Pensions: dispute resolution

Helena is the head of our pensions dispute resolution team. With over 20 years’ experience in complex high value pensions and contentious trust disputes, Helena is recognised as a leading industry figure. She is regularly called upon by clients and peers for opinion on some of the most complex contentious issues. Helena acts for corporates, trustees, financial services firms, financial institutions, insurers and private individuals. Helena has acted on a number of high profile reported cases and has successfully challenged orthodox thinking on important issues such as the law of limitation and construction of trust documents. Helena is particularly adept at defending trustee advisers in professional negligence claims and she continues to surpass client expectations, reflected in the fact that she was shortlisted for “Client Partner of the Year” at the Lawyer Awards 2015. Helena is considered an expert on construction and rectification of trust documents. She is also experienced in acting where trustees have fraudulently misappropriated trust assets and advising trustees who find themselves drawn into UK matrimonial proceedings. Helena is ranked as a leading individual in Pensions Litigation in Legal 500 and a Notable Practitioner in Chambers & Partners (UK). She sits on the Pensions Litigation Committee of the Association of Pensions Lawyers and is regularly asked to speak at industry leading conferences and to contribute to industry publications.

Mark heads Linklaters’ Pensions Disputes practice. He is acknowledged as one of the leading UK pensions disputes lawyers and advises employers, trustees, insurers and professional services firms on the most complex, high-value and novel pensions disputes with the Pensions Regulator and before the Courts. These typically concern scheme funding, re-structuring, benefit design, construction of scheme rules, rectification and professional negligence.

Partner

Head of the employment, pensions and private wealth practice group, Jenny is a leading contentious trusts specialist. She is widely recognised for her experience in complex, high value, trust disputes in the private wealth, pensions, banking and financial services sectors (both onshore and offshore). She acts for trustees, beneficiaries, corporates, financial services firms, financial institutions, insurers and private individuals. Jenny has acted on a number of high profile claims and trust disputes both onshore and offshore.  Her experience ranges from advising on technical areas of rectification and construction of trust documentation to applications for disclosure of information and seeking to hold trustees to account. Jenny has particular expertise in professional negligence claims against trustee advisors and representing trustees in fraud proceedings. Jenny is valued by clients for bringing a commercial and pragmatic approach to complex legal issues.  She also has extensive experience of third-party litigation funding and insurance arrangements and recovering assets obtained in breach of trust. Jenny is ranked as a leading individual in Contentious Trust and Probate and Pensions Litigation in Legal 500 UK and as a Notable Practitioner in both in Chambers & Partners UK. She is included in the Private Client Global Elite directory and has recently been ranked in two separate Citywealth lists: the ‘Top 10 Power Women Trust Litigators’ and ‘Top 100 Trust Litigators and Polymaths’ where clients and peers described her as “discerning with great acumen, innovation and shrewdness. Quick witted, ingenious and clever”.  Whilst heading the contentious trust team Jenny won the Trust and Estates Litigation Team of the Year at Legal Week’s Commercial Litigation and Arbitration Awards for her victory last year in the Privy Council in Sachak Khan & Ors v Gany Holdings & Ors (regarding a £100 million cross border trust dispute). She is regularly asked to speak at conferences on topical issues and has written a number of published articles.

Peter is head of Pensions & Investment Litigation and has over 20 years’ litigation experience, 17 of those solely dealing with pensions-related disputes. Since their inception in 2005, Peter has been at the cutting edge of the development of the Pensions Regulator’s enforcement powers (often in an insolvency or ‘distressed’ environment). Peter’s practice also includes high value High Court litigation such as: claims seeking rectification and other declaratory relief; investment-related claims involving pension schemes; and professional negligence claims (acting for both claimants and defendants). Recent High Court cases in which Peter has acted include: ITV, Europe Arab Bank, and Citifinancial Europe – all of which concerned rectification of pension scheme documentation, obtained by summary judgment and/or by court-approved compromise; Halcrow – known as Pollock v Reed, a test case concerning trustees’ powers and propriety in a benefit restructuring situation; and United Utilities – enforcement of a disputed section 75 debt. Peter also has significant experience of mediation, largely in the professional negligence context.

Specialist in Pension and Private Trusts Disputes and Head of the Pensions Disputes team.

Matthew Bullen focuses on pensions and trusts litigation. He has considerable experience in handling large and complex disputes, both domestic and multi-jurisdictional, as well as conducting investigations on matters that raise regulatory issues or which may result in litigation. His cases frequently involve insolvency or public law elements. In recent years he has worked particularly intensively on moral hazard regulatory actions, both for targets of regulatory action and trustees.

Partner

Nicholas leads the 'excellent, top-notch' competition litigation practice in London. His extensive experience litigating before the High Court and the Competition Appeals Tribunal enables him to represent clients in a wide range of industries, from financial and industrial to transport and technology. Nicholas is a commercial litigator and a recognized leader in the fields of Antitrust and Competition Litigation, Pensions litigation and Professional liability litigation. His depth of experience gives Nicholas a true understanding of client's issues.

Partner; Richard has a broad, multi-jurisdictional disputes practice covering high profile commercial litigation, public law, pensions and tax disputes. He has experience advising clients at all stages of a dispute - from how to avoid potential challenges when planning and implementing transactions through to eventual proceedings.

Arshad is a member of our specialist Pensions & investment litigation team. He has over 20 years’ experience in contentious pensions work, advising clients throughout that time on pensions disputes and litigation matters. He specialises in member disputes both under clients’ internal disputes processes and before the Pensions Ombudsman and the Pension Protection Fund Ombudsman regarding challenges to PPF levies. Arshad has also been involved in contentious matters involving The Pensions Regulator and the Financial Assistance Scheme. Like all members of our team, Arshad excels in resolving knotty, complex and novel matters.

Partner

Partner

A specialist in pensions and financial services litigation. Pensions expertise covers a wide range of work including Part 8 rectification and construction claims, funding disputes and trustee applications to court for directions. Suzanne has acted in significant pensions professional negligence claims in recent years, acting for pension scheme employers and trustees. Suzanne also has a growing practice advising firms in the personal pensions market, addressing legal and regulatory issues.

Partner; Dan is a partner in our Pensions Employment & Incentives Group. He joined the firm in 2017. He has over twenty two years of partner experience. His practice is transactional, general advisory and contentious.  He advises employers and trustees.  Dan’s experience includes preparing for a sale process, benefit redesign and covenant and funding solutions.

James is a partner in our specialist pensions litigation team. His practice covers the full spectrum of pensions related litigation. He has been involved in a wide variety of cases and has extensive experience of dealing with investigations by the Pensions Regulator in both a defined benefit and a defined contribution context. James has also worked on a number of significant High Court case, including: Wedgwood v Salt – acting for the representative beneficiary in Part 8 proceedings concerning the closure of the Scheme to future accrual prior to the Scheme entering the PPF; and Saga Group Ltd v Paul – acting for the employer and the trustee jointly in rectification and professional negligence proceedings relating to certain errors in the Scheme documentation. James has been involved in advising both trustee and adviser clients on professional negligence actions, focusing on the needs of the client and works to ensure that the best possible result is achieved, often through mediation or other forms of ADR. James also frequently works with the firm’s ongoing clients to provide advice and guidance in relation to complaints brought by members under the scheme’s internal dispute resolution procedure and ultimately to the Pensions Ombudsman.

Chris specialises in helping clients to resolve complex contentious issues concerning pension schemes, trust funds, and with their advisors. He has considerable experience acting for trustees and employers, parties acting in an interest-based or representative capacity, and for clients pursuing or defending high-value professional negligence actions. Chris has advised clients extensively on a range of matters concerning: the funding of pension schemes; the Pension Regulator's moral hazard regime; the construction and rectification of trust documents; pension claims in insolvency; cross-border disputes arising out of trusts; and, breach of contract and professional negligence claims. He is experienced in submissions to the High Court and Court of Appeal dealing with the construction of pensions legislation and documentation, as well as working with clients to resolve their disputes through mediation. Chris has particular experience working with clients who have a global presence and international concerns, particularly Canada and the US. Chris is a qualified solicitor-advocate, having attained his Higher Rights of Audience. Chris was elected to the Education & Seminars Committee of the Association of Pension Lawyers in 2020. Chris has been recognised as a Next Generation Partner in The Legal 500 UK 2022.

Partner

Principal Associate

Legal Director

Senior Associate