Walkers

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Advocate & Associate

Sarah leads Walkers' Channel Islands Employment Law Group and is the head of our Employment team in Guernsey. She advises on all aspects of contentious and non-contentious employment law. Sarah advises companies in sectors ranging from financial services, insurance and legal to media on: tribunal claims and procedure contracts of employment internal grievance and disciplinary matters managing sickness absence misconduct and capability issues dismissals discrimination employment policies and procedures redundancies aspects of mergers, acquisitions and disposals. She has been seconded to Employment Legal and HR teams, and has spent time in a major international bank where she gained experience of employment matters from a client’s perspective.

Jamie Bookless is a Partner in Walkers' Guernsey office advising on disputes and regulatory matters involving regulated businesses and structures in Guernsey. He has been in private practice for 20 years and has been working offshore since 2015. Jamie's regulatory practice primarily focuses on advice to regulated and licensed businesses on a wide variety of matters including AML and CFT related issues, GFSC investigations and remediation programmes, data protection, SARs and sanctions. His disputes practice focuses on complex and high-value commercial disputes and insolvency matters, as well as disputes related to competition law and data protection. Jamie regularly acts for large commercial clients, corporate trustees, major accountancy firms and investment banks. Jamie works with both Walkers' global Insolvency & Dispute Resolution practice, and Walkers' global Regulatory & Risk Advisory practice.

Sarah is a partner in Walkers' Guernsey Insolvency & Dispute Resolution Group specialising in contentious insolvency and regulatory disputes. She is an experienced court-going Advocate who frequently represents liquidators in respect of contentious and non-contentious matters before Guernsey's Royal Court in relation to compulsory and voluntary winding-up, and holds the BPP Certificate of Proficiency in Corporate Insolvency (for which she received the highest exam result in the country). Sarah also advises and represents directors of regulated entities in respect of regulatory investigations and disputes. She has significant experience in all aspects of commercial dispute as well as considerable experience of appearing in the Magistrate’s Court, Royal Court and Court of Appeal.

Danielle Brouard

Danielle Brouard is a Senior Counsel in the Walkers' Employment practice group and advises on all aspects of employment law, focusing in particular on discrimination and employment-related disputes. Danielle spent 14 years practising in the London office of a major international law firm, working across the full range of contentious and non-contentious employment law issues. Her core practice involves: drafting and negotiating employment documentation, including restrictive covenants assisting with HR processes and employee relations matters representing clients in employment tribunal litigation advising on employment aspects of transactions assisting with the relocation of employees into Guernsey advising on pension issues Danielle also has in-house experience, having undertaken a six-month client secondment with British Airways, advising on employee relations and trade union issues.

Advocate Adam Cole is a partner in Walkers' Guernsey Insolvency & Dispute Resolution team, with wide commercial litigation experience and a particular interest in contentious insolvency matters, regulatory enforcement referrals and trust disputes. He has been practising for over a decade and has been admitted in Guernsey since 2014. Prior to that Adam worked with a major international firm in London, specialising in insurance-related litigation. Adam is a member of the Association of Restructuring and Insolvency Experts (ARIES) and was awarded a Distinction for the STEP Advanced Certificate in International Trusts Disputes. He has been consistently recognised by both Legal 500 and Chambers and Partners. Admitted in: England & Wales (not practising) Guernsey

Craig Cordle is a Partner in Walkers' Guernsey Investment Funds & Corporate Practice Group specialising in all aspects of the structuring, restructuring, merger, sale, establishment and operation of listed and private investment funds, including private equity funds, real estate funds, single asset vehicles/SPACs and other collective investment arrangements. In addition, Craig advises on the merger and acquisition of private and listed companies, schemes of arrangement and regulatory and competition issues. Craig is an asset management lawyer with 14 years' experience in private practice, most of which was spent in the asset management, funds and capital markets teams of two leading international law firms in the City of London. Since moving to Guernsey in 2016, and re-qualifying as a Guernsey Advocate, he continues to work with a number of vehicles listed on exchanges in London and across Europe, including The International Stock Exchange (TISE). He has been consistently recognised for the quality of his advice by Chambers UK, Legal 500 and IFLR 1000. Admitted in: Guernsey – 2018 England & Wales - 2008

Nitrisha Doorasamy

Nitrisha Doorasamy is a private capital and trusts lawyer with substantial in-house experience as a corporate trustee and fiduciary specialist.Nitrisha is an associate in Walkers' Guernsey Private Capital & Trusts team specialising in non-contentious private client work, including drafting and the establishment of trust, foundation and family office structures.She is an affiliate member of STEP who spent more than six years in the trusts team of a major South African banking group before moving offshore and joining Walkers in 2018.Nitrisha's practice is geared around supporting local trust companies and HNWIs on asset protection and succession planning issues.She also works with Walkers' Guernsey corporate law team on the intersection between trust and company law, and issues involving companies underlying trust structures.

Zoë is a Group Partner* in Guernsey and part of our Banking & Finance Practice Group. She specialises in fund finance with several years' experience in the Cayman Islands prior to relocating to Guernsey. She is part of Walkers' Global Fund Finance Group and advises both borrowers and lenders on subscription, net asset value and hybrid facilities, and in relation to GP and LP financings. Her clients include leading international banks, alternative lenders (including private credit funds) and fund sponsors. Zoë also has extensive experience in leveraged acquisitions, corporate finance and real-estate finance, as well as non-contentious restructurings and security enforcement. *not admitted in Guernsey and not a member of Walkers (Guernsey) LLP Admitted In: Cayman Islands England and Wales (not practising)

Chris Hutley-Hurst

Chris Hutley-Hurst heads up the Walkers' Channel Islands Regulatory and Risk Advisory Group. Chris is a Guernsey Advocate, with more than 20 years' experience in private practice in Guernsey, London and New York. He specialises in financial services regulation, digital assets and corporate tax. Chris advises on Guernsey regulatory matters, covering fintech, digital assets, financial services, licensing regimes, consumer lending, data protection and GDPR, beneficial ownership and anti-money laundering. He advises various financial services businesses, including banks, payment providers, CSPs, fund administrators and asset managers. Having worked as a tax lawyer previously, he has a unique experience in international tax matters, including VAT and GST. He advises on Guernsey and Jersey corporate tax (including Pillar 2), economic substance requirements, the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA), and the OECD's Common Reporting Standard (CRS) and Crypto-Asset Reporting Framework (CARF), together with other initiatives. Chris is the author of the Bloomberg Tax Guide Guernsey chapter. He is also a board member for the Guernsey Chamber of Commerce.

Helena Lavin is a Senior Associate in Walkers' Guernsey Insolvency and Dispute Resolution Group, specialising in contentious insolvency and trust matters. She has been practising in Guernsey for around seven years – prior to that she worked in the Middle East, and with law firms in England, and also worked as in-house counsel. Helena has broad expertise acting for and advising predominantly international clients in disputes often with a multi-jurisdictional element, and is a member of ARIES and INSOL International. Having a particular interest in contentious insolvency and trust matters, her cases have involved acting for trustees, beneficiaries and other parties to trusts in seeking disclosure from trustees, obtaining injunctive relief pertaining to trust assets, applications to vary trusts and challenged Beddoe applications. She also has extensive experience acting for directors, shareholders and other stakeholders in a wide range of disputes covering breach of fiduciary duties, professional negligence, enforcement of judgments and contested winding up proceedings.

Rupert heads Walkers' Private Capital & Trusts practice group and has over 15 years’ experience as a private wealth specialist focusing on private client advisory and structuring work. Since qualifying as a Guernsey Advocate, Rupert also has experience as a contentious practitioner, appearing before the Guernsey courts at all levels. He is recognised as one of the leading lawyers in his field in Guernsey, and sits on the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners’ (STEP) worldwide council and is a former Chair of their Guernsey branch. Rupert’s clients include leading trust companies, financial institutions, government departments and ultra-high net worth individuals. He helps them with all aspects of local and cross-border advisory and structuring work, impact investment, charitable structures, and regulatory matters including tax investigations and dawn raids.

Alison is a partner and head of the Guernsey Dispute Resolution team. She is recognised in Legal 500's "Hall of Fame". Alison has considerable experience in relation to trust, banking, insolvency and insurance litigation, as well as general corporate disputes. She appears regularly in front of the Royal Court and Court of Appeal. Alison is a regular speaker at conferences in Guernsey, the UK and internationally, particularly in relation to trust litigation corporate governance and AML issues

Kim Paiva is a Group Partner in Walker's top-tier Guernsey Banking & Finance team – she has 15 years' experience in private practice in onshore and offshore roles, and leads the Guernsey acquisition finance and general secured lending team. Kim has a broad range of expertise encompassing Banking & Finance and Corporate law matters, and specialises in acquisition and asset financing deals, advising borrowers and lenders predominantly in London and within the Channel Islands on matters of Guernsey law. She is part of the market-leading Walkers Global Aviation Group, and advises both owners and financiers in relation to transactions involving aircraft registered or to be registered on 2-REG (Guernsey's Aircraft Registry). Kim has ten years' experience advising on Guernsey law, and also advises on leveraged finance, and in acquisitions of regulated trust and company services providers. Having spent five years practising in South Africa's largest law firm, Kim also works with clients from South Africa on funds and private capital matters, advising clients in respect of asset protection and succession planning structures.

Victoria is a Senior Counsel in Walkers' Channel Islands Employment Practice Group, supporting the team across Guernsey and Jersey. Her employment law practice includes specialisms in data protection, executive exits and team moves and employment connected with regulated financial services business. Victoria's data protection work focuses on staff data (including data subject access requests and cross-border data transfers), frequently in the context of regulated industries, mergers & acquisitions and litigation. Her practice relating to senior exits and team moves involves advising both employers and employees on contentious exits and enforcement of post termination restrictions as well as constructive and unfair dismissal. Having worked as a commercial and fiduciary lawyer in London and Guernsey, and attaining STEP qualifications prior to specialising in employment work, Victoria has relevant experience of working within a regulated environment. Victoria is a Guernsey Advocate and also advises on housing and immigration matters.

Jessica Robinson

Jessica Robinson is a senior counsel based in Walkers' Guernsey office, specialising in advising on M&A transactions, corporate restructurings and corporate finance matters. Her experience includes M&A transactions involving regulated trust company service providers, as well as a major Middle East acquisition for Amazon.com Inc. Jessica has worked in Walkers' BVI, Guernsey and Jersey offices, and advises on BVI, Cayman and Guernsey law. Prior to moving offshore, she practised in the London office of a major international firm for five years, during which time she completed two secondments with major banking clients. Jessica also completed another secondment with a major international bank in Jersey, providing training and designing and implementing robust internal legal procedures. Jessica speaks French.

Marcél Treurnicht

Marcél Treurnicht is a Senior Counsel in the Walkers' Private Capital & Trusts practice group and specialises in advising clients on the establishment and use of Guernsey companies, trusts and foundations for both traditional private wealth and digital assets purposes (crypto and blockchain). Marcél's practice spans a range of areas, including traditional private wealth structures, employee benefit trusts, unit trusts and innovative trust structure tailored for the digital economy (crypto and blockchain). With a strong international background, Marcél brings valuable experience gained during his years in Hong Kong, where he advised on private wealth structures to assist wealthy families with tax mitigation, asset protection and succession planning. His corporate trust experience includes advising listed companies on the formation and implementation of employee benefit schemes in preparation for initial public offerings and/or secondary listings. In the digital economy, Marcél has worked with several of the largest decentralised autonomous organisations (DAOs) to develop trust structures that bridge the gap between traditional and digital economies while preserving decentralised principles. He has extensive experience in designing new trusts specifically for holding cryptoassets and monetising intellectual property assets connected to the blockchain space, as well as amending existing trusts, where feasible, to accommodate crypto and other blockchain assets. His expertise includes the use of purpose trusts and mixed trusts (which serve both purposes and beneficiaries). Additionally, he provides advice on holding cryptoassets through various entities such as foundations, foundation companies and standalone companies. He offers guidance on structures and entities across multiple jurisdictions, including the British Virgin Islands, the Cayman Islands and Guernsey. These structures invest in a wide range of cryptoassets, including cryptoasset funds, high-profile NFTs and even cryptoasset infrastructure, such as crypto exchanges.

Alex Wickens is a group partner* in the Guernsey Banking & Finance team specialising in real estate finance, fund finance and acquisition finance. Alex has over 12 years' experience advising lenders and borrowers on all aspects of Guernsey banking & finance law from lending, to non-contentious restructuring and security enforcement. He advises on financings to complex real estate holding structures, including property unit trust structures and structures established to be shariah law compliant. Alex advises sponsors, private credit and traditional lenders on a range of acquisition finance transactions, but predominantly in respect of mid-market acquisitions of infrastructure and financial services targets acquired through Guernsey acquisition stacks. He also advises on all aspects of fund finance, including subscription line, net asset value and hybrid facilities. *not admitted in Guernsey and not a member of Walkers (Guernsey) LLP