Dentons' non-contentious pensions team has experience spanning the breadth of pensions law, with notable knowledge of DB and DC schemes, life assurance arrangements and healthcare trusts. The team provides cross-border transactional expertise, and also excels in advisory work. Eleanor Hart heads up the practice and leverages her corporate knowledge to handle cross-border transactions and restructuring issues. Carolyn Saunders joined the practice in September 2023, and is well regarded for her ESG work, particularly regarding trustee duties relating to climate change and diversity issues.

Legal 500 Editorial commentary

Testimonials

Collated independently by Legal 500 research team.

  • ‘The team is relatively small but has individuals who are equally adept at contentious and non-contentious matters. This makes for smaller and more efficient legal teams.’

  • ‘Carolyn Saunders has considerable experience and is extremely well known in the market. An accomplished public speaker, she is often called upon to comments on legislative or other developments. Head of department Eleanor Hart is an excellent and conscientious transactional lawyer.’

  • ‘Carolyn Saunders is somebody I have dealt with for a number of years. I have always found her helpful and responsive. We have had a few difficult issues to deal with over the years and she has always looked for pragmatic solutions where possible.’

Key clients

  • The Department for Energy Security and Net Zero
  • BCA Pension Trust Limited
  • HarbisonWalker International Limited
  • Informa plc

Work highlights

  • Advising The Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) and Ofgem on its proposals to create a Future System Operator (FSO) with responsibilities for both electricity and gas systems to achieve net zero and maintain energy security while minimising costs for consumers.
  • Advising on the 'rescue' of a pension scheme where its sponsoring employer is in administration.
  • Advising a leading provider of business process services on a significant cybersecurity incident.

Lawyers

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Practice head

The lawyer(s) leading their teams.

Eleanor Hart

Other key lawyers

Carolyn Saunders