Region Area

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’ asset finance team advises on all aspects of the financing, leasing and trading of aircraft, aircraft engines, helicopters and other heavy transportation assets, such as rolling stock and vessels. The team consists of specialists who have extensive experience in complex onshore and offshore asset finance transactions and act for lending lessors, lessees and financiers.
Contacts: James Burch and Sarah Humpleby

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.
Contacts: Rob Jackson and David Collins

Corporate: Walkers’ corporate group advises global corporations and private equity managers on a wide variety of transactions and 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, a number of state and government entities, and sovereign wealth funds. The team is highly experienced in advising on all corporate matters including mergers, acquisitions and disposals, SPACs, corporate re-structuring, joint ventures, shareholders’ agreements and commercial contracts and agreements of every nature.
Contacts: Tim Buckley and Rolf Lindsay

Insolvency and dispute resolution: Walkers advises investment managers, companies, directors, general partners and insolvency practitioners on all aspects of litigation, corporate recovery, restructuring, insolvency and dispute resolution. The team is internationally recognised as having the premier insolvency and corporate recovery team amongst the International Financial centre law firms, and has extensive experience in multi-jurisdictional restructurings and litigation. Among the team are qualified arbitrators and trained mediators. They advise creditors, debtors, private equity and hedge funds and other stakeholders and have worked with many of the leading international law and accounting firms.
Contacts: Neil Lupton and Matthew Goucke

Insurance: Walkers has a multidisciplinary insurance and reinsurance team that has deep industry experience, providing clients with market leading legal, regulatory and licencing advice for the establishment, structuring and on-going operation of all forms of insurance vehicles. The team prides itself on its ability to offer practical industry advice to its clients based on first-hand experience and knowledge. The team provides services to the world’s leading insurers and reinsurers, capital markets and fund specialists, as well as contentious and non-contentious re/insurance law advice to policyholders, cedants, reinsurers, and retrocessionaires.
Contacs: Philip Paschalides and Tony De Quintal

Investment funds: Walkers’ investment funds group is one of the largest specialist investment funds teams worldwide. They advise many of the world’s most prominent asset managers, fund promoters and institutional banks and investors on all aspects of offshore investment funds including fund formation, structuring, regulation, fund restructuring, fund re-domiciliation, all aspects of distressed funds, termination and on-going general advice to investment funds and managers.
Contacts: Ingrid Pierce and Melissa Lim

Private capital and trusts: Walkers’ private capital and trusts group is a multijurisdictional team of specialist lawyers who focus on serving the needs of high-net individuals, entrepreneurs, family offices, professional trustees and onshore advisers. The team’s work includes establishing private capital investment funds, direct investing, private and commercial trusts, wealth and succession planning, wills and probate, charitable and philanthropic trusts and entities, trust litigation and a broad range of corporate services designed to support back office operations. Clients have come to rely on Walkers as a trusted advisor for its expertise, discretion and individually tailored advice with a long-term, multi-generational perspective.
Contacts: David Pytches and Philip Paschalides

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, subscription line financing, leveraged buyouts, group restructuring, secured lending, take-private and IPO formation and due diligence.
Contacts: Caroline Williams and Rolf Lindsay

Regulatory and risk advisory: Walkers’ regulatory and risk advisory team comprises dedicated specialist financial regulatory and risk management advisory lawyers who bring unique insight from having worked inside various national regulators, including the Cayman Islands Monetary Authority. The team regularly advises non-regulated and regulated financial institutions on the interpretation and application of regulatory rules, policies and procedures. Clients include a wide range of businesses in the banking, insurance and reinsurance, investment fund, administrator, fiduciary and investment management, advice, broker-dealer and arranger sectors.
Contacts: Lucy Frew and Tony de Quintal

Structured products and capital markets (SPCM): Walkers’ SPCM team advises the world’s leading international financial institutions, managers, arrangers, agents and trustees on the full range of debt, equity, equity-linked, credit-linked and asset-backed securities, insurance-linked securities, derivatives and other structured products. The team’s expertise includes securitisations, repackagings, collateralised bond and loan offerings, note programmes, commercial paper and depository receipt programmes and convertible debt and warrants issues.
Contacts: Philip Paschalides and James Burch

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: Steven Manning (CEO, WPS) and Anne Dolan (COO, WPS)

Global managing partner: Ingrid Pierce
Cayman Islands managing partner: Tim Buckley
Number of Cayman Islands partners: 35
Number of partners worldwide: 124
Number of Cayman Islands lawyers: 116
Number of lawyers worldwide: 420

Languages

  • Afrikaans
  • Bengali
  • Mandarin
  • Chinese (Cantonese and Mandarin)
  • Spanish
  • Portuguese
  • Several Nigerian local languages
  • Cantonese
  • English
  • French
  • German
  • Greek
  • Dutch
  • Hindi
  • Bahasa (Malay and Indonesia)

Memberships

  • Lex Mundi - The World's Leading Association of Independent Law Firms

Staffing Figures

  • 35 Cayman Islands partners
  • 124 Partners worldwide
  • 116 Cayman Islands lawyers
  • 420 Lawyers worldwide