We advise on all aspects of pensions law and practice. Our clients include some of the UK's largest pension funds.
Every client is different but they all value our broad experience, in-depth knowledge and commercial approach.
“Travers Smith LLP’s team is ‘one of the strongest for technical expertise’ and has ‘some of the best pension experts around’.”
Legal 500 2016
Recent work includes:
- changing benefits for future service, including new money-purchase, career-average, cash-balance and other risk-sharing arrangements
- pensions risk management, including buy-ins, buy-outs, longevity swaps and a variety of derivative contracts
- advising on funding covenants and scheme-specific arrangements for reducing deficits, including asset-backed contributions
- negotiating and documenting security arrangements, including guarantees, charges, escrow accounts and letters of credit
- liability management, including new member options, enhanced transfer values and pension increase exchange
- advising on opportunities created by tax changes, including DC flexibilities
- advising on all aspects of DC schemes, including master trusts and the creation of occupational pension schemes and SIPPs
- negotiating agreements with fund managers and custodians for a variety of mandates
- advising on investments in private equity, infrastructure and hedge funds
- administration outsourcing agreements and data protection
- the pensions aspects of many UK and cross-border corporate transactions
- reviewing trusteeship and governance arrangements, including raising DC governance standards
- handling all types of pensions disputes, including IDR and Ombudsman complaints, proceedings in the High Court, Court of Appeal and Supreme Court, and alternative dispute resolution
- scheme mergers, demergers, terminations and winding-up
- overhauling scheme rules to reflect and comply with recent legislation
- responding promptly to a full range of technical queries that clients raise daily
- keeping clients up to date through seminars, newsletters, technical guides and trustee training