Pension winners

Robert West, partner at Baker & McKenzie, has been voted the best all round pensions lawyer, in Pensions World magazine’s annual survey.

Linklater’s Tim Cox was the runner-up, with Travers Smith’s Paul Stannard and CMS Cameron McKenna’s Mark Atkinson in hot pursuit.

The survey, comprising 38 of the top pensions law firms, appears in the November 2015 issue of Pensions World.

The top litigator was Eversheds’ Giles Horton, closely followed by Hogan Lovell’s Angela Dimsdale-Gill.

The top place in the up-and-coming lawyer category was shared between Sackers’ Claire van Rees and Addleshaw Goddard’s Rachel Uttley. BESTrustees received the most votes for top independent trustee with Law Debenture as runner up.

According to the survey, new workstreams are opening up for pensions lawyers, as clients grapple with the new pensions freedoms introduced in the 2014 budget as well as more intense regulation of defined contribution schemes and the ongoing industry trend for de-risking.

Traditional client bases are expanding—Pinsent Masons, for example, reports a recent expansion in its defined contribution client base, which now includes providers of master trusts, trustees of traditional occupational DC schemes, personal pension scheme providers, annuity providers, benefit consultants and investment specialists. Similarly, CMS Cameron McKenna’s traditional client base of trustees and employers has broadened to include insurers, personal pension and master trust providers.

James Thomas, financial journalist, who carried out the research, says: “The needs of clients will continue to show greater diversity and complexity going forward within an ever more demanding and discriminating marketplace.”