About
The firm: Walkers is a leading international law firm that provides legal, corporate, fiduciary and compliance services to global corporations, financial institutions, capital markets participants and investment fund managers. Clients include Fortune 100 and FTSE 100 companies, as well as the most innovative firms and institutions across the financial markets. Walkers’ lawyers are experienced, entrepreneurial, committed to client service and held in high regard by clients for their ability to deliver outstanding legal advice.
Walkers is experienced in all types of international and cross-border transactions, covering a broad range of sectors, with a particular focus on both contentious and non-contentious corporate and finance law, investment funds, private equity, structured products, capital markets, private capital and trusts. Walkers delivers excellent, clear, practical advice based on an in-depth knowledge of the legal, regulatory and commercial environment in Bermuda, the British Virgin Islands, the Cayman Islands, Guernsey, Jersey and Ireland. The firm is consistently ranked in the top tier of leading global legal directories. Clients describe Walkers as “a top-class firm,” and “stellar,” adding: “They are dedicated and responsive…”
Asset finance: Walkers acts for the world’s leading financial institutions and arrangers in relation to asset finance transactions. These transactions include the sale and purchase of aircraft, ships, telecommunications systems and other ‘big ticket’ items. The firm also regularly advises on the acquisition of all types of equipment through secured loan financing and finance leasing, as well as ship and yacht registration.
Contacts: Adam Bathgate, Jonathan Betts, Nathalie West
Banking: Walkers’ banking team is one of the most experienced transactional banking teams in the offshore market. It advises agents, arrangers, banks, international financial institutions and corporations on an extensive range of domestic and international cross-border banking and finance transactions. It advises on all aspects of loan and credit facilities ranging from short-term unsecured loans to multi-currency syndicated loans and revolving facilities, leveraged finance, acquisition finance, asset finance, debt restructuring, structured finance and capital markets.
Contacs: Adam Bathgate, Jonathan Betts, Nathalie West
Corporate: Walkers’ corporate group advises global corporations on a wide variety of company, commercial and corporate law matters. The team has worked with some of the biggest names in the industry and clients include international companies of all sizes across all industry sectors, banks, private equity providers and a number of state and government entities. They are extensively experienced in advising on all corporate matters including mergers, acquisitions and disposals, corporate re-structuring, joint ventures, shareholders’ agreements and commercial contracts and agreements of every nature.
Contacts: Jonathan Betts, Natalie Neto
FinTech: Walkers’ fintech group advises businesses specialising in digital assets, blockchain, alternative model finance and a wide range of related activities and services including funds, issuers, custodians and broker dealers. The team has specialist knowledge of licensing, marketing, data protection, tax transparency, outsourcing, international anti-money laundering regulation and other aspects relevant to FinTech businesses.
Contacts: Natalie Neto, Sarah Demerling
Insolvency and dispute resolution: Walkers’ IDR team advises on a full spectrum of insolvency and commercial litigation matters, including out of court restructuring, enforcement of security, and all types of contentious and non-contentious insolvency proceedings. The practice also includes corporate liquidation on various grounds, including ‘just and equitable’ liquidation, appointment and removal of liquidators and receivers; matters concerning the rights and duties of liquidators and receivers; cross-border and international insolvency; securing and tracing corporate assets and the full range of claims by and against liquidators, provisional liquidators and receivers. The team also has considerable experience assisting clients in relation to shareholder disputes, contentious trusts disputes, professional negligence and employment matters.
Contacts: Kevin Taylor, Nicole Tovey
Insurance and ILS: Walkers’ insurance team provides clients with market leading legal, regulatory and licensing advice for the establishment, structuring and on-going operation of all forms of insurance vehicles, including for the issue of insurance linked securities, as well as insurance managers, agents and brokers. It also routinely advises clients on corporate and transactional matters in the insurance space. The team routinely advises re/insurers and ILS funds on contract and policy wordings, and are uniquely placed to advise on the structuring of novel re/insurance products. It also has experience in portfolio transfers and commutations.
Contacts: Sarah Demerling, Peter Dunlop
Insurance dispute resolution: Walkers’ insurance dispute resolution team has decades of experience advising policyholders and re/insurers in Bermuda litigation and international arbitrations (Bermuda Form, ad hoc and institutional arbitrations) on a wide variety of disputed coverage and rescission claims and subrogated recovery claims across all re/insurance business lines in a broad array of industries, including captive insurance, pharmaceuticals, life, health and medical malpractice, oil and gas and financial reinsurance. The firm is routinely instructed to advise on enforcement of foreign judgments and arbitral awards and injunctive relief. It also has considerable expertise in multi-jurisdictional regulatory investigations for major reinsurers.
Contact: Peter Dunlop
Investment funds: Walkers’ investment funds group advises many of the world’s most prominent asset managers, fund promoters and institutional banks and investors. It advise on all aspects of offshore investment funds including fund formation, structuring, regulation, fund restructuring, fund re-domiciliation, termination and on-going general advice to investment funds and managers.
Contacts: Sarah Demerling, Jonathan Betts
Private equity: Walkers’ private equity group acts for most of the world’s largest and most successful private equity firms. It advises on all aspects of fund formation and capitalisation of investment vehicles, public and private mergers and acquisitions and down-stream transactions, capital call and subscription line financing, leveraged buy out, group restructuring, secured lending, take-private and IPO formation and due diligence.
Contacts: Jonathan Betts, Natalie Neto, Sarah Demerling
Regulatory and risk advisory: Walkers’ regulatory and risk advisory team offers advice on compliance and regulatory matters on a global basis. The team has an active advisory practice and regularly advises regulated and non-regulated financial services institutions on the interpretation and application of regulatory rules, policies and procedures.
Contacts: Natalie Neto, Melanie Fullerton
Restructuring: Walkers advises on all aspects of restructurings and reorganisations including complex cross-border financial and corporate restructurings, debt to equity swaps, distressed debt, asset finance and capital market products.
Contacts: Natalie Neto, Adam Bathgate, Nicole Tovey
Walkers Professional Services: Walkers Professional Services (“WPS”) is a leading provider of corporate, corporate governance, regulatory compliance and fiduciary services to corporate and institutional clients across global financial centres. WPS offers market leading expertise and value for spend, and its unique integrated legal and professional services team, combined with state of the art technology, positions WPS to deliver on this.
Contacts: Otelia Scott, Michael Wynne
Global managing partner: Ingrid Pierce
Bermuda managing partner: Kevin Taylor
Number of Bermuda partners: 7
Number of partners worldwide: 124
Number of Bermuda lawyers: 17
Number of lawyers worldwide: 420