England - London • Employment

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Pensions: dispute resolution

Linklaters LLP

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The ‘well-organised' and ’very strong' pensions dispute resolution team at Linklaters LLP regularly deals with high-stakes and high-profile pensions litigation, with recent work involving long-running moral hazard cases brought by the Pensions Regulator and litigation dealing with rectification. The ‘very intelligent’ Mark Blyth heads the large practice, in which the key names to note are the ‘excellent’ Philip Goss, the ‘unflappable’ Tom Kent, Gareth Craft, and Sarah Opie. Alongside regulatory disputes, the practice also provides support in cross-border pensions matters, professional negligence claims relating to pension schemes, and cases seeking clarity over historic scheme changes. The team is also adept at advising clients during mediation processes as an alternative to litigation.

Legal 500 Editorial commentary

Testimonials

Collated independently by Legal 500 research team.

  • ‘The team has strength-in-depth and has resourced some incredibly demanding transactions to the extent that you wind-up surprised that they have other clients. New lawyers are introduced well to us as a client, and the core team remains in touch.’
  • ‘The best pensions team in London. Technically very strong, very efficient, and with a good appreciation of what really matters.’
  • ‘Mark Blyth is the best pensions litigator out there and can call on the full Linklaters armoury when needed.’
  • ‘This team continues to be one of the strongest in the pensions litigation field. Led by Mark Blyth, they have some of the strongest experience in the market and always field a team who perform at the highest level.’
  • ‘Mark Blyth stands out. With the benefit of a top-quality client base from their pensions team, Mark and his team deliver for their clients across the full-breadth of high-profile pensions cases.’
  • ‘Mark Blyth is a very intelligent litigator with a good knowledge of technical pensions law, and  is ably assisted by the unflappable Tom Kent who has a bright future in this area.’
  • ‘Mark Blyth has been supported by Phil Goss, Gareth Craft, and Sarah Opie. Phil Goss is excellent at reading the room and understanding how to manage stakeholders. Gareth Craft writes very well and his advice is always very well laid out and clear.’
  • ‘Disciplined, considered and well-organised. They work hard at understanding the client's perspective and then deploying their deep knowledge and experience to deliver for you.’

Key clients

  • Merchant Navy Ratings Pension Fund
  • Capital Cranfield Pension Trustees Limited

Work highlights

  • Acted for the trustee of the Merchant Navy Ratings Pension Fund in High Court litigation over ill-health early retirement pensions for thousands of members.

Lawyers

Hall of Fame

The lawyers at the very top of the profession, widely known and respected by peers and clients for their longstanding involvement in market-leading work.

Mark Blyth

Hall of fameLinklaters LLP

Mark heads Linklaters’ Pensions Disputes practice. He is acknowledged as one of the leading UK pensions disputes lawyers and advises employers, trustees, insurers and professional services firms on the most complex, high-value and novel pensions disputes with the Pensions Regulator and before the Courts. These typically concern scheme funding, re-structuring, benefit design, construction of scheme rules, rectification and professional negligence.

Practice head

The lawyer(s) leading their teams.

Mark Blyth

Other key lawyers

Philip Goss, Gareth Craft, Sarah Opie, Tom Kent

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