Stephenson Harwood

Helena Berman

Helena is the head of our pensions dispute resolution team. With over 20 years’ experience in complex high value pensions and contentious trust disputes, Helena is recognised as a leading industry figure. She is regularly called upon by clients and peers for opinion on some of the most complex contentious issues. Helena acts for corporates, trustees, financial services firms, financial institutions, insurers and private individuals. Helena has acted on a number of high profile reported cases and has successfully challenged orthodox thinking on important issues such as the law of limitation and construction of trust documents. Helena is particularly adept at defending trustee advisers in professional negligence claims and she continues to surpass client expectations, reflected in the fact that she was shortlisted for “Client Partner of the Year” at the Lawyer Awards 2015. Helena is considered an expert on construction and rectification of trust documents. She is also experienced in acting where trustees have fraudulently misappropriated trust assets and advising trustees who find themselves drawn into UK matrimonial proceedings. Helena is ranked as a leading individual in Pensions Litigation in Legal 500 and a Notable Practitioner in Chambers & Partners (UK). She sits on the Pensions Litigation Committee of the Association of Pensions Lawyers and is regularly asked to speak at industry leading conferences and to contribute to industry publications.

Jenny McKeown

Head of the employment, pensions and private wealth practice group, Jenny is a leading contentious trusts specialist. She is widely recognised for her experience in complex, high value, trust disputes in the private wealth, pensions, banking and financial services sectors (both onshore and offshore). She acts for trustees, beneficiaries, corporates, financial services firms, financial institutions, insurers and private individuals. Jenny has acted on a number of high profile claims and trust disputes both onshore and offshore.  Her experience ranges from advising on technical areas of rectification and construction of trust documentation to applications for disclosure of information and seeking to hold trustees to account. Jenny has particular expertise in professional negligence claims against trustee advisors and representing trustees in fraud proceedings. Jenny is valued by clients for bringing a commercial and pragmatic approach to complex legal issues.  She also has extensive experience of third-party litigation funding and insurance arrangements and recovering assets obtained in breach of trust. Jenny is ranked as a leading individual in Contentious Trust and Probate and Pensions Litigation in Legal 500 UK and as a Notable Practitioner in both in Chambers & Partners UK. She is included in the Private Client Global Elite directory and has recently been ranked in two separate Citywealth lists: the ‘Top 10 Power Women Trust Litigators’ and ‘Top 100 Trust Litigators and Polymaths’ where clients and peers described her as “discerning with great acumen, innovation and shrewdness. Quick witted, ingenious and clever”.  Whilst heading the contentious trust team Jenny won the Trust and Estates Litigation Team of the Year at Legal Week’s Commercial Litigation and Arbitration Awards for her victory last year in the Privy Council in Sachak Khan & Ors v Gany Holdings & Ors (regarding a £100 million cross border trust dispute). She is regularly asked to speak at conferences on topical issues and has written a number of published articles.

Chris Edwards-Earl

Chris specialises in helping clients to resolve complex contentious issues concerning pension schemes, trust funds, and with their advisors. He has considerable experience acting for trustees and employers, parties acting in an interest-based or representative capacity, and for clients pursuing or defending high-value professional negligence actions. Chris has advised clients extensively on a range of matters concerning: the funding of pension schemes; the Pension Regulator's moral hazard regime; the construction and rectification of trust documents; pension claims in insolvency; cross-border disputes arising out of trusts; and, breach of contract and professional negligence claims. He is experienced in submissions to the High Court and Court of Appeal dealing with the construction of pensions legislation and documentation, as well as working with clients to resolve their disputes through mediation. Chris has particular experience working with clients who have a global presence and international concerns, particularly Canada and the US. Chris is a qualified solicitor-advocate, having attained his Higher Rights of Audience. Chris was elected to the Education & Seminars Committee of the Association of Pension Lawyers in 2020. Chris has been recognised as a Next Generation Partner in The Legal 500 UK 2022.