Offshore Britain - Isle Of Man
1

Insurance and pensions

Appleby

More informationMore information

Appleby provides a full service offering across all aspects of insurance and pensions. The insurance and reinsurance practice represent a variety of multinational financial groups with regulatory compliance and business operations, including high-profile M&A. On the pensions side, the firm acts for large corporate clients on pensions advisory work in conjunction with teams across other Crown Dependencies. Juan Thornley is experienced in handling complex transactional and advisory work with a particular focus on the financial services sector. Garry Manley is an expert in insurance law, advising major international groups on a range of transformational transactions. other key names on the team are Michelle Brook and Katherine Garrood.

Legal 500 Editorial commentary

Testimonials

Collated independently by Legal 500 research team.

  • 'Garry Manley is technically very strong, capable and confident. His input has been invaluable.’

  • ‘Garry Manley is proactive, attention to detail, informed, articulate and explains technical legal principles well in laymans terms. Importantly has a strong understanding of insurance.’

Key clients

  • Quilter plc
  • Monument Re
  • International Financial Group Limited
  • Utmost International
  • Zurich International Life Limited

Work highlights

  • Acted as lead counsel to Utmost International on the court-sanctioned transfer of the entire long-term insurance business of Utmost Limited to Utmost International Isle of Man Limited.
  • Acting for Zurich on the sale of its Singapore life insurance business to Monument Group.
  • Acted as lead counsel to Monument Re on the court-sanctioned transfer of the entire long-term insurance business of its Guernsey subsidiary to its Isle of Man subsidiary.

Lawyers

Leading associates
Rising stars with regular involvement in their team's key work, and recognition from peers or clients as being ones to watch.
Michelle Brook 
Appleby
Michelle Brook is Counsel within the Corporate department in the Isle of Man, having joined Appleby in 2002. Michelle has been advising on Isle of Man insurance matters and transactions for over 15 years and has built up a wealth of experience in dealing with the often complicated and multi-jurisdictional legal issues that face Isle of Man insurers. She is well versed in dealing with everything from the day to day dealings with the Isle of Man regulator, as well as advising on some of the biggest and most high-profile acquisitions involving Isle of Man insurance companies.  She has also advised on a number of insurance business transfer schemes. Michelle also has experience in a broad range of matters arising in the corporate finance, banking and asset finance and financial services regulation sectors. Michelle acts for many insurance companies, international financial institutions, law firms and corporate service providers, advising on a full range of the key and complex legal issues that affect both their own businesses and those of their clients. Michelle has previously undertaken a secondment to a leading international bank.
Leading partners
The strongest partners in their field, leading on market-leading deals and endorsed by peers and clients alike.
Garry Manley
Appleby
Garry Manley is a partner in the Isle of Man office who advises on a broad range of Isle of Man and BVI corporate transactions. He has extensive experience of advising on domestic and cross-border mergers & acquisitions and venture capital/private equity investments, with a particular focus on regulated financial services and insurance businesses. In addition to his M&A practice, Garry is one of the Isle of Man’s leading regulatory lawyers, with a particular focus on insurance companies, banks and corporate service providers. Garry’s insurance work sees him advising many of the Isle of Man’s leading insurance groups and insurance managers on the full spectrum of matters including M&A transactions, portfolio transfers, new authorisations, change of control applications and ongoing business regulation, including solvency issues. In addition to the regulation of traditional sectors, Garry advises on a range of novel and developing regulated industries, including payment services and cryptoassets. He is a pre-eminent thought-leader in respect of the regulated cannabis sector on the Isle of Man and is also distinguished in the area of economic substance, having been the only lawyer on the Isle of Man government’s public-private working group since 2019. He also supports clients in contentious regulatory matters, including regulatory investigations and enforcement proceedings, alongside colleagues in Appleby’s market-leading disputes team. Garry has a first- class law degree from Oxford University, and before joining Appleby he practised for almost a decade as a mergers & acquisitions and transactional private equity specialist in the London, Hong Kong and New York offices of Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP. In addition to his advisory work, Garry frequently provides input into legislative developments across a broad range of topics. He was closely involved in the development of the Isle of Man’s first merger control regime, and he has also been consulted about legislative developments in the areas of company law, cannabis regulation, economic substance and beneficial ownership.

Practice head

The lawyer(s) leading their teams.

Juan Thornley, Garry Manley

Other key lawyers

Michelle Brook, Katherine Garrood

© 2024 Legalease Ltd. All rights reserved

Registered company in England & Wales No. 2423756 VAT 324572722

Registered address: 188 Fleet Street, London, EC4A 2AG