Tapestry Compliance

Tapestry is an award-winning boutique law firm specialising in UK and global executive and employee share schemes and incentives. Our approach is to foster long-term partnerships with our clients, providing timely, pragmatic and commercial advice. We provide insight-driven global solutions, and leading UK technical-expertise.

With the majority of our team based outside London, we offer excellent legal service whilst maintaining our ethos of agile working and value for money. Whilst always up against large City firms, the strength and quality of our offering means we continue to enjoy substantial growth, both in team size and client roster.

We are a fully employee-owned business, meaning all employees feel invested in our success. Our structure as an employee-owned business sets us apart from our peers and is a unique feature we are able to offer as an Incentives adviser - it means that when it comes to employee ownership, we can say that we practice what we preach!

Team
We are the largest team of incentives lawyers in any UK law firm. Our Partner-equivalents (Hannah Needle, Chris Fallon and Suzannah Crookes) lead the team, providing a wealth of industry expertise.

We have an impressive senior bench of notable lawyers, all with individual specialisms (see individuals’ supporting information): Paul Abthorpe, Sally Blanchflower, Sarah Bruce, Matthew Hunter, Emma Parker and Lorna Parkin. They are supported by experienced lawyers including Steve Penfold and Tom Parker.

Bob Grayson’s consultancy brings immense practical expertise and longstanding industry relationships.

Clients
We advise many of the world’s leading companies on their incentive arrangements, plan implementation, documentation and legal/tax compliance, including Unilever, Sage, Rolls-Royce and The Coca-Cola Company. We have provided services to 65% of the current FTSE100 since being founded in 2011 and flagship clients have remained with us since inception. This is complemented by many recent wins, including AkzoNobel, Glencore and Novo Nordisk.

We advise many banks, insurers and asset managers including HSBC, Aviva and Schroders on a range of remuneration and regulatory topics. We also provide support on the impact of transactions and corporate actions on incentive plans.

Industry-leading
Tapestry is well-known for its thought-leadership and proactivity in industry organisations including the Global Equity Organisation (GEO, of which Hannah Needle sits on the Board of Directors), ProShare (for whom a number of our team lead on their industry Focus Groups), Share Plans Lawyers Group (SPLG, in which our lawyers hold Chair, Secretary and Committee positions) and National Association of Stock Plan Professionals (NASPP) and support for those organisations with government/HMRC lobbying. Hannah also sits on the Practical Law Share Schemes & Incentives Consultation Board, highlighting our pre-eminence in the industry.

We were a key contributor on industry responses to HM Treasury’s 2023 Call for Evidence on UK all-employee tax-advantaged share schemes. Our lawyers are frequently requested to present at leading industry events.

Technology
We have developed and continue to invest in our market-leading online global legal and tax compliance database which was developed to provide easily-accessible, cost-effective information on areas such as securities laws, exchange controls, employment law and tax considerations in 150+ countries, helping our clients manage incentives compliance more efficiently. The information is structured in a clear format, tailored and branded for each client, exportable for sharing with colleagues or third parties and with a value-add knowledge ‘hub’; all of which can be accessed 24/7. The database is maintained by our in-house team and regularly updated by our global partners.

“OnTap is an excellent resource!  The information available and the ease of navigation make it an obvious choice for us to keep a handle on the legal and tax compliance of our global plans”.
Aviva

From a client who has recently subscribed to our OnTap database:

"... I am already working in the tool. Love, love, love it!"
Light & Wonder (US listed company)

Culture and Diversity
Tapestry has shown that it is possible to establish a firm where lawyers get to work with some of the world’s biggest clients, and lead on stimulating and challenging work, in a more sustainable way.

Tapestry journeyed from a traditional partnership structure (LLP) to an Alternative Business Structure (Limited Company) in 2018, finally becoming 100% employee-owned in 2020. All founder shares were sold to an Employee Ownership Trust (EOT), which holds them on behalf of all employees. The EOT has safeguarded the business and supports a future in which all our employees will share.

We have always challenged traditional business structures by allowing hybrid and flexible working arrangements well before they were commonplace. Employees are not excluded from progressing with their careers due to personal circumstances or life choices. Traditional structures indirectly discriminate against those taking career breaks or working part-time, often preventing them holding Partner status. At Tapestry, all employees are owners of the business, encouraging engagement with challenging traditional approaches; part-time working extends to the most senior levels.

We take diversity and inclusion very seriously and our statistics are impressive compared with other law firms:

• our workforce is majority female, and 79% of our legal advisors are women, compared with a national average of 52%. We also have more women in senior roles, with 66% of our top leadership team and 57% of our business leads team being female (whereas nationally, only 35% of partners in law firms are female);
• we have a higher proportion of our workforce classed as having a significant disability than other law firms (around 3 times as many);
• we have high socio-economic diversity in our team: 62% come from a family where neither parent attended university and the number of our employees who attended fee-paying schools is less than half the national average for the legal profession;
• we are a young workforce: 71% of our team members are younger than 45, compared with an industry average of 58%;
• all but one of our senior lawyers works part-time.

“Unilever’s vision is a truly diverse and inclusive workforce… We aim to promote gender balance and developing an inclusive culture by respecting the contribution of all employees regardless of gender, age, race, disability or sexual orientation. As one of the signatories of the General Counsel Diversity & Inclusion Statement of Support…we’re happy to work with Tapestry who embrace a culture where agile working is available for women and men to have a healthy work/life balance whilst also providing great and cost-efficient legal advice when we need it.”
Unilever

 Training
We provide the UK’s only professional qualification in our industry, the Certificate in Employee Share Plans (accredited by the Chartered Governance Institute UK and Ireland). As well as teaching the technicalities and providing attendees with a solid knowledge foundation, our unique offering shares market knowledge and best practice. The course is run annually in two parts with an exam after each part. With over 1000 alumni in total and up to 100 participants each year, the course also has supported career development for many in the industry.

“This course is extremely helpful to understand the complex world of UK share plans. The course is well organised and the speakers really bring share plans to life and have shared some helpful best practice guidance on the operation of share plans for students to take away with them to implement into internal processes!”
Hammerson Plc

“Blown away by the exceptional quality of the Tapestry team, delivery of the course and the materials. Well done!”
BP

“I have to say this has hands down been one of the best courses I've attended. The notes are beautifully prepared and very easy to follow. The speakers are highly knowledgeable and the support and encouragement has been excellent! Highly recommend!”
RS Group

“The course offers a great range of topics that affect all aspects of share plans, which makes it a great choice for both those managing and administering share plans within companies but also external administrators too. The content is delivered by experts in their fields, in an engaging and interactive way which helps create a fantastic environment for learning.”
HWC

Value-add initiatives
We host a variety of webinars which regularly attract 100+ attendees, and a roundtable programme offering unrivalled guest access to industry policy-makers, facilitating critical peer-to-peer best practice discussions.

We provide email alerts and updates on our LinkedIn network, reporting on breaking industry news and global updates, summarising the key development and providing a perspective from our Tapestry lawyers. We receive requests to join our mailing list almost daily.