Based in Bristol, Burges Salmon LLP‘s pensions team has a vast offering covering regulatory work, scheme restructurings, and alternatives to buy outs. Public sector work for central and local governments across the UK and Northern Ireland forms another cornerstone of the practice, with several team members being dual qualified. Team head Richard Knight has extensive experience acting for high-profile pension schemes on restructurings, liability driven investments, and potential closures, while Clive Pugh excels in regulatory and funding matters as well as scheme rescues and managed PPF entries. ‘Top-notch pensions lawyer’ Richard Pettit has experience spanning moral hazard investigations, corporate restructurings, and de-risking transactions, with Michael Hayles covering pension projects and LGPS work. Also noted are Alice Honeywill and Susannah Young, together with directors Chris Brown, Crispin Freeman and Kate Granville Smith.

Osborne Clarke LLP‘s team has extensive expertise handling PPFs and transactions, including buy-ins and buy-outs, in addition to pensions disputes. The team also has a sizeable presence in public sector pensions, where the team advises a number of LGPS funds. Spending his time between Bristol and London, practice head Jonathan Hazlett has experience acting for employers and trustees across all aspects of pensions law including insolvencies and restructurings, securing members’ benefits, and alternative risk transfer mandates. Paul Matthews specialises in handling pensions advisory work for large schemes, and Brent Wright is recommended for the pensions aspects of corporate transactions. For employment-related pension matters, Claire Rankin is a key name, while Tobias Hole advises on risk transfer projects.

Covering a wide variety of complex regulatory and financial services work for FTSE companies, TLT‘s team is active across the pensions space, including in SIPP and SSAS work as well as public sector mandates, acting for government departments and authorities. Practice head Sasha Butterworth has experience across a wide range of employer and trustee matters, including new regulatory products, master trusts, and governance mandates. Chris Crighton is well known for his public sector pension expertise and also handles employer-led risk reduction cases. Legal director Lizzie Stone has experience handling governance issues and liability management matters, including buy-ins and buy-outs, while senior associate Ellie Taylor covers DB, DC and contract-based pension schemes.

Simmons & Simmons‘ ‘extremely accessible and knowledgeable’ pensions team has experience ranging from de-risking mandates to corporate restructurings, reorganisations, legal compliance work, and scheme mergers. While Danny Tsang chairs the national pensions practice from London, James Dean leads the Bristol office and is often approached for his expertise across a wide range of pension scheme investments, restructurings and pension liability issues. He works alongside Kate Fellows-Tully and Dan Bryan.