negotiating a buy-in investment with an annuity provider in preparation for a winding-up. This was the first time the Trustees could see any prospect of securing all of the members' benefits in full at a price acceptable to the employer. The long term alternative was the Pension Protection Fund. The negotiations were swift, the legal risks sorted and the investment completed – all in less then three months. The Trustees were delighted to have finally secured all of the members' benefits. The employer was happy to have removed a significant long term financial liability from its books which had been a drag on its finances.